Payb Takes

Italia Nei Nostri Cuori

June 6, 6pm, Macau:

M gets back to her hotel room to get ready for a dinner with the Dabarkads after a day of shopping in Macau. They have arrived earlier that day from HongKong.

She checks her phone for messages or missed calls from R but there were none. The last time, they spoke was that morning before they took the ferry from HongKong to Macau. R mentioned he will be busy the whole day in a shoot.

M: Nasa shoot pa siguro. *shrugs and sets her phone down on the table, walks to her bed, where she sees a small box and a red rose*

She picks up the rose and looks at the box curiously. She picks it up and finds a small note.

"Tonight, let me take you back to Italy, Love." It read.

Her heart starts pounding in her chest and she smiles from ear to ear. "He's here!", her own voice shrills in her head. She knows exactly who the box and the rose is from. She opens the box and finds a keycard.

M wants to run to the room which has its number on the card but asks herself first, "How can I be sure it's from RJ?"

Just then, she receives a viber message from R that shows just the hotel room number.

M gets and up and runs to the room shown in the keycard.

She takes a deep breath before punching in the card to open the door. She pushes the door slowly and looks around. It's empty.

She's steps in and wonders where R is.

M: Akala ko andito sya. *pouts, walks to the bed and finds another red rose on a big box*

M opens the box and grins at what she finds. The contents look really familiar, nostalgic even. She takes them out one by one and lay them on the bed: a hooded trench coat, a neck scarf, a black wig and large rimmed glasses. At the bottom of the box is a note and a map that says "You know the drill, Agent Mendoza. Meet me at the marked spot in 1900 hours."

M can't help but grin at the elaborate effort R has done for this "mission". She goes in front of the mirror and wears the wig, the scarf and the coat. After taking a look at her reflection, she smiles widely and dons the eyeglasses ready to take on this new mission with her fiancee.

She carefully sneaks out and goes to the spot R marked on the map.

********
M stands on top of a replica of the Rialto bridge. That was the marked spot. There is a flood of tourists whom she met earlier walking her way so she looks down and adjusts her neck scarf to cover her chin and lips. She darts watchful eyes around her, fearing someone might recognize her. She closes her eyes and silently wishes for R. "Where are you, Love? If you're really here, lumabas ka na please."

Right then, a strong arm glides across her back and holds her shoulder. The owner of the arm pulls her to him and secures her arm with his right hand. She does not need to look up. The arms that hold her feels too familiar, like her home. She knows it's RJ, her RJ. She leans her head on his securing chest and catches a whiff of his scent as he stirs her from the crowd. It's a scent she can never mistake for anyone else. It's RJ.