Growing up in a well-known family, Celeste Aragon always lived in unending rules. And among all of the rules, there's one rule she should never violate: Never ever show her special ability to anyone. Her being illusionist should be a secret. But Cel...
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
PA-TATLONG beses na niyang ipinakita sa akin ang litrato sa kanyang phone.
At kahit titigan ko man ang mukha ng lalaking 'yon, hindi ko talaga matandaan. Galing daw ang litratong 'yon sa footage ng CCTV.
They are really from Institute Center. There are three of them. 'Yong dalawa nasa labas. 'Yong babae lang ang nandito sa living room, nakaupo sa harapan ko. Si Uncle nandito rin, probably confused why they are asking me about this guy. Well, I'm confused as heck, too.
The guy they kept on showing me is a teenager that I don't really know. But here they are asking me about him.
"You don't really remember him?" she asked, for the umpteenth time. Tinitigan ko lang siya, pagod na akong umiling at magsabi ng 'Nope'.
Tumikhim si Uncle nang mamayani ang katahimikan.
"Who is he, by the way? Anong kinalaman ni Celeste diyan?" Kalmado siya, at halatang curious na.
The woman, who introduced herself as Johaira Abaya, turned sideways to face him. "Just this afternoon, our guards found this boy hiding inside a bar. It happened that they also saw Celeste with him. Tumakbo raw silang dalawa papalabas, pero ang naabutan lang nila ay ang iyong pamangkin."
My forehead creased in disbelief and confusion. Napansin 'yon ni Ms. Abaya kaya napatitig siya sa akin, bahagyang nakangiti.
Bukod sa gusto kong itanong sa kanya kung bakit wala naman akong maalala sa mga sinasabi niya, may isa pang tumatakbo sa isipan ko... Hinahabol ba nila 'yong lalaking 'yon? Wanted?
"Bakit, hinahabol niyo ba siya?"
"He's doing illegal things." She slightly raised her brows. "He's seen trespassing establishments, and when we say trespassing we mean he's not using his ID. Ang hula namin wala talaga siyang dalang ID."
"How could he trespass?"
"It's because of his ability, Doc Finn. He's a technopath." She sipped on the coffee the maid prepared. "You see, nakapasok nga siya sa bar na 'yon. If he used his ID, for sure, he wouldn't make it inside. But because of his ability, he tried to sneak in."
"But I already told you, I have never met that guy. Hindi ko talaga siya kilala, as in completely. Bakit parang sobrang importante yata siya?" To the point na pumunta pa talaga sila rito.
"You see, this boy, we've been searching him for almost a month. Hindi lang dahil sa pag-trespass, dahil na rin sa mga pagnanakaw niya." Oh. A thief? "There are bunch of CCTVs, we see how he did it. Pero bakit siya hindi nahuhuli?"
She leaned back in her chair. Her last line was more of a cliff-hanging statement rather than a question.
"Naniniwala kaming may ginagawa siya kung bakit," Ms. Abaya continued. "Maraming tao na rin ang nakausap namin gaya ng pag-uusap natin ngayon. They're all saying the same... 'hindi namin kilala 'yan.' The same thing you keep on saying."
