His lips formed a little smile. "Okay lang naman sila Mama, San, Zia. Si Leil, lumalaban. Inaatake pa rin paminsan-minsan ng sakit. The case with our father went... well. At some point." Mapakla siyang tumawa.
My brows furrowed. "What do you mean?"
"May nangyari lang na hindi dapat nangyari."
"Like what?" I dug deeper.
"Doing something against the law," he seriously said, licking the popsicle while looking afar.
"You?" Tinuro ko siya, hindi-makapaniwala. "What did you do?" I asked warily.
"Ako talaga? Hindi ako. Hindi ako ganoon ka bobo. Ginagamit ko utak ko."
"Then if it's not you, then who?"
"Ares." He sounded so cold, even his eyes had no emotions.
Napatagilid ang ulo ko, nalilito na kung ano ba'ng nangyari sa kanila. "Ares? What have he done? Where is he right now?" sunod-sunod na tanong ko.
"Kulungan."
I gasped and my hand flew to my chest. "Ano'ng ginawa niya?" I didn't give that question up. I can help him.
Marco's lips curved up a little. "Daming tanong," natatawang sabi niya bago tumayo.
"You won't help him get out?" I stood up too, not stopping from asking.
"No," he answered in a dismissive tone. "Gusto mo mag Christmas shopping? Punta tayong mall. Tapos na duty ko ngayon," he shifted the topic quickly, and walked first.
Naglakad lang kami papunta sa mall dahil malapit lang iyon. Ilang liko lang. I was spacing out since my head was wrapped with the thought of Ares being in jail. I had lots of questions, especially because Marco didn't want to help him. Ginagawa niya ang lahat para sa pamilya niya... Why not this time?
"Dito ka nga." Marquenzo pulled my arm gently and put me on the other side of the pathway, siya sa may daan.
Hindi ako nagsalita. Maliliit ang hakbang ko kaya niliitan din niya ang steps niya. I put both my hands inside the pocket of my slacks as we walked silently. The Christmas vibes around us could almost be smelled, but here we are acting like it was Halloween.
"Are you okay? You're quiet." I couldn't help but point out. Nag-aalala ako para sa kaniya. Okay pa sa 'kin na barahin niya ako out of the blue.
Ngumiti siya. "Of course, I am okay."
That was what he was good at. Lying.
"Friends don't lie," I unconsciously blurted.
He tilted his head to the side. "We're not friends," he told me calmly.
Natigilan ako. "It was just a random thought. I wasn't pertaining to you," I found a way out of the hole I dived into. "Sana gumising na si Manu, 'no? Christmas is in a few weeks. Kawawa naman si Cali saka Azi," pag-iiba ko kaagad para masalba ang sarili sa pagkapahiya.
"Gigising iyan," he assured me.
"How sure are you?" Marco immediately arched a brow at my negativeness. I shrugged. "Look, nothing's certain. He's basically living just because of the oxygen attached to him. Paano kung tanggalin iyon? Naubusan ng oxygen nang hindi namamalayan? How sure are you he will survive?"
"Because I'm a doctor."
"And you doctors are liars."
"Offensive."
"Most of the time, you don't tell the truth to your patients. You think you are protecting them but no. You're just prolonging their pain. You're keeping their hopes up. You're pretentious."
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