Chasing an Angel

C1.2

"Good morning, sorry to have bounced in without permission but I thought Leo or any of his cousins are here who may not only have heard me knocking at the main door so, I entered through the side door when I saw that it is open. I'm Alden by the way, Leo's best friend since elementary and almost a member of his family." He then extended his hand to Meng.

Meng feeling discomfited ignored his extended hand, proceeded to the sink to continue her dish-washing activities and retorted. "Who cares whatever relation or connection existed between you and my cousin? I just believe that one should have at least the decency to obtain permission before entering anybody's house."

She further quipped "I don't know you and how could I be assured of the authenticity of your claim for me to easily trust you as it may be possible that you may be someone pretending to know my cousin?"

"What the heck?" Meng heard the man who introduced himself as Alden utter in disgust. "Miss I said I'm sorry. I never expected anyone aside from Leo or any member of his or his uncle's family that I all happen to know personally to encounter inside this house. You claim to be his cousin and, adapting your line of thinking, it makes me wonder too if you really are, or, just claiming to be one. Reiterating what I have said earlier, I know all of them. How come then that in our more than a decade of friendship, I have never seen you nor heard from any of them about you. Now, who do you think between us is the most probable impostor?"

This caused Meng to see red and screamed "Get out of this house now!  Please. If you think I am an illegal occupant then don't waste precious time, call the police right now before I have a chance to escape."

"No need to raise your voice further and scare the whole neighborhood, I am leaving right now. I am an almost extended member of the family for years now, but why do I need to explain this to you. Kindly tell Leo or any of his cousins that I dropped by. Oh never mind though, I don't want to owe you any favor, It's a disgust that I left my phone at Dad's office and can't call him but other than this place, I know where to find him. And although it may not seem so at the present circumstances but, it's nice meeting you, Miss Sungit. See you again very soon." And with that Alden turned his back and was out of the house in a jiffy.

Meng was left shocked and confused. She was still feeling very much embarrassed to have been caught in that very awkward situation, her mouth bulging with food. What more, she was surprised at herself for being so totally rude to Alden when what he had only actually done which seems to be out of place was entering the house without due permission and, basing from his declarations this was due to his closeness with all the members of his uncles' families.

Alden had been so apologetic when he realized that someone he is not familiar is in the house but she has chosen to ignore his apologies. She was overpowered by the feeling of gawkiness, so, she resorted to insolence as cover-up for her embarrassment. This was very unlikely of her and she's wondering what caused her to react that way.

This dismal feeling made Meng decide to forego her familiarization tour of the city and, to shake away from her consciousness that low-spirited morning experience, she kept busy by cleaning and arranging whatever there is to be done within the house. Likewise, she checked and made sure that she had all the necessary documents that may be required from her in the process of her job quest.

The day passed swiftly and Meng only realized that it is already late afternoon when her two cousins who attended the same school bounced in and handed her a pasalubong, a bunch of mangoosten, one of her favorite fruits that is abundant in the place but rare and expensive in the place where she and her family lived. Her cousins are aware that she's fond of fruits hence, most of the time they bring her fruits that are abundant in that place.

The three of them prepared dinner and are almost done when the door opened and Leo came in with the smiling Alden behind him both carrying a big box each in one hand.