When Back In Time

"HINDI KA ba talaga sasama sa akin Esperanza?" Pepe 2 asked with a worried face. (Are you really not going with me Esperanza?)

Esperanza stopped from what she's been doing. She put down the broom that she's holding and turned to look at him.

He had offered her to go with him to Mindanao because he and his friend, after this week, are going to leave Cebu and go to Mindanao.

He said, there she'll be safe from whoever is after her life.

She looked at him. 'Of course, he knew I was in trouble and, still, he didn't pester me with questions.'

She hated to decline him because he had saved her life and even sheltered her. But she must.

"Kinakailangan kong mahanap ang aking kaibigan," she replied. (I need to find my friend)

She thought to herself, 'At any cost, I must find him.'

Afternoon came, Esperanza was on the second floor, sitting down on the floor leaning on the bal.u.s.ter. Her mind was in trouble. She did not know what to do. 'The only way I can see Pepe is through Agustin. But how can I do it? Agustin has men on his side. He has a weapon, meanwhile, I don't have any. Do I need to have one? Do I need to have a gun? A gun?'

Her eyes squinted in concentration, balancing her opinions whether what she's thinking was right or wrong.

She started biting her nails, 'Nope. I can't do that. Carrying a gun is scary. And anyway, I don't even know how to use it.'

Sighing, 'What to do? What to do. Hmm... "

A knock on the door downstairs interfered her train of thoughts. She looked behind her and below. She gripped the legs of the bal.u.s.ter and gazed at Pepe 2 who was approaching the door.

' Another woman of his, again, ' she thought to herself, sardonically, 'the numbers of his women never ceased to amaze me.'

When he opened the door, a person came in with a cane of his hand. It was not a woman but in fact, a man.

This man took off his hat and a recognizable face greet Pepe 2.

'Wait,' she thought, 'I know him.'

She searched throughout the corners of her brain of a memory she had with him. It's been a long time since she last saw him, but his face is still fresh on her mind.

He's a man with jet-black hair, well-trimmed eyebrows, and charcoal eyes. He stood handsomely in front of Pepe 2.

Esperanza remembered the time she first saw him, she and her friend Pepe found him lost in the woods. He was there looking for his wife. Afterward, he was knocked down by one of the civil guards with the b.u.t.t of his rifle.

'That's... That's Saragnayan. Oh my gosh! I'm glad he is okay. What is he doing here?'

Pepe 2 welcomed Saragnayan.

'Are the two of them were friends?'

She looked at the handsome visitor. Saragnayan fashionably twirled his cane. She looked at how he did it. He rotated his cane in one, two, three, four... She observed how the cane came upward and then downward, up and then down and then, something came up to her head.

She stood up in excitement. 'This could work, I think. Yeah. That's right. That could work.'

Downstairs, another man came in but before Esperanza could get a glimpse of the other visitor, she immediately dashed towards her bed.

The two visitors looked up after they heard her rush footsteps.

The newly arrived visitor asked, "Sino 'yon?" (Who' s that?)

Pepe 2 answered, "Ah! Pasyente ko." (Ah! My patient)

The new visitor looked again upstairs and started c.a.r.e.s.sing his mustache.and then afterward, came in the living room to sit down.

Saragnayan, who is still twirling his cane, gazed at the spot where Esperanza once sat. Creases formed between his eyebrows, his eyes changed. He clicked his tongue and said to Pepe 2, "Simulan na natin." (Let's get started)