Unseen Strings

Chapter 7: Falso allarme

After I lost consciousness, I caught myself already lying on my bed. As I looked around, I saw Kiel, my assistant, slicing some fruits, while Celeste was sitting beside my bed.

I stretched out my arms. Gosh, what happened? What I only know is that nothing happened to me.

“Goodness, Soleen! You’re awake.” Saad nito na kaagad lumapit saakin.

“What happened?” I asked in confusion.
I can’t remember what really happened from yesterday clearly. My mind is still too nebulous to remember anything.

I checked if anything happened to me, but gladly there’s nothing serious happened to me.

“You collapsed due to fatigue, Madame.” Kiel asserted.

“Sabi ko naman sa’yo na alagaan mo ‘yang sarili mo e! Tigas talaga ng ulo mo kahit kailan, Viv.” She nagged at me.

See, this is why I don’t want to tell anything about me—my situation, I don’t want them to get worried even more.

“I’m okay! Ano ka ba.”

“Pero pa’no ako napunta rito?” I inquired, my mind filled with questions.

“Nakita ka na lang nila Manang Belle na walang malay sa kwarto mo, alalang-alala nga sila kaya tinawagan kami.”

I’m sure that’s not what happened. Kahit hindi ko masyadong maalala ang mga nangyari alam kong hindi ako nakahiga kagabi rito.

I’m so sure that there’s something that happened to me last night that is related to Von, that jerk.

“Kiel, review the CCTV.” I ordered.

“We already did, Madame. I think something went wrong with the CCTV.” I bit my bottom lip in frustration as I recalled everything that happened yesterday little-by-little. 

Von.

If I could just kill him, I already killed him.

“I need to move out, as in now, asap. I need a new house.” Celeste’s forehead creased in confusion while Kiel just nodded.

“I’ll take care of it right away, Madame.” I nodded.

I need to make a move. I need to think of a plan if I really want him to disappear from my life.

If throwing away and giving his things away doesn’t make him stop, I need a better plan.
But how?

“What? Why?” She asked.

“He went here!...again.” I exclaimed.

“Sabi ko naman sa’yo, lumipat kana, Viv. Baka ano pa ang gawin niyan sasusunod!” I brushed my fingers through my hair.

“Yeah, fine, that’s what I’m going to do. Celeste, don’t worry.”

“Who wouldn’t? You always put yourself in danger, Vivi. Pero lagi mong sinasabi na, we shouldn’t be worried about you!” She nagged as her voice began to get loud.

“Fine. I’m sorry. Calm down.” I said, stroking her back, trying to calm her down.

“Sasamahan kita mag-hanap ng bagong malilipatan, that’s it!“ I just nodded in agreement. Wala rin naman akong magagawa, hindi magpapa-pigil si Celeste.

Celeste and Kiel both took care of finding a house that’s where I’ll move in. Celeste searched for a better one for me, and of course, she ensured that I’d be in a secure and good environment.

And, even I don’t want to move out and look for another place, I have no choice. This means, mapapalayo ako sa workplace ko.

Hinayaan ko na lang sila na ang mamili sa’kin at mag-asikaso.

I just want to move out asap. I don’t care if I need to buy a penthouse, villa, mansion, whatever. What I want is to get away from that man!

“You can move out tomorrow, Madame.” Kiel informed me on call. I sighed in relief. Finally!
But I don’t even know if this plan will actually work.

“Thanks, Kiel...”

“No worries, madame. Is there anything else you want?“

“No, thank you, I’m okay. Mag-pahinga ka na lang din.” I heard him hum in agreement. I bid my goodbye and disconnected the phone call.

Did I make the right choice? Is he going to stop bothering me this time?

This is the last choice that I have, and I don’t know what can I do anymore from him to stop bothering me. Wala na akong planong naiisip pa para tantanan niya ‘ko.

Is this how badly he really wants me to get married to someone like him? To him, a stalker or perhaps not just that!

My life was peaceful when he didn’t show up. But now, I feel like I’m being trapped by him kahit na hindi niya naman ako kinulong.

Ano ba? Bakit ba gustong-gusto niya ikasal sa’kin? Did he see something special? That’s kind of ridiculous though.

Kahit kailan talaga ang corny ng pag-ibig.

The next morning, after I packed my things, I immediately moved out without any hesitation. I really want to get away from him.

“Ma’am, saan ho ilalagay? ‘tong mga iba niyo pang gamit?“ Manong Manuel inquired.

Siya kasi ang tumulong sa’kin sa pag-lilipat ko. Hindi ko naman kasi puwedeng utusan sila Manang Belle at Lily dahil mabibigat ang mga ibang gamit ko kaya nagpatulong ako kay Manong Manuel at kay Kiel.

“Paki-lagay na lang po ‘yan sa kwarto sa itaas.” He nodded and quickly headed upstairs with my baggage.

I didn’t know that Celeste bought a villa instead.
“Madame, everything’s fine?“ I flinched in surprise when I heard Kiel behind me.

Ano ba ‘tong lalaki na ‘to, parang multo kung maglakad, walang ka-tunog tunog kung mag-lakad.

“Yes, you can go now.”

“Sure?”

“Yeah, don’t worry. I’ll be fine here.” He nodded in agreement.

“Understood, Ma’am. Call me if something happened to you.” I nodded.

Sino ba talaga ang boss sa’min, siya o ako?

“Ma’am Sol, Pwede na ho kayong kumain.” I shook my head.

Hindi ko alam pero nawalan ako ng ganang kumain pa.

“I’ll eat later, Manang. Kayo na lang po muna ang kumain, alam kong napagod din kayo.” It was obvious from her expression that she’s worried about me but she didn’t say anything and just nodded and left, they can’t force me anyway.

I sighed in distress.

How can I catch him? Do I need to hire a hacker or something?....

I shut my eyes, naaalala ko nanaman bigla ‘yung nangyari kagabi.

How dare is he. to touch me. without my permission.

No man ever dared to touch me!

Sana kung hindi niya ako hinawakan ay hindi ako nahimatay! Im assuming that he’s undoubtedly muscular, and it’s obvious—I could feel his hand almost covering my waist.

May iba pa kaya siyang ginawa? Gosh, no way. Sabihan ko kaya sila Manang Belle na tabihan ako sa pag-tulog?

But I shouldn’t show that I feared him....pero wala na, nahimatay na ako sa harap niya!

Ginulo ko ang buhok ko sa irita. Na-iirita talaga ako kapag-iniisip ko ‘yung lalaki na ‘yon.

If I could just erase him sa buhay ko, matagal ko na siyang inalis!

That day, I stayed up late in my office in the—It’s Kiel who helped me set this up. I’m getting stressed just by thinking about what I’ve been experiencing; there’s nothing I could do but just distract myself by drowning myself in my work related to the company.

It was in the middle of the night—three o’clock has reached me yet I’m still doing a lot of stuff in my office. Arranging some documents—meetings with clients.

Even though I’m wide awake—my eyes were already getting droopy due to lack of sleep; I couldn’t sleep. My mind was filled with fear that Von might come here again and do something to me, but I shoved away my thoughts and continued working.

I finally finished my loaded work after some hours. I glanced at the wall clock that’s in front of me.
It’s already 7:00 am, and I haven’t slept yet. I saw my reflection on my laptop’s screen and noticed an eye bags under my eyes. Goodness, I really need to get some sleep.

I sighed in relief when I realized Von didn’t actually come here and find out about my departure.

Mabuti naman kung gano’n, na-punta pa kasi ako rito sa Novaliches para lang makalayo. And I’m relieved that he didn’t bother me today—like, give me a damn break.

I don’t know if this is real, though. Is he finally giving up on me?