Chapter 6

His phone rang the moment he got off the taxi. Aldous heaved a sign upon seeing his sister’s name on the caller ID. He left home early that morning to see his friend Francis. His mother was sick, and he needed money for her operation.

“Hey,” he muttered with the phone in his ear as he walked towards the entrance of the three-story building where his friend works.

“Where the hell are you?” Natalie asked and sighed exasperatedly. “You left without even telling us where you are heading to.”

“Didn’t I tell you that I’m going to get money?” The receptionist greeted Aldous with a nod when he got in. “I’m hanging up. I’ll call you later when I have the money.”

He ended the call and pocketed his phone.

“Good morning, Sir. How may I help you?” the receptionist asked when he reached the front desk.

“Hi.” Aldous smiled. “I’m here to see Francis Manrique.”

The receptionist started tapping her fingers on the keyboard and looked at him after a while. “Sir, I’m sorry, but we don’t have an employee by the name Francis Manrique.”

His eyes widened in shock. “A-are you sure, Miss? Could you please double-check it for me?”

The receptionist sighed and made a call. Based on what he heard from the receptionist as it talked to whoever on the other line, Francis Manrique was not really an employee of LOC Financial.

“Sir, I’m really sorry. I already talked to the HR department, and there is no Francis Manrique among the employees. They even checked the past records if he happened to be a former employee, but there was no record of that name,” the receptionist explained politely.

Aldous grabbed his head and pulled his hair. It felt like all his blood went up to his head at that moment. He wanted to think that he just had a bad dream and when he wakes up, everything will be okay. But it was not a dream. It was far from being a dream. He was scammed by the man he trusted the most—his friend. Gritting his teeth, he exited the building. Aldous did not know where to go. How could he come home to his sick mother empty-handed? He promised her that he will make a way to push through with the operation.

“Why did I invest all my money with that dimwit? Francis, you son of a—argh!”

He should have kept that separation pay in the bank instead of investing it. If only he had foreseen that his friend would betray and scammed him in the end.

***

“I’m so sorry, Nova, you had to wait that long,” Alyssa apologized the moment she got off her car.

She smiled and shook her head.

“No worries. It’s okay.” Nova brought out the carrier from her car and handed it to her friend. “I should be thanking you for saying yes to me. This little angel badly needs a foster mom at the moment.”

“I’m really saddened when Gianna broke the news to me. If only I can help you with the money.” Alyssa got the carrier and took a peek at the sleeping kitten inside of it. “Ah, it looks so cute. How old is it, by the way?”

“Three months.”

“Anyway, why don’t you come inside? Let’s have a cup of coffee and—”

“Thanks, Aly, but I really have to go now. I need to finish binding the remaining book orders so I can ship them next week.” She smiled and waved at her friend. “Bye. I’ll deliver the cat food and litter sand the day after tomorrow.”

“No need. I already bought everything.”

Nova beamed, then got in her car and sped away.

It was already dark when she arrived at her apartment. It has been a long day and delivering the cats to their foster home was a bit tiresome yet, it lessens the burden that she had been carrying for a few days now.

She went inside her apartment and headed straight to the fridge. Humming, she picked a canned beer and a pack of chips just above the fridge, then she went to her working station on the first floor.

The entire first floor became her working station with a little pantry that serves as her kitchen. The second floor was her bedroom cum living room and writing station with a small toilet. The two-story apartment was big for a single person like her, but the pile of books and the machinery she uses to create them used all the space in the apartment.

Nova opened her canned beer and was about to take a sip when she heard one of her cats growling. When she turned in its direction, she saw her cat sitting on the window ledge as it looked outside the window.

“Shrimp,” she called the cat by its name. “What are you doing there?”

She was housing all her cats on the second floor to avoid accidents in her working area. And that cat eloped again.

“Shrimp,” she said authoritatively. Nova often used that tone to make her cats listen. But this time, it won’t.

Shrimp did not move away from the window and continued growling. Among her cats, it was the one who acts wary of everything it sees. Curious, she sauntered towards the window and peeked outside. Nova gasped when she saw what her cat was looking at. An almost naked man was lying just in front of her apartment.

Who could it be?

Why was he like that?

How and when did he get there?

Nova put the canned beer down on the window ledge and ran to the kitchen. She snatched one frying fan from the cabinet and prowled outside. Her cat sneaked out of the house before her and jumped over the man.

“Shrimp…” She carefully picked her nosy cat. And just when she was about to take it back inside the apartment, a cold hand wrapped around her ankle.

“H-help…m-me…p-please…”