Mysterious 05: Secret Tailgate

Aris Sandoval’s P.O.V.

“Aris, help me!”

I heard how Juno cried out loud. She was not opening her mouth underwater, but I was one hundred percent sure that she was urgently asking for my help based on the tone of her voice screaming for my name.

Unexplained dread and horror could be read through her entire beautiful face and I was such a fucking asshole that I couldn’t do something about it. I could feel how she was easily frightened by what was happening, but all I could do was just stare at her helplessly.

She was imprisoned in a black cage covered by dead kelps, eerie seaweeds, and water snakes. Her beautiful wrists that were handcuffed and chained at each end of the cage were being wounded every time she struggled to be free from those rusty shackles.

As some of her blood was getting mixed up into the sea, her golden tail that was also tied up front seemed to lose its vibrant tint. It was slowly and erratically varying into white, which could be the reason for her gradual weakness.

I stiffened. It felt like I got suddenly paralyzed from head to toe that I didn’t know what to do anymore.

Outside the cage, Juno was surrounded by hundreds of sea creatures in different forms. I knew that anytime soon, those in form of merman wights would be willing to thrust their spears and tridents on me if I made a mistake of crossing the black boundary on my feet.

At this time, I couldn’t help but blame myself because I was nothing but an egotistic coward. I was so powerless that I wasn’t able to do something to save Juno or something that could free her forever.

Three weeks.

It had been three weeks and yet, I still had no proper sleep. Even in business conferences, stockholder meetings, and social gatherings that I was attending, I still couldn’t think well enough. My secretary, Francine, would always jostle my elbow to drag me out from my reverie when it was already my turn to speak in front of our board of directors.

It was like my mind had always been somewhere only God knew, that no better ideas came out of it. I was always absent-minded as if I was always imagining things. I couldn’t go with my previous daily routine as I couldn’t even have barely three hours of sleep. If I ever had a chance to, I would have always been bothered by that dream. No, it was an effing nightmare.

My activity of running across the neighborhood every five o’clock in the morning which helped me from being physically fit had also left me out and was suddenly changed into laziness while burying myself in the bed trying to sleep a lot. In the end, I just couldn’t sleep more and would just face my laptop with huge and dark eye bags.

I had been restless for three consecutive weeks and always having a hard time. I guessed I would have gotten even crazier by continuously thinking of Juno and her safety.

That nightmare might indicate that she was currently in danger under the sea, and here I was… feeling so impotent that I certainly didn’t know how to step forward with my plans. All I knew was that my only way of finding her was through that Drey Laxamana.

I didn’t know how Francine did that, but she was able to get a copy of Drey Laxamana’s schedule. So yes, it had been also three weeks that I had been thinking about how would I approach that woman, whenever I secretly followed her, in a way that none of us would be dragged into whatever shame or humiliation.

For three weeks, I acted as a secret tailgate who used to follow her every step like I was a kind of stalker. I even held my video call meetings while I was on my parked car and covertly looking at her. But I must admit that among all stalkers, I was the incomparable one — a handsome heartthrob who would be treated by women as a secret admirer!

Within three weeks, I also did different methods to research further information that would fully support if that Drey Laxamana really came from El Nido. I filed a leave for three days just to continuously watch all of her recent and past TV guesting videos up to the simplest interviews. I also had my eyes on her jolly and smart-alecky videos on MeTube. I did not let go of even the most minor detail for me to know the truth.

I was desperate that indeed, I even hired a private investigator. And hell yes, it was confirmed that Drey Laxamana came from El Nido, Palawan. In fact, she grew up there. She just studied her bachelor’s degree here in Manila, after her long vacation in the United States.

Damn it!

I closed my eyes and gently massaged my forehead. I hated this feeling. I was sick and tired of her. The truth was… I was starting to loathe everything about her.

She did nothing to me except for giving me that sudden slap in the airplane, but at the same time and no matter how hard I ever tried to deny it, she was only contributing to my problems. She was just adding to my anxiety as I thought about Juno’s whereabouts.

I wasn’t able to know where all my flings came from, but that Drey Laxamana? I just saw her three weeks ago. Our first encounter was even worst, but here I was, trying to find a reason why I would have gotten so stupid just by thinking about her… to the extent that I already researched her damn entire life. I didn’t even experience filing a leave for a date, but it was quite ironic that I filed a leave for that Drey.

Shit! She is nothing, Aris. You’re just curious about her because she came from El Nido and she was able to draw Juno way back her teenage years for an unknown reason.

You’re just thinking about her because for now, she is your only way to find Juno and you’re already desperate that she might be the only person who could help you. Other than that, she has no value to you.

Like all the other women that you had crossed paths with, when you’re done with her, you’re just going to throw her away without even caring about her feelings. The only difference is that virginity is not the issue here. That was not the reason why you were chasing her for the past three weeks.

It might sound weird but I guessed, my subconscious mind tried to convince me.

And she’s definitely not my type! I added with conviction.

It was a good thing that I had just taken a short nap here in my car while watching her, or else, I would have missed her next errands. This was not the right time for me to lose my focus on her. I already invested time and money on this mission, might as well gain some factual results.

I would do everything for you, Juno. I promise I will soon find you!

After staying inside her car for a few more minutes, I saw Drey Laxamana finally went out of it and excitingly made her way to the famous coffee shop in town. She was wearing a simple off-shoulder red blouse matched with white fitted pants. Her hair was perfectly ponytailed and she was also wearing about a five-inch-heel pair of sandals. I could say that she was quite a head-turner while looking at how her butt swayed too fast.

Some men behind her couldn’t help themselves but to also look at her butt. Damn maniacs!

I waited for her to enter the glass door first before I decided to get off my car.