A piece of the past…

He hid in the shadows, fear slowly creeping in.

The place was not one he frequented. As a matter of fact, it was one he never thought he would see—or even be at. But he chose to do this so he better see it through.

She turned into an alleyway and he waited for a few seconds before he followed.

He never imagined she lived in such neighborhood. His looks attracted a few people he passed by and he hoped none would take interest in him to the point that they would take advantage of him.

Troy lost sight of Dannie but he found her after taking the right turn. She was standing outside a house that did not look livable at all. A man walked up to her. The man was naked except for a pair of tattered basketball shorts and he was talking to Dannie. She said something back and the next thing Troy saw was the man pushing Dannie toward the door with an angry shout.

PRESENT DAY

“We still have a lot of things to do,” Jackie groaned as she forked on her cake without eating. They were outside Calea, waiting for Jordan. She looked at George, who was almost done with her mud pie, with a cringe, saying, “You know the wedding is in a month, right? You don’t want to gain some weight. Our gowns are all ready for the wedding, George.”

“I don’t care,” George answered with her mouth full of chocolate. “There are people who can make adjustments for my gown.”

Jackie shook her head and met Dannie’s gaze before she rolled her eyes. Then they went to Dean sitting beside her and her face turned sour once more. “What are you doing?”

Dean was hunched over his tab, preoccupied with a game.

“This is my last warning, Dean. I am serious,” Jackie told him.

“Just let it go, Jackie,” Dannie said with amusement.

“You did not just say that,” Jackie said with horror. “Do you know how many hours he spends on that stupid game? Ask George.”

Dannie turned her attention to her other friend and the lady was nodding her head. “Jordan spends more time on that game as well.”

“I am almost done, so please stop front-stabbing me,” Dean said as he tapped vigorously on his tab.

Jackie looked as if she finally decided to ignore Dean and went back to their previous topic. “Since Dean here seems not to care about the wedding or Christmas or New Year, let us do the planning.”

“What do you have in mind?” Dannie asked.

“My head’s in a jumble. How about you, George? Any suggestions?”

“I can’t even wrap my head around the wedding as of the moment,” George admitted. “How did the church visit go, Dannie?”

“It’s all set. I’ve arranged the venue. The church wants to know what music is going to be played inside the church beforehand though so you have to give me a list.”

Jackie nodded and wrote on her pad.

“How about the flowers?”

Dannie took out a piece of paper from her bag and handed it to Jackie. “That’s the list brochure with a list of prices.”

“We should have just decided for a wedding planner, you know,” George said with a sigh as she leaned against her chair.

“The wedding has to have a more personal touch,” answered Jackie. “So we just need to choose the set of flowers. Then the music. And there’s food.”

“I know someone who caters great food.”

The three ladies turned their heads toward Dean who decided to join the conversation, much to their surprise.

“Oh, so now you are joining us?” Jackie shot at him.

He ignored her and looked at George and Dannie instead. “I know someone who is a great cook. Her name is Rock. I believe Jordan knows her as well.”

“Rock?” George asked.

“Racquel Chua or something,” Dean said. “Anyway, I think Jordan mentioned her one time when we were talking about the wedding.”

“You talk about the wedding food. Great,” Jackie uttered. “Well, at least you still talk about it. We want to meet this Rock girl.”

“Get her number from Jordan. He knows her.”

Jackie wrote the reminder on her pad. “How about the reception?”

Before anyone could answer, Jordan appeared and sat beside George. “What’s up?”

“I just told them about Rock,” Dean told him.

“Give us her number,” George ordered and he immediately fished for his phone. He gave the number and left the planning with the three ladies as he and Dean talked about the latest games they were addicted to and they did it as if they were talking about a very important business.

*****

I was finally alone again with Dannie baby when they finally decided to go and have dinner at the apartment. Dean and Jordan, of course, had to drive the other two home.

What’s wrong, Danny baby? I asked her. Most of the time I knew what my boys were feeling just by the way they grip my steering wheel and at that very moment, Dannie was not feeling so good. I got a good feeling why. Though she was planning to be a full-fledged nun, she was after all human. She just finished her first year of Postulancy which was not enough (in my opinion) to build a very strong foundation for a life in the convent. She might be feeling down now that one of her best friends was planning a wedding and one would surely be walking down the aisle in no time as well. Now that she was away from her convent life, out in the world once again, she must be feeling that everyone was moving on with their lives and she was being left behind.

Of course, I was no perfect car to be certain about it, but that was just a hunch. And I am pretty good with hunches, you know. Always had been.

Don’t worry, Dannie baby. I am not leaving you. I can be the new car of the convent if you really opt for that life. But I would rather want to stay here, outside, you know, where all the groove and pretty vics are. But I could sacrifice my remaining mileage for you if that’s what’s going to make you happy.

*****

They ordered Dean and Jordan to make dinner as they continued with the planning. They put aside wedding plans for the moment as they talked about Christmas and New Year.

Just as when they were arguing about Christmas eve, Troy, Lee and Miguel arrived with a few drinks.

“Well, well, well,” Troy said with a wicked grin. His eyes hovered over Dannie for a moment before he went straight to the kitchen to join Dean and Jordan. “It seems that the groom is practicing for marriage life,” he said with a laugh.

“It suits you, man,” Lee uttered as he placed three bottles of wine on the table.

“Take that somewhere else, Lee,” Jackie snapped at him. “We’re busy here.”

“We forgot to buy the chips,” Miguel, already sprawled on the carpet in the living room.

“Where were we?” George asked, ignoring the men.

“Christmas. And I was saying I am really okay spending it with the sisters. The kids will be there and I want to spend more time with them before I return to the convent,” Dannie said.

“But—” Jackie started but Dannie held up her hand to stop her.

“You go spend Christmas with your family. And Dean’s parents would want to see you, right?”

Her friend looked worried but nodded anyway.

“That’s settled then. Jackie, you spend Christmas at home with your family and Dean’s. George, you spend it with yours and Jordan’s.”

“You are very much welcome to join us,” Jordan told Dannie, looking over his shoulder at her.

“Guys, I am really fine spending Christmas eve with the sisters. I’ve always wanted to do that. They already invited me over and I said yes.”

Troy turned away from Jordan and Dean and faced her with a frown. “You’re spending Christmas at church?”

She arched her eyebrow. “Is there a problem with that?”

He stepped back and held up his hands before him. “I am not saying anything, Danica. I just asked.”

“Well, yes, I am.”

“Okay, then. See? I asked a question, you answered. That was not very complicated, right?”

“You guys, stop it.” Jackie’s voice was tired when she said it. “Can’t we just—” A knock on the door stopped her words and the guys looked at the ladies with question.

“You guys expecting someone?”

Jackie, George and Dannie shook their heads.

“Maybe it’s Jam,” Dean guessed.

“Or another lady friend of our friend here,” Dannie said, shooting Troy a look.

“I did not invite anybody—” Another knock.

“Miguel, answer the door,” George ordered.

“Why me?” Miguel asked.

“You are closest to the door.”

“This is not my place and—”

“Just answer it!” everyone else shouted at the same time.

“Fine, fine,” he said with a groan as he stood up. He went to the door, turned the knob and opened it.

Everyone had stopped whatever they were doing, waiting in anticipation.

“Uh, boys, you have a visitor,” Miguel said, his voice full of awkwardness as he swung the door wider.

Dannie’s heart began to hammer and she felt blood draining down her face when she saw the woman outside the door.

Jackie and George immediately shot to their feet.

Everyone was speechless.

Except Troy who snapped, “What the hell is she doing here?”

Jackie and George were not moving for a few more seconds until Dannie uttered, “I don’t want to see her.”

But before her two friends could move to do something, Troy was already at the door, blocking Dannie’s view of the woman outside. She didn’t care what Troy was saying to the woman or that Lee walked to join him and Miguel at the door. She didn’t care because she was too focused to calming her racing heart and heavy breathing.

It seemed to have taken the three guys forever to talk to the woman. Dannie did not even notice that Jackie and George got over their surprise and joined the guys at the door. It was only until later when the door was completely shut once more and Jackie, George, Troy, Lee and Miguel were looking down at her with concern that she realized the woman was gone. Her panic ebbed away.

“Are you okay?” Troy asked.

“I don’t want to see her again.”

“She won’t be coming back. We made sure of that,” George told her.

Dannie slowly nodded her head. She was aware that Jordan and Dean were curious about what happened. She didn’t care what they thought. All she wanted at the moment was to get as far away as possible. Her mother was the only person in her life she didn’t want to see. Having had a glimpse of the woman’s face brought back her darkest memories.