Someone I'm Not

18 [pt.2]| Time's a Ticking Bomb

Soroya found out something about her realization- no matter what she does, she CANNOT ignore her sister entirely and pretend that she is okay about doubting her.

*beep! Beep!*

The sound of the horning car made their attention turn. 'Saved by the bell!' She says before bidding her goodbye without waiting for Vianne's reply.

Soroya rushes her way out, wanting not to prolong the tension any longer. As she closes the front door behind her, she runs through the car parked in front of their house. She slides herself inside the passenger seat she throws her bag on the back seat, and hurriedly fastened her seatbelt. Eduardus, who is looking at his reflection in the rearview mirror, made him stop, not even to blink as he watches her pant heavily.

"Are you okay?" He asks that made her nod.

"No. No, please drive."

"Why did you nod then if you're not okay?" Eduardus asks, but he shrugs his shoulders. "How about your sister? She's supposed to be coming out-"

"Just drive, will you!?" Soroya asks impatiently.

"Did something happen-"

"JUST DRIVE, GUARDIAN ED!" Soroya shouts out of nowhere that made Eduardus flinch.

"OKAY FINE! Just don't shout! Jeez, you're creeping me out!" He exhales before hitting the road without another question.

The ride was silent. Soroya doesn't feel like talking because she's frustrated about what's going on in her mind. Eduardus could sense the bad energy, making him decide just to zip his mouth lock before anything terrible escalates.

It didn't take long for them to arrive at her school. They got inside the Academy without the guards getting suspicious at Eduardus. Although he came here last week, it was an advantage already that they won't think of him as an outsider. As soon as Eduardus parks the car, she turns the engine off and turns to face her.

"Soroya, I know you're in a bad mood because I can sense the bad energy around you, but I am your guardian, and even if I wanted to read your mind, I just want you to trust me and tell me everything without me forcing myself to look deep into your eyes and find out for myself as easy as that." He explains, wanting to get involved with everything that's bothering her. Few seconds of silence, Soroya sighs before getting out of the car without a single word. Eduardus follow her as he tries to catch up with her. Lucky enough, he had longer strides that made him cope up.

"Are you not really going to tell me? So you're just going to cut me off?" He asks, but she didn't stop walking. A bit irritated, he decided to reach for her hand as he turns her to face him. "What the f*ck, Soroya! Am I going to plead here? Have you forgotten what your position is—"

"I think it was her."

"It was who?"

"Who killed me!"

"Who killed you!?"

"Soroya's sister, Vianne!"

Eduardus's eyes widen as he was taken aback by what she just said. Soroya's eyes narrow as she tries to read what's on his mind. But then, he decided to laugh.

"No, you can't be serious." He wanted to keep it light by saying it, but Soroya didn't even blink to erase her serious face. That made his laugh die down. He clears his throat after a few seconds of keeping his laughter down. "Okay. . . If you're saying it is right, what can be your evidence?" He asks as he crosses his arms across his chest. Soroya then looks around as she sees the students passing by. She waited for them to be as away as her heart's content before replying.

"Well, yesterday was Sunday, right?" Soroya asks that made him think for a split second before nodding.

"Yeah. . . Why?"

"We're you with her yesterday?"

"What does that have to do with your—"

"Just answer the question, g*dd*mn it!" She gritted her there as she curls her hands into a fist. Her head is spinning, and she's feeling more and more tired.

"YES!" Eduardus replies in a bit of shock at her actions. "Why?"

"Did she go to the market? Did she buy meat, fish, and vegetables? Did she buy spices and other ingredients too?" She asks, feeling her heart palpitating faster and faster.

"Y-yeah. I remember carrying a bag of meat into the trunk as Vianne carries the others. . . She even told me to want because she needed to buy more ingredients that are missing."

"And did she completed everything that's on her list?"

"Hmm. . . That question is a tough one to answer because I didn't physically saw Vianne checking a list, but. . ." he pauses as he rubs his chin with his thumb. Soroya waited for more seconds until he snaps. "Oh, right! I remember!"

"Remember what, exactly?"

"Well, when she's already seated on the passenger seat, I ask her if she already had everything she needed, and Vianne says, ‘Yup! I think that's everything I needed.’ and I just nodded. So, I guess that answers your question? And besides, I'm dying to know how this is related to your concern that she killed you, dear client."

"That's the point! It's weird because before she got out yesterday, she told us she would buy ingredients that seem to have slipped out of her mind. But then, she gets out using this cap that I found so familiar. It turns out that I remember the cap from the day that I die! IT IS THE SAME CAP!" Phoenix from the present exclaims. Just then, someone calls her attention.

"Hey, Soroya! Would you like to go to Science Lab together?" It was Holly, one of her good friends from her same few classes. Soroya smiles at her before turning to Eduardus.

"Let's talk about this after class. I need to go now." She says, which he agreed on.

"You're right. We should certainly go now before the others get suspicious of us." They both walk in the same hallway but took different stairs to go to class. Since Eduardus is playing the role, he needs to deal with class matters for the time being.

•••

Vianne has been starting over her coffee mug for the past few minutes. She couldn't seem to erase a few details that show how much her sister has changed. She even listed it on her sticky note, and then she stared at it for a couple of minutes earlier before one of her coworkers, Seven, snaps her back to reality.

"You're spacing out again, Vee." Seven again snaps her for the second time that makes her cheeks burn with embarrassment. Luckily, she is done with her paper works for the morning, and lunch is fast approaching

"I'm sorry. . . I'm just too occupied with a lot of things, and it is a bit stressing me out, you know?" She says as Seven looks around before leaning into her desk.

"Is it about money? You know I can always lend you some of–" Seven is about to suggest her help, but Vianne declines.

"No, it's not about the money. In fact, dad's been sending us money more consistently than the last few months now." She says that makes Seven sighs, a bit relieved of the news. She then sips into her coffee.

"Then, what is it in your mind that bothers you so much? Is it the guy you told me—"

"N-no! Of course, not him! Not Eduardus." Vianne says as she looks around before talking again. "I don't know if I am just paranoid but, I noticed that there are a lot of things—" As she speaks in a low voice and her friend Seven pays attention so close that they didn't even felt Trisha approaching Vianne's table. When she's already there, Trisha taps her shoulder that made Vianne and Seven almost gasp in surprise.

"Jesus Christ, Trisha! You could have given us a heart attack!" Seven exhales as she caresses her upper left chest.

"Is it my fault that you two are gossiping about something? Could you not make it too obvious, girls?" She warns before turning her full attention on Vianne.

"What?" She asks curiously.

"There's a man behind you, telling me that you know him and that he needed to talk to you. . . Urgently." She discloses as emphasizes the last word. Vianne scoffs as she replies.

"Who could want to meet me so urgently— holy sh*t!" Her jaw almost dropped when she turns to see the man. She immediately turns to say before Trisha decided to talk.

"Now, if you don't know him, why don't you go and entertain him so I could be done with my papers too, hmm? Okay, bye." She waves her hand at her before going to her desk. Suddenly, a broad smile forms on Seven's lips before Vianne could even notice.

"Why didn't you tell me he's handsome?" Seven giggles as she waves her hand flirtatiously at him. Vianne's eyes widen before throwing a glance at him and back to Seven.

"He's not—"

"Okay, I'm going to talk to him." Seven says as she stands up too quickly, not waiting for her reply. Vianne groans before standing and following her.

"Hey Eduardus, I'm Vianne's friend, Seven. But you can call me Sev." She says as she stretches her hand out for him to shake. Houdini then throws a confused glance at Vianne, but before she could interrupt, Houdini decided to take the woman's hand.

"Hey, Seven. Yes, I'm Eduardus, and you can call me Ed." He says with such pretend that Seven didn't even realize. They lock eyes together as they continue to shake their hands gently. But before they could even dive into much deeper eye contact, Vianne clears her throat, gets in between them, and faces Houdini.

"Heeeyyy, Eduardus! I didn't know you're coming here today."  She tries to pull out a happily surprised reaction when she's feeling the opposite.

"Yeah, figured out that I needed to talk to you this instant." He says before Vianns wears a smile as they both turn to her friend. "Could you give us a minute, Sev?" He says that he makes her nod, still keeping eye contact.

"Sure. . . I'll save you two to talk." Seven understanding smiles but eyed at her friend Vianne as if talking to her and saying, 'Tell me anything later.' When she's out of sight, Vianne hurriedly grabs Houdini by the arm as she pulls him into the pantry. Luckily, there was no one around, making it the right place for them to talk. She closes the door behind to secure their privacy. When she's done, she turns to Houdini.

"What the f*ck are you doing here? How did you even know I work here?" She asks as she frustratingly runs her fingers into her hair.

"Well, I guess you've been telling stories about Eduardus—"

"Hey, it is not what it looks like! And don't you point the spotlight on me because I'm the one questioning here, not being questioned!" She complains that makes him chuckle and raise his hand in surrender.

"Whatever you say that pleases your thoughts." He says before Vianne pours herself a glass of cold water.

"So, you wanted to talk to me, urgently. . . what is it? I also have to go back to my work—"

"I know you're done with your work, so you don't have to lie to me about that." He says that makes her eyes wide open as she almost skills her water out. But then, she gulps it before talking.

"I don't care if I'm lying but can you please just tell me already? You're wasting my time here."

"Oh no, I'm not. In fact, I chose the right time for us to talk."

"Isn't this the right time to talk?" She raises a brow at him, but he only gives her a cheeky grin.

"Do you really think I'd trust the office for a conversation? Tss, you humans don't learn." He says, disappointed, before taking the glass off her hand and drinks the rest. Vianne's mouth is agape open to what he did.

"Hey, that's—" but then, Houdini decided to cut her short as he stares into the almost empty glass.

"Besides, lunch will be in three. . ." he pauses she tilts the glass into the sink and pours the water slowly. "Two and one."

As soon as the glass is already empty, same is their alarm clock shouts. Vianne turns to the door as she hears multiple groans.

"LUNCHTIME, PEOPLE! LET'S COME BACK BEFORE 1:30!"

To her surprise, she looks at Houdini with confusion, but he just smiles in her direction. "Come on; I know a place that we could undoubtedly get our privacy."