Chapter Two

Angela

"Angela? Wake up, we're here."

Kinusot ko ang mata ko at napatingin ako sa labas.

The fog is covering the entire parking lot and the overlooking view of the place. There is a three-storey building and its walls are surrounded by vines. May mga bulaklak din sa paligid at may ilan ding hanging plants sa harap.

Pagpasok namin sa cafe ay may ilang customers na. Napatingin ang mga staff sa kasama ko at sa akin.

"Good morning. Ellisa!" bati ng cashier.

"Good morning, Ella. Nasaan ang iba?"

"Wait a minute."

Pumasok siya sa isang pintuan at paglabas niya ay may kasama na siya ng tatlong babae.

"Hi guys. I want you to meet Angela Jade Cordova. She will be working here from now. Take care of her. Okay?"

"Noted, boss!" sabay-sabay nilang sagot.

"Great. Angela, I want you to meet the girls of Baguio Branch. This is Ella and Abby, our cashiers. This is Vera, our barista and the last one is Mira, our baker."

"Nice to meet you."

"Now, you will be a waitress but at the same time, Vera will be the one who will train you to be a barista. We badly need one, that's why we need some helping hands. Is that alright?"

"Of course. Thank you so much!"

Ngumiti sila sa akin at bahagyang kumaway.

"Let's go upstairs. The third floor of this building is the dormitory for the staff."

Nagpaalam na kami kila Ella bago umakyat sa third floor. Everyone can tell that the building is very secure. There are security cameras in every corner and there are also sprinklers in case of fire.

"Uhm, I have a question."

"Yes?"

"Why are there no security guards? The staff are all female. Wala bang nagiging problema sa security?"

"About that, those ladies are not ordinary. They can handle different situations very well."

"What if something goes wrong?"

"You just have to trust them."

Pagdating namin sa bungad ng this floor ay may keypad ang pinto. May tila camera rin sa gilid.

"Come here, I need to register your face in the scanner. It's for security measures."

Tumapat ako sa camera at ilang sandali lang ay may robotic voice ang nagsalita.

"Registered. Welcome to Themis Homes."

Pumasok na kami at sumalubong ang isang maluwag na living room. Mayroong walong pinto at bawat pinto ay pangalan na. Sa pinaka bungad ang pangalan ni Ellisa. Katabi nito ang dalawa pang pinto kung saan nakalagay ang pangalan nila Ella at Abby.

"Just like what I've said earlier, the third floor serves as your home as you stay here. You will have your own room. But sadly, due to limited space, iisa lang ang bathroom. But don't worry. It is divided into three cubicles. Each cubicle has shower and toilet. May mga sink din sa labas ng cubicle."

Naglakad siya papunta sa dulo kaya naman sumunod lang ako.

"This will be your room."

Sa loob ng kwarto ay may isang closet, table at single size bed. Tamang-tama lang para sa isang tao. Kung tutuusin ay medyo malaki pa nga siya.

"I know this is not as big as your room in your mansion, but I hope this will do."

"Thank you. Yes it is not as big as my room, but somehow, it feels like home."

She smiled at me and patted my back. "I'm glad you feel that way. You should change your clothes. Mira prepared breakfast for you. Mauna na muna ako."

"Thank you ulit. Susunod na lang agad ako."

Akala ko ay lalabas na si Ellisa pero tumigil siya at humarap sa akin.

"Welcome home, Angela Jade Cordova."

That's right. I'm no longer Angela Jade Belcher. I'm no longer the girl who is like a puppet.

I'm Angela Jade Cordova. I will do anything that I want and I will just be myself.

***

It's been three months since I started working at the Café . Kung ang branch sa Manila ay 24 hours open, ang branch sa Baguio ay mula 4:00 am hanggang 10:00 pm lang. Dahil limitado lang ang staff ay hindi pa magawang magbukas sa loob ng bente-kwatro oras ng café.

Sarado na ang Cafe at naayos naman na namin ang lahat kaya nasa third floor na kami ng lahat.

"Hey guys. Parang gusto ko ng fries." sabi ko habang nagpupunas ng buhok dahil kagagaling ko lang sa shower.

Kinuha naman ni Mira ang susi ng sasakyan. Natataka siyang napatingin sa akin. "Napapadalas Ata ang fries mo, Angela. Para kang naglilihi."

"Come to think of it. Ang sungit mo at hindi mo kami pinapansin pag hindi ka nakakain ng fries." hirit pa ni Abby.

Natahimik naman ako dahil sa sinabi nila.

"Oh, kaysa sumimangot ka riyan, halika na. Bibili na tayo ng fries sa drive thru."

Nang makabili na kami ng fries at pauwi na ay may nadaanan kami na botika.

"Hey. Would you mind if I buy something at the drugstore?"

"Hmn?” she glanced at me and nodded her head, “sure. Just be quick."

Pagkapark ni Mira ay agad na akong pumasok sa drugstore. Nabili ko na agad ang gusto ko bilihin.

"Are those pregnancy tests?"

"Yes. I need to confirm something."

"I was just joking a while ago. You don't need to be this serious."

"I had a one night stand three months ago. I need to make sure if I'm pregnant or not."

"You what?! Do you even know the guy?"

"Sadly, no. I'll tell you guys everything later."

"Alright."

Pag uwi ay dumeretso agad ako sa banyo. Matapos ang ilang sandali na pag hihintay ay nakita ko na ang resulta.

All of the tests are positive.

I'm pregnant. And I don't even know who the father is.

"Hey, are you okay?" tanong ni Mira sa akin. Lahat kami ay nasa loob na ng banyo. Nag aala silang nakatingin sa akin.

"It's positive."

Everyone went silent.

Lumabas ako ng banyo at umupo sa living room. I sighed a few times as I brushed my hairs using my fingers out of frustration.

"Hey, hey. Calm down. We will sort things out. Okay?" Sabi ni Abby habang hinahagod ang likod ko.

My tears began to fall as they comforted me. "What should I do now? What if Ellisa kicks me out?"

Vera offered me a glass of water and sat beside me. "She won't. We know her."

"What should I do with this child?"

"Have a check up as soon as possible. Maybe this weekend will do. Ako na ang bahala kumausap kay Ellisa." Sabi namna ni Ella.

"Thank you guys."

"You should eat your fries or else it will get soggy. The baby will not like it." Sabi naman ni Mira at inabot na ang bag ng fries sa akin.

Napahagulhol naman ako dahil sa kanila.

"Hey, dapat tatahan ka na! Hindi iiyak lalo!" natatarantang Sabi ni Mira habang hinahanap ang box ng tissue.

"Thank you guys."

***

After a few days pagpunta si Ellisa sa cafe ay ipinagpaalam ako ni Ella. Pumayag naman sya agad na magpacheck up ako.

On our way home, I can't help but to smile.

"Congrats, Angela."

"Thank you."

"Should we buy some stuff for the twins?"

Tumawa ako at hinampas ang braso niya. "Ella, we don't even know their gender yet. It's too early to buy stuff."

"Nah, I'm pretty sure that the girls will say the same things. I'll bet a thousand pesos, all of them will convince you to buy stuff."

I giggled as I looked at the view outside. Who would have thought that one single night would change my life? I might not know who the father is, but it somehow made me happy.

It’s been months since I met him. I can’t even remember his face. But one thing is for sure. He’s handsome.

Ilan sandali lang ay nakarating na kami sa cafe. Nagmamadali na bumaba si Ella at pinagmadali na rin niya ako. Natatawa man, sumunod na lang ako sa kaniya.

"Where's Ellisa?"

"She's upstairs, in her office." Sabi naman ni Mira

"Oh, okay. I'll change first and I'll help you guys." Sabi ko bag umakyat.

Pagpasok ko sa pinto ng third floor ay narinig ko ang galit na boses ni Ellisa. Dahil katabi lang ng entrance ang pinto ng office niya ay napatingin ako roon. Bahagyang nakabukas iyon and I can see Ellisa wearing an earpiece in front of her laptop.

"This is why I told you to train more agents from the intelligence unit!"

"Fuck who ever this bastard is. Why can't you even track this shit?"

Is she tracking someone?

Pumasok ako sa office niya kaya napatingin siya sa akin.

"Angela? You shouldn't be here." nakita ko ang pangamba sa mukha niya.

Hindi ko na siya pinansin at nagtuloy-tuloy na sa tabi niya. "Are you tracking someone? Maybe I could help."

Nakatingin lang siya sa akin.

"Let me borrow this."

Kinuha ko na ang keyboard niya at saglit na inasses ang nangyayari. Someone's hacking their system. Maybe it's the system of Themis Cafe?

Mabilis akong nagtipa sa keyboard at napabuntong hininga pa ng ilang beses. After ten minutes ay naging maayos na rin ang lahat.

"What did you just do?"

"I created a new firewall for the system. I also created a fake firewall that is easy to break. Once he breaks that shit and accesses the files in there, his device will automatically shut down because of the virus. In short, the files that he will be accessing is a virus. The firewall that I created for your system is just temporary. You should make some strong firewall if you don't want this to happen again."

She was speechless for a moment.

"I also tracked the bastard you're referring to. I sent the location to the server connected to your system. But Ellisa,"

She looked at me as I stopped in the middle of my sentence.

"It's not the system of the cafe. It has a huge database. It even contains some criminal records as well as some information about the black market. Ellisa, tell me honestly. Who are you?"

She removed her earpiece and sighed before looking at me.

"I'm Ellisa Marie Fuentebella. Also known as Libra of Zodiac Organization, a secret group that consists of special agents that help people in cases that the government can't solve. We are living under the shadows and only a few people know about our organization. But now that you know about this,"

She reached for something in her back pocket that made me back off. Is she going to kill me?

"Do you want to join us?"

She offered a card to me and I only looked at her.

"Don't worry. You can choose any field that you want. That is if you want to join."

"And what if I don't?"

"Then we have to accept it. But since you helped us in this case, and you saw our files, we need to pay you a huge sum of money just to keep you silent. Once you spread a word about this, we have no choice but to solve it in our own ways."

I looked at her and held the card in front of my face and assessed it once again. "Look, it's not like I need the money from your organization. I’m earning enough money with the salary that the cafe provides. But what can I get once I decide to join?"

"Your safety will be guaranteed. You will also undergo training in the field you've chosen. And in every mission, there will be a payment. So, are you in?"

Ellisa offered her hand and smiled widely at me.

It seems that the path that I've chosen is not as simple as it seems.