WEEDEN looked at the phone in furrowed brows after the woman who claimed to be the owner of the Minase Funeral Services, dropped the phone call without hearing his response first.

“And, what did the woman say? Harsh description?” Weeden wanted to laugh. “I’m just stating facts.”

He lowered the phone and looked at the flyers. If he couldn’t talk to the woman over the phone, then he should speak to her personally to make her pay for what she did on his painting. Weeden sighed. That painting wasn’t just one his past time paintings, he specially made it as a gift for his twin brother’s wedding. And, just because of a nosy woman, who doesn’t have a comprehension, the painting that he worked for almost four hours got ruined in just a matter of seconds.

Weeden took a snapshot on the address of the funeral. He was about to get ready when his phone rang. It was Walter who’s calling.

“What’s up?” Walter asked him without a proper greeting. “I saw you on the internet. A lot of people took a photo of you.”

“Yeah, and they were all thinking that it was you,” he said in a bored tone. “I just can’t understand your fans here, they claimed that they love you with all their heart, but they can’t distinguish your features with me.”

He heard his twin brother laughed on the other line. “Calm down, Weeden. You can’t blame my fans, they didn’t know that I have an identical twin,” he said then laughed again. “And, by the way, one of the main reasons why I invited you to attend my wedding is to introduce you to the public as my twin brother. So that my fans won’t mistake you again as me, just like what happened to the airport.”

“Yeah, right,” Weeden said skeptically. “I doubt it. I’m sure most of your fans would still mistake me as you, but it doesn’t matter, I won’t stay here for long. I’m just here for your wedding, and after that, I’ll fly back to France and continue my peaceful life as an artist.”

“I’m not against that,” Walter chirped. “And, Weeden, I know you brought something for me. Bring it now at my house, I wanna see it. Is that the replica of the Palay Maiden?”

Weeden doesn’t know how to say to him that the painting was ruined by a nosy woman. “Walter… The painting is gone…”

Silence. Then after a few seconds, Walter spoke. “What did you say? I’m not sure I heard it right.”

Weeden heaved a sigh. “The painting is gone. The woman ruined it.”

“Woman?” Walter repeated, his voice sounded confused. “Who? And why?”

Weeden picked up the flyer on his desk. “I’ll be at your house in thirty-minutes—”

“One hour,” Walter corrected. “The traffic in E.D.S.A is always heavy. Bring one kilo of patience with you.”

____________________

“MY GOSH, how did he know the Minase’s landline?” Ruru asked while walking back and forth in their lobby. She became nervous and anxious after the call. “And, why he described me as if I’m… I’m…”

“Not so pretty?” Meri asked. She was with other employees, sitting on the settee in the lobby and watching her having a monologue. “Did he say that your eyes are—”

“Do you want me to end your contract now?” Ruru threatened the young janitress.

“I’m just asking, Ma’am Ruru,” Meri said and laughed.

“Ma’am Ruru, maybe he saw it on the flyers that you gave him?” Santi asked, compared to her other employees, Santi was a little okay.

“I didn’t because he refused all the promos that I offered him,” she said and worriedly walked back and forth again. “What if he tells it to the police? What if he filed a case against me? What if he posted me on social media?”

“Calm down, Ma’am Ruru. I haven’t seen your face on the internet,” Emong said, not taking his eyes off the phone.

“Ma’am, I hope you don’t mind, but may we know the reason why the caller is looking for you? And, why are you acting as if you’d done a crime?” Miko asked. He was standing on the doorway. Even, he’s into the meeting, he was still doing his job to secure the funeral, unlike the others that just plopped on the settee and watched her over-think things.

Ruru hesitated to answer. But she thought that her employees deserved to know what’s happening to her. She can see in their faces they’re all worried about her. Except to Emong, and Meri, and Santi, and—never mind!

“I…” Ruru started. “I ruined his painting, and he said that the painting caused almost a hundred thousand!” she said and started to cry. “But I didn’t mean to do that… It was partly his fault!”

“What?!” All of them shouted together. “Ma’am Ruru, we have a lot of problems here, why did you bring us another one?”

Ruru looked at Meri in a knotted forehead. “Why do you sound like as if you’re paying Minase’s debt?”

“Ma’am Ruru, I am part of Minase. Whatever the funeral is experiencing, I’m also affected,” Meri explained wholeheartedly.

“Meri’s right, Ma’am Ruru,” Santi agreed and sighed. “And, she’s also right that you brought home another big problem.”

Ruru paused with what she heard. “H-home?” she repeated then after a few seconds, she cried again. “I’m sorry… I’m really sorry…” she covered her face and wept in tears. “If I knew that it was a painting, I wouldn’t touch it.”

“Ma’am Ruru, whatever it is, you should not touch it in the first place,” Meri said. “And, if he showed you that he’s not interested in you, you shouldn’t keep on squeezing yourself to him, because in the end, you’ll end up hurt and alone—”

“What the fuck are you saying?” Ruru asked frustratingly. “I’m problematic now, and here you are talking about nonsense—”

“Ma’am Ruru!” Miko suddenly entered the lobby. Based on his expression, it looked like that they wouldn’t like what he’s going to say.

“What is it, Miko?” Ruru asked in a shaky voice. Sweats started to trickle down her temple.

Miko swallowed hard. “There’s a police car outside, and they’re going here at the Minase Funeral.”

***