Chapter 28 - The Search

“Okay we’ve been here for 30 minutes, are you sure she’s coming?”

I rolled my eyes at Tim. “Of course she is. You need to be a bit more patient Timmy. She’s nervous about this. I had a hard time convincing her to go back to her old house because she’ll see Rick again.”

“Fine,” Tim pouted, his chinky eyes almost disappearing. “I want to see this Rick person and kick his bum for making my number one idol Frio sad. What rhymes with Rick anyway?” His brows almost touched. “Oh I know! Sick, lick, and di. . .” Patty kicked Tim under the table.

“What was that for?” he snarled to her. She shrugged and gave him a poker face. “Language please. I’ve told you time and again Timmy, this is a cupcake house. Children eat here.”

I stifled a smile and watched as my two best friends in the world bicker at each other. Patty was right though, we were back at the cupcake shop where we used to hang out. But we weren’t talking about Frio the celebrity like we did before. We were waiting for Glace my girlfriend. My Peter Pan. The mere thought of being hers and vise versa gave me the jitters.

My attention went back to Tim and Patty. They were speaking in harsh but low tones. “You have a very dirty mouth that I’d like to scrub with soap,” Patty snapped. She was usually so quiet, but now she’s going toe to toe with Tim. Being around Eris was making her more outspoken. I shouldn’t worry though. Having confidence was good for her.

“I’ll show you dirty,” Tim smirked. “Let’s put Rick, sick, kick, and the other term in a sentence shall we?” Ignoring Patty’s piercing glare he said, “I’d like to kick Rick’s sick d. What? You thought I’d finish the sentence? Who has a dirty mind now?”

I intervened before Patty exploded. “Guys just drop it,” I pleaded. “We’re not here to fight. The three of us went here to meet up with Glace so we can support and help find her real father. What would she say if she heard you arguing?” I stared at Patty pointedly. “And do you think she’d be amused if she heard you talking about Rick like that?” This time I cut my eyes at Tim.

The two didn’t speak up and pointed behind me. Glancing back, I saw Glace standing there with a gleam in her eyes. She smirked when our gaze made contact. “Oh please continue,” she said to the two. “I’m very fascinated.”

“Sorry,” Patty and Tim mumbled.

“Nah I’m not mad,” she quickly dismissed with a wave of her hand. Glace turned to me and leaned in for a kiss. I was about to oblige when someone spoke loudly. “Hey isn’t that Frio the celebrity?” Oh snap! Glace realized what she was doing and quickly wore the large sunglasses she always carried with her. We made our escape before the gathering crowd pinned us inside the cupcake shop.

My heart pounded in both excitement and nervousness. Good thing there were few people there. I didn’t want to be crushed by a mob. It was the downside of having a celebrity for a girlfriend. But since I was the one who suggested it anyway, I had to suck it up. “That was close,” Glace said with obvious relief in her voice as she shut the door of the car.

“Too close,” I murmured and turned to her. “Seatbelt baby.” Glace buckled her seatbelt while our two companions did the same behind us on the passenger seat. I adjusted the rearview mirror and started the engine. When we were in the safety of the road, Tim couldn’t help but ask. “How do you even survive those kinds of attacks?”

“You make it sound like a zombie apocalypse,” Patty giggled, her laughter echoing inside the car. Glace turned her head to them. “Sometimes it does feel like a zombie apocalypse,” she explained. “People try to grab me, touch me, and even kiss me.” I took a sharp intake of breath and concentrated on the road, my hand gripping the steering wheel tighter.

“Don’t worry Dulce. I’m rather good at evading them.” She turned back to the two. “To prevent such scenarios, I usually wear my disguise.” Glace pointed to the blue cap and sunglasses which were now perched on top of the dashboard. “But when things get messy like today, I just run to the nearest exit.” She glanced at me. “It’s totally your fault that they recognized me back there baby.”

I made a left turn signal. “Me? What did I do?” After ensuring that no other car was around, I carefully maneuvered the car towards the direction I wanted to go. “You mesmerized me,” she said. “That’s why I made the mistake of removing the sunglasses.”

“And how is that my fault?” I barely listened for her reply as I concentrated on the road, thinking what would happen if Rick saw us standing outside his house. It would not be a pleasant scenario and I had to protect Glace from him.

“You didn’t listen to my explanation Dulce.”

“Huh? What? Sorry. . .”

Glace sighed and leaned to me, touching my cheek softly with her lips. “I forgive you,” she whispered straight to my ears. I felt my skin flush with warmth. Looking at the rearview mirror, I detected a hint of red on my face. Great! Now I looked like a boiled lobster.

Glancing to her quickly before staring back at the road I murmured, “Stop it Glace, you’re making me blush. Plus my best friends are hearing us. It’s embarrassing.” My eyes darted to Tim and Patty, not hiding the fact that they knew everything.

“Don’t mind us lovebirds,” Tim smirked. “I’m so happy that only Patty here.” He elbowed her. “Is the only virgin among us.”

Patty rolled her eyes. “I’m not.”

Glace, Tim, and I stared at her in disbelief. I turned my attention back to the road before we hit someone. Staying in prison didn’t sound appealing. “You are so going to tell me everything girl,” Tim said excitedly. “And I mean everything.”

Their conversation got drowned out when Glace leaned near me again. “It looks like Eris made her move too. Or maybe it was the other way around.” I pinched her cheek softly with my right hand. “I think Patty was the one who initiated it.” The corners of my mouth perked up. “We’re really best friends aren’t we?”

“Yes you are Dulce. So . . .” she trailed. “When is the next one?” I caught the naughty undertone in her voice. “When we get married,” I replied without looking at her. From the corner of my eye, I saw her jaw fall down. “Eager much?” I chuckled. “If you want it, put a ring on it. You are going to marry me right?”

“If not then what’s the point Dulce? I can marry you right now if you want.”

“No way!” I objected.

“Why not?” She sounded hurt. I reached out for her hand which she gave without question. “It’s not that I don’t want to Glace. It would be my honor to marry you for real.” I gave her a quick smile to appease her. “But we need to graduate first. I also want to have my own career.”

She squeezed my hand softly. “I’m a millionaire. Why do you even have to work?”

I shook my head. “You know that it’s not about money. All those years that we’ve been apart, you did everything to establish a name for yourself.” She started to argue but I gave her a look. “I want you to be proud of me too Glace. When people talk about me, I don’t want to be known as Frio’s no name girlfriend. I want them to say, oh no wonder she fell in love with that woman. I want to be that kind of Wendy who not only married Peter Pan in the end but has proven to everyone that she deserved to be with him because of her own amazing qualities.”

“Okay,” she mumbled before biting her lips and staring out the window.

A few minutes passed like that. The four of us silently sat inside the car, lost in our own thoughts. Before I knew it, we were already outside Glace’s old home. I parked the car on the street and the four of us gazed at the mansion. So that was where she grew up. It must have looked great years ago when her mother was alive. Now it looked large and foreboding. No wonder she left.

“So that’s my old home,” she explained. “I don’t know if Rick is there right now. He’s a talent scout and sometimes work keeps him away. But there are also days when he lounges around in the study.”

I turned to her and smiled, giving her confidence. “Don’t worry baby. Even if he’s there, the three of us will deal with him. You never even have to talk to him if you don’t want to. Right guys?” The other two nodded in agreement.

“But can we find anything there that will give us a clue about your true father?” Patty asked with a serious expression.

“To tell you the truth, I don’t really know.” Glace sighed. “But there’s nowhere else we can look. This is the only place I can think of.”

I opened the car door. “In that case, let’s get this started.” Following my lead, the trio got out of the car and headed straight to the property. We didn’t bother knocking on the door but as we opened it, an older woman wearing a maid uniform greeted us with a worried expression on her face.

“Miss Glace. I didn’t know that you’d come here.” She glanced back hurriedly behind her as if afraid someone might catch her talking to us. When she spoke again, she did so in a low tone. “Your father is in his study miss. He told me not to let you in.”

“He’s not my father,” Glace replied, her jaw clenching. “And I don’t care about his instructions Martha. This is my mother’s house. He doesn’t have a right to keep me out of here.”

Before Martha could answer, I heard Rick the snake’s voice. “Why are you here you imbecile?” He was holding an empty wine glass in his left hand and looking at Glace with distaste.

“She’s not an imbecile,” I heard myself say with loathing. “She’s an amazing human being that I have the pleasure of falling in love with. If you can’t see that then not only is there something wrong with you, you’re clearly a monster.” Rick advanced angrily towards us but I continued my rant. “I’ve heard about you when I was young. You told Glace that her mother went nowhere, she simply didn’t exist anymore. Who tells that to their 7 year old daughter? You’re a pathetic guy.”

“She’s not my daughter,” he seethed, taking another step closer to me. I heard Glace take a sharp breath. I couldn’t allow him to hurt her further. It had to stop.

“We’re all glad that you’re not her dad,” I said with a smile. “You’re an awful human being and I don’t want you to be my father-in-law someday.” Rick raised his free hand and moved to strike my face but before he did, Tim was already standing right in front of me, his shoulder squaring. “Sorry dude but I won’t allow you to hit my best friend. She’s too beautiful to have a bruise.”

To our amazement, Tim grabbed Rick’s arm and dragged him all the way to the front door. My friend had the advantage because of his size and height. Rick protested. “What do you think you’re doing young man? This is my house! I’ll call the police on you!”

“Go ahead,” Tim said, trying to hold his ground while Rick struggled against him. “Make sure that the police you’re calling are cute. I’d like to get their number too. Oh but wait, I have a boyfriend right now and things are serious between us so no thanks.” He pushed Rick harshly out of the door. “You have a problem with gays? Tell that to someone who cares. And don’t forget to knock.” He slammed the door shut in front of Rick’s face.

Patty, Glace, and I, plus Martha stood shell shocked, staring at Tim. Patty was the first one to break the silence with a loud laugh. “Oh my God Timmy! You’re my idol.” They raised their fists and made these weird movements that I never cared to understand. Glace and I couldn’t help but smile at each other.

Unfortunately, Martha made a move to open the door. Glace stopped the woman by touching her shoulder. “Please don’t Martha. I know that you don’t understand what’s happening and you’re probably scared that he’ll fire you. But we really need to do this right now. I need to read my mom’s files so I’ll know who my real dad is. And if ever he decides to fire you, I’ll welcome you happily as a staff in my house.”

Martha considered for a while. “Ok miss Glace. I’ve known you since you were a little girl and there must be a good reason behind this. I’ll make sure to keep all the doors locked.”

Glace nodded happily and turned to us. “My father will not call the police because this is also my house. Another thing is he hates the media and if they discover that Frio is having family problems, he’s the one who has to deal with it since I don’t live here anyway.”

“Okay baby.” I gave her a quick peck on the cheek as encouragement. “Where should we start looking?”

She began tying her raven hair in a ponytail. “When my mom died, all of her stuff was moved in the attic. That would be a good place to look.” Glace made her way up the grand stairs, me, Tim, and Patty following closely behind. It didn’t take long for us to reach the attic.

“Wow. I thought everything would be dusty and creepy but it’s actually well organized,” I said to Glace as my eyes roamed around the spacious place. Several mannequins were carefully lined to the right. They were all wearing fashionable dresses and hats. It must be her mother’s. In the middle were big chests and drawers that must have held all her other clothing and shoes.

“Martha loved my mother like a sister,” Glace said with a small smile. “That’s why she’d clean this place once a week. To preserve everything.” She pointed to the smaller chests on the left. “The fan letters and all her other files are there. Let’s take a look.”

The four of us divided the boxes and chests among us. Each of us got six. Wordlessly, we thumbed through the hundreds of papers that it contained. Some of them were fan mails, while others were correspondence among friends and family. Reading through it one by one, I discovered that Glace’s mother was not only a kind woman but an exceptional one with a passion in acting, music, and life itself.

She was truly a woman to be adored. No wonder Glace loved and idolized her so much. Her was mom gifted and humble, just like Glace herself. Like mother like daughter, I thought proudly of my girlfriend. Hours passed like that. We just searched, read, and discovered. By nightfall, Tim found what appeared to be a diary. He handed it to Glace and she quickly scanned through the pages.

We stared at her as she sighed sadly, gripping the diary on her hands. “Did it tell you something of use?” I asked. Glace hugged her knees and shook her head. “She kept mentioning a man, but she didn’t say his name. She. . .” Glace swallowed. “She loved this man. I think he was my real father.”

“He must be,” I supported and hugged her briefly. “Isn’t there anything else? A letter perhaps that will tell us more about it?”

“No,” she said dejectedly. “I already finished looking through my chests. How about you guys?”

“Done,” Tim said. Patty mumbled the same.

Glace bit her lips in disappointment, looking like she was about to cry. “Hey. . . Don’t lose hope baby. I’m sure there are other places where we can look. Maybe your mom left something with one of her friends. Or maybe you have other properties where we can try searching.”

At the mention of other properties, Glace gasped and stared at me with renewed hope in her eyes. “My mom owned a cabin. The last time I went there, I saw a couple of letters. I wasn’t able to inspect it one by one but there must be something there.”

We arranged the letter and chests back to its original position and quickly went on our way. Martha was nowhere to be seen. She must be asleep in her room. I almost forgot about Rick. We were painfully reminded of his presence when we opened the front door and saw him sitting on the backyard, still wearing his bathrobe and slippers. He stood up and brushed himself from there after seeing us come out.

Before he spoke, Tim glared at him. “Don’t try to argue bro. You don’t want to piss off a gay. I’ll smack you. And by that I meant smack with my fist and not with kisses.”

“I’ll sue all of you,” Rick hissed.

“My parents are well-known lawyers. See you in court bitch!” I dragged Tim away before he ended up pummeling Rick on the ground. I loved him too much to see him in jail.

We reached the cabin in an hour or so. Once we did, Glace almost ran inside. I found her in one room, leafing through pages of letters that were previously housed inside a chest very much like the ones in their old home. Tim and Patty stayed in the living room area while I sat beside Glace on the floor and helped her with her search.

“Glace,” I said. A tremble in my voice. “I think I found something.” Both of us read the letter silently.

Dearest you, It’s been a while since we’ve spoken. A lot of things have changed but my love for you didn’t falter. When you left me to fulfill your parent’s wishes, I felt so much pain and disappointment. You chose them over me and found another woman to whom you got married with. Because of anger, I chose to keep our daughter a secret from you. Yes my love, those stolen nights bore fruit.

Watching our daughter grow up, I’ve always had a deep regret in my heart. She deserved to know her real father. She deserved to have known you. But my selfishness kept you a secret and now I must atone for my sins. I know that you are a good man. A cowardly one who left the love of his life, but a good one nonetheless. I have every confidence that you will love her and shower her with kisses when you meet her.

The letter was addressed to a man who I recognized immediately. Glace and I stared at each other with panic in our eyes.”Oh God,” I whispered.