C2 The Meeting Again

LUCAS decided to walk around first. He wasn’t really planning to buy anything. He was only accompanying his older sister because she asked him to.

His feet led him to the vegetable section. He smiled when he saw the round, green leafy vegetables—his favorite. Just as he was about to pick up a cabbage, someone grabbed his hand. He turned to look at the person beside him.

“You?!”

Small world, he thought.

“Are you following me?” he asked while staring at the woman’s face. She was the same girl he almost ran over earlier.

“The nerve,” she muttered.

“Did you say something?” he teased, even though he clearly heard her.

But instead of answering, the woman grabbed a whole cabbage and started talking to it.

“Ugh, Maxine, is there a normal person here? No. But a rude and arrogant one? Definitely.”

“I’m Lucas.”

“Excuse me?” the woman said sharply, throwing him a nasty look.

“You were introducing yourself, so I assumed you wanted to know my name too,” he explained. He was amused by her reaction. “A girls’ strategy, right?”

The woman let out a sigh and glared at him again. If looks could k*ll, he probably would have dropped dead already.

“Hey, you! Stay away from me before I smash this cabbage into your face!”

That made him laugh. She looked like she was about to breathe fire, which only made him want to tease her more.

“Old tricks, you know. Women always do that to get men’s attention.”

He saw her chest rise and fall before she spoke again.

“Find someone else to bother! You’re not my type!”

She was about to turn away, but he quickly stopped her cart.

“What’s your problem?!”

“Nothing. Have you?”

“You’re crazy!”

Once again, he grinned. After living in Sta. Monica for so long, he could understand and speak Tagalog somehow. But the way this woman talked was strange. Or maybe this was just how people like her communicated.

“Wanna talk about my motorcycle?” he said in a low voice. “Do you even know how expensive it is? It’s a Harley-Davidson.”

The woman froze slightly at his words. The color drained from her face faster than ink disappearing on paper.

“Lucas!”

He turned toward the voice calling him. It was his Elder sister, Lourine.

“Lourine.”

She was only a year older than him, so he simply called her by her name.

“I thought you already left me. And who’s that girl?” she asked, looking at the woman beside him. “Girlfriend?”

“Hell, no!” he immediately denied, frowning as he walked toward Lourine.

He gave the stranger one last glance before helping his older sister push her shopping cart. He stared at his hand, feeling puzzled. He wondered if the woman had felt the same strange sensation he had earlier.

THIRTY minutes later, they arrived at the Harrison mansion. It was located on top of a hill, which was why Lucas and Lourine rarely went down to town.

“Good afternoon!” the guard greeted them as he opened the huge gate that served as the barrier protecting the Harrison family home.

Lourine drove her car while Lucas followed behind on his motorcycle.

“I told you, darling, you don’t have to do that. Let Nanny Ebith handle it,” Lucas’s mother, Amelia Harrison, said as she watched Lourine arrange the groceries.

“It’s okay, Mom. I enjoy doing this. It’s kind of a stress reliever.”

“Yeah, you’re right, darling.”

“What are you doing, baby brother?” Lourine asked when she noticed him looking through the bags.

“You didn’t buy cabbage?” he asked after failing to find what he was looking for.

“No.”

Lucas frowned.

“Wait. You were rushing earlier. You even pulled me away, remember? It’s your fault, baby brother, that I wasn’t able to buy your favorite.”

“You should’ve insisted that I stayed,” he argued.

“Enough, baby. I’ll ask Nanny Ebith to buy it,” his mother said.

Annoyed, he turned away from them. It was funny, but cabbage really was his weakness. Maybe his mother craved it when she was pregnant with him.

“Lucas.”

His mother called him again, making him turn around. She let out a deep sigh before speaking.

“Your grandfather is coming soon.”

He couldn’t say anything. Even Lourine stared at him.

“You cannot run away from it, son,” his mother continued.

“I know,” he replied almost in a whisper.

He secretly clenched his fists. That old man is going to witness his twenty-first birthday, and that was the day he dreaded the most.

___

“HERE’S my fare,” Maxine said to the tricycle driver as she handed him twenty pesos. She was already standing in front of the mansion. One by one, she unloaded the groceries.

“This isn’t enough, Miss.”

“How much is it?”

“Twenty-five.”

“That’s expensive. Is there no discount? I’m a student,” she complained.

“Come on. It’s only twenty-five pesos, and you’re still asking for a discount? You should’ve just walked if you didn’t want to pay.”

Wow. When it rains, it pours. Why does it feel like everyone I meet today is trying to annoy me? she complained silently.

Annoyed, she took out a few coins and handed them over.

“There. Hope your tire goes flat,” she whispered.

“Cheap,” the tricycle driver shot back, seemingly having heard her, before speeding away.

MAXINE found Beatriz in the living room. She was reading a magazine. Perhaps she didn’t have classes anymore.

“Hey!”

She stopped walking and turned toward the young mistress who called her.

“Why?”

“Bring me a glass of water.”

“Okay,” she replied before heading to the kitchen while carrying the groceries.

“What is that?” Beatriz asked, raising one eyebrow at the glass she brought.

“A glass of water. Can’t you see?” Maxine replied.

“I know! You’re giving me water without ice?!”

“You didn’t say you wanted ice,” she calmly answered despite the mistress’s angry tone.

“Use your common sense, stupid!” Beatriz shouted again.

“I’ll replace it.”

“Forget it!” Beatriz snapped. She placed the magazine down and stood up.

Maxine watched the young mistress walk upstairs while shaking her head. She did it on purpose. She was already extremely irritated today.

She picked up the glass of water to return it to the kitchen when a photo on the cover of a popular magazine caught her attention.

It looked like a family portrait. Two beautiful women sat on a long couch while three men stood behind them.

Her eyes immediately focused on the man in the middle wearing a black suit.

That arrogant man?!

Beside him was an elderly man who was probably his grandfather. Suddenly, she felt the hairs on the back of her neck rise. There was something unusual about the old man’s face.

[HARRISON]

Her eyebrows lifted.

So that was why that arrogant man was so full of himself.

He actually had something to brag about.