Someone I'm Not

19 [pt.3]| Open Up, Secrets

Eduardus just left the train station after bidding goodbye to his client. He's still aware that it was Phoenix from the Past who wanted him out of their league to work on the "mission," maybe because it pisses him off or any reason he has in his pocket, and up until now, it's still unclear to his knowledge why he would feel that way to him.

But then, it is also his obligation to take good care of his client, or it will be a mess for him as a guardian. And this could only mean one thing: HE NEEDS TO BE IN DISGUISE.

But then, his train of thoughts suddenly disappeared when he remember Vianne. Excitement rushes to his veins as he increases speed, but make sure NOT to be reckless. He pumps it in as he opens the car music player, playing his favorite song of all time.

As he bangs his head lightly and his lips sync to the flow of music, a romantic idea pops into his head. It was then at that moment that he has to do it since it is an opportunity for him to continue making his move on Vianne, now that Soroya, possessed by his mocking client, is out of the picture.

Eduardus stops at a local flower shop, where they provide simple yet beautiful arrangements of flowers. Some are assorted, and most of them have only one kind of flower in a set. With a massive smile on his face, Eduardus goes to the counter as he orders one for himself.

"Is this for your girlfriend?" The old lady, who is standing in front of the cashier counter, asks as the employer starts fixing the flower arrangements.

"Uhm, I'm just still starting to court her, but I wasn't sure how to start. I then saw this shop and now, here I am, standing in front of you and ordering one. . . But I just hope she'll like them." He says, still not erasing the smile on his lips.

"Well then, I guess that woman is so lucky to have someone like you care for her so much." The woman says before handing him the bouquet. Eduardus pays for it before leaving at once.

Minutes later, he's already arrived at the village where Greene's house is. But then, he stops a few blocks away to see a parked car in front of their front yard. He furrows his brows, not knowing who owns it. It made him turn the engine off and give Vianne a call.

[Eduardus?] Vianne asks in the other line, a bit startled.

"Hi, Vianne! Look, I just want to ask, where are you right now?" He straightforwardly asks as he waited for her to reply.

[I'm at home.] She replies that makes him sigh in relief. [Why? Is there something wrong?] She asks again that makes him chuckle himself from paranoia. But just before he's about to tell him that a car parked in front of their house, he sees her get out of the house, wearing a green hoodie and tattered black jeans. To his surprise, he sees another person going out of the house. With the suit the person is wearing, it is sufficient for him to identify who it is.

[Eduardus, you still there?] Vianne's voice is enough for him to flinch back to reality. He blinks thrice as he watches her stop and look at her phone screen.

"Are you alone?" He raises the question that made Vianne look at Houdini, who stops beside her and check who is calling her. There silence on the other line as he watches them silently talk before Vianne responds.

[Yes, I am. . . Look, I won't be home, for now, I'm going somewhere.]

"Where?" He impatiently asks as he continues to watch them. Houdini then says something to her before he goes straight to the car and opens the driver's area. 'That's Houdini's car? Since when did he get that kind of car!?' he asks himself as he waits for a reply.

[I'm attending a birthday party. . . My friend invited me and that it's just for the girls so, yeah. I have to go.] And without a reply from him, she ended the call.

Eduardus places down his phone as he contemplates what he sees at the moment- Vianne gets inside the car as they drive away like it was just another typical day. . . It should be just a typical day, not until at that moment. His eyes narrow as question starts to build into his mind.

"What's going on, Vianne? What are you up to, Houdini?"

And before he knows it, he finds himself turning on the engine and tossing the bouquet into the back seat.

"Let's see what you two are up to."

•••

After a couple of hours of travel, Soroya is now ready to go out of the train station. She already texted Phoenix to come to pick him up, but she was shocked to see no Phoenix around.

"Philip?" She asks, not knowing if she's going to believe what she is seeing or not. "Wh-what are you doing here?" She raises the question that made her curious. Philip, with a calm and relaxed aura, just shrugs his shoulders.

"Phoenix just went to a group project, twenty minutes away from our place. Thought I should fetch you instead since I wasn't doing anything." He explains as he removes his glasses and tucks them on his polo.

"But I messaged-" she was about to insist that she contacted Phoenix when Philip sighs and interrupts her sentence.

"Have you read what he replied?"

"Uhm. . ." Soroya trails off onto her words until she decided to take out her phone to check any messages. To her embarrassment, she sees an unopened message from Phoenix.

=Hey Raya, about that. . . I think Philip will come to pick you up. You were too late to text me, and I have to go to my classmate's place for a school project. Don't worry, Philip will take care of you.=

A small smile forms on her lips just by reading how sincere he is with his words. Without further ado, she replies to him too.

|Sorry, my phone was in silent mode, that's why it took me long to see your message. Yep, Philip is here already so. . . I guess I'll see you tonight? You know, just to catch up?|

When she sends that, she slides her phone inside her bag and turns her attention to him.

"Sorry, my phone didn't chime when he sent me a message." She excuses that made Philip nod. They stare at each other for a second as if they measure each other to whether they should say something or not just yet. Although Phoenix From The Present is just too close to him, he should also consider the fact that he is Soroya, and Soroya isn't that close to him, compared to how she got quickly close to Nico.

"I think we should go now. . . Where do you want to grab snacks?" Phoenix decided to cut the silence and clasp his hand awkwardly. Soroya breathes in sharply as she claps her hands one time as well before answering.

"I don't know the place yet, so how about you request a specific area to buy food?" She suggested that he quickly accepts.

"Yeah, sure. . . So, let's go?" He recommends that made her nod without another word. They enter silently into the car as Soroya feels the vehicles start moving.

The silence is so deafening that at any minute, it can make her crazy! And if she decides to pretend any longer, this will either make her mind go nuts, or she'll curse herself never to talk again-

"Uhm, well, how about Bret and Nico? They also have the same reason as Phoenix?" She asks as the breath that she's holding now has come into a release.

"Oh them? Well, they're not that kind of busy because they don't have the same courses, but I remember calling them to tag along, but Bret's too busy with his online live streaming and Nico? He's also busy contacting his coach."

"Ohhhh. . . Right." She says as she taps her fingers into her knees, body tensed and tongue-tied up in a knot.

"Aren't you curious about the coach thing that I mention?" Philip throws a split-second glance in her direction that makes her snap.

"Oh, ha-ha. Right, sorry. . . It's just-"

"You seem so awkward and tensed, Soroya. Are you worried about my girlfriend?" He raises a question that she wasn't expecting. Soraya's eyes widen in shock.

"What!?"

"I mean, you know. . . You girls sometimes get these thoughts inside your heads, mostly when you're hanging out with the guys who already have a boyfriend, thinking that they'll get jealous?" He tries to explain which she got what he meant, making him realize that he still has A LOT to learn to be a girl.

"O-of course not! I trust you wouldn't be flirting with me. . . You seem loyal." She blurted out that makes Philip smile. "Maybe I'm just a bit awkward because we still haven't had that one-on-one moment? I mean, you and Bret."

There's the silence between them once again after what she said. Now, she doubts if she had said something that has offended Philip or not. Suddenly, he decided to talk.

"Thank you for thinking of me that way." He thanks her in a very calm, SO NOT like the Philip she knew when it comes to talking. . . And even if he's been Phoenix before, he has never seen Philip this fragile.

"To be honest with you, you're the first-ever, I mean, except my girlfriend, to say that to me."

"That you seem loyal?"

"No. . ." he answers shortly that makes her furrow her brows. But before she could even ask him, he answers. "That you TRUST me."

She doesn't know if she should be happy or sadder to what she just heard because it was a mix of emotions. Suddenly, she feels her head twisting and squeezing simultaneously, but it only lasted for a few seconds.

"How can you say that!? Didn't your friends say that they trust you?" She asks as she chuckles, but it only lasted for a few seconds after seeing his reaction.

"Well, friends can always joke around. So, even though they're my friends, I sometimes don't know if they're being sincere or not." He honestly admits, as if he's confiding with a stranger like her, but Philip only treats her like he has known him for a long time now.

"I'm sorry." Those two words only leave her mouth after realizing that when he's still not possessing anyone's body, he doesn't remember a single moment that he and his friends had a heart-to-heart conversation.

"Maybe because we are men and that we don't normally have a heartfelt talk like you girls always do when you're friend broke up with her boyfriend or something." He exhales a weak chuckle, still focusing on the road. But then, as Soroya watches him and waits for him to continue, he turns to her and smiles.

"And you don't have to be sorry. It's not your fault." He says again before shifting his gaze back into the road. The next thing that she knows, there's the silence between them once again. But this time, it wasn't awkward. It was sincere and calm.

"I'm sorry if I got a bit carried away like that. I don't usually do this, but I'm happy that you listened and didn't judge me." He says as he turns to look at her and smile, but this time, he's wearing a genuine one. Soroya smiles back, but The Phoenix is pained.

"I just happen to love listening first before judging. Maybe this is your lucky day." She says that made them chuckle for a second. But before she can finally relax, the sudden headache comes back, but this time, it got worse.

Her vision blurs for a brief moment as she thought floating in the air as well. She wanted to puke through the pain, but she couldn't. She tried to scream, but her throat felt dry. She tried to reach out to the man driving beside her, but she feels frozen.

"Philip. . . stop the car." She demanded as she closes her eyes intently, trying her best to take the feeling under control.

"What? Do you want to pee, or are you feeling sick- gosh! You're so pale!" He shrieks in concern as her cheeks turn white as milk, like a dead, frozen body in the middle of nowhere. "Are you okay-"

"JUST STOP THE CAR!" Soroya couldn't hold it any longer as she grips right on her jeans and yells in pain.

"Motherf*cker-"