"Im glad you two are here!"
Ani Mr. Ybanez ng mabungaran sina Sophia at Rain sa hapag kainan. Madalang pa sa patak ng ulan sa africa kung silay mag pang abot.
"Good Evening Mr. Ybanez!"
The two of them greet him in chorus na ikinakunot noo ng matanda.
"Sit down!"
Utos niya sa dalawa.
"By the way, the payment is already deposited in your account!"
"Yeah?"
Alanganing tanong si Rain sa matanda, napagtanto nyang siya ang tinutukoy nito.
"Our operation is not for free, those fuckers we took down are not small time anyway. Barya lang sa kanila iyan!"
"Salamat po!"
Ani Rain who slightly vow his head, habang tahimik lamang si Sophia na nakikinig sa kanila.
"But where's for Soph—"
"She's already rich, she doesn't need it!"
"Lo'. ."
Tutol ni Sophia sa pagbibiro ng matanda.
Nakangisi naman ang huli alam kasi nitong aalma talaga ang apo.
"Ofcourse, it was equally devided amongst the team!"
"By the way sir, can I give half of mine to the family of those victims?"
Biglang nagpunas ng bibig si Mr. Ybanez bago tinitigan ang anak.
"Being kind is good but you should think about your own future first, learn how to save money. All of this might just exist today, then what about tomorrow?"
Di nakasagot si Rain sa tanong nito, sabagay he grow up being poor siguro naman kakayanin din niyang makapagtapos kahit mahirap.
"Having a savings is way better than nothing at all, I can support you all the way till you graduates in university of your own choices. But what I'm trying to say is that when there's an emergency as we don't know what may comes tomorrow, you will survived. You get my point?"
Napatango si Rain sa matanda, tama nga ito iba parin talaga kapag meron kang mapagkukunan kesa sa talagang walang wala.
"Besides, I'm going to make sure that their family will be taken care off. So rest assured!"
Napangiti naman si Sophia she knew her grandfather will do something about it. Mr. Ybanez knew how hard it is for them, kaya nga gagawin nito ang lahat mabigyan lamang ng hustisya ang mga biktima.
"Nga pala I heard that you give an specific instruction to our men?"
Nananantiyang tanong ng matanda kay Rain. Nagkatinginan sila ni Sophia na tila ba nagpapasaklolo ang lalaki sa kanya.
"Yes sir!"
"Heads up!"
Biglang utos ni Mr. Ybanez kay Rain napayuko kasi ito na tila napapahiya.
"I told you before that you can do whatever you want even without my permission as long as it won't give us trouble—is that because of a she?"
Napanganga si Rain ng marinig ang huling katagang sinabi nito. Rain noticed that Mr. Ybanez carefully used the word "She" instead of a "Woman".
Nabaling sya bigla kay Sophia na sakto namang nakatingin sa kanya.
They looked plastered infront of the old man, as if they were caught red handed.
"Let me explain Mr. Ybanez!"
"Why the two of you are looking at me like that? As if ako ang criminal dito?"
Natatawa nitong tanong sa kanilang dalawa.
"It's just normal lahat naman tayo dadaan sa ganyan, just make sure she's one of us to avoid future trouble!"
"Yes sir!"
Maikling sagot ni Rain dahil sa totoo lang naiilang parin sya rito.
Napahinto naman ang matanda ng marinig ang sagot ng lalaki.
"By the way when we are home, you should drop that formality and call me with honorifics, I am your father after all and you too!"
Baling ng matandang Ybanez sa apo.
"You just called me 'Lo when you want something!"
Mahinang reklamo ng matanda na ikinasimangot ng dalaga.
"Opo 'Lo!"
"Yes dad!"
"Good!"
Mr. Ybanez stood up and glanced towards the two of them. Nakaugalian kasi sa kanila na antayin muna ang matatanda na matapos kumain at maunang tumayo bago ang mga nakakabata.
It's a great sign of respect!
"When you two are done, then come see me in the study room!"
Utos nito sa kanilang dalawa. After five minutes they were inside Mr. Ybanez study room. Nandoon narin si Mike at Claire.
Napangiti si Sophia ng makita ito, matagal kasi itong nawala dahil may personal na pinaasikaso si Mr. Ybanez sa kanya.
"Well lets begin!"
Paninimula ni Mr. Ybanez.
"As you've noticed I'm already launched a full war against Mondejar's ward. We already took down some of his men—Now there's Mr. Galo, he seems to be clean but that bastard is a rotten piece of shit!"
"We have his son!"
Napabaling bigla si Mr. Ybanez kay Sophia.
"How on earth?"
"I'm sorry if we did not inform you 'Lo but I did not mean to hide him. I was just trying to figure out how to make a good used of him!"
Sophia explains to his grandfather bahagya naman niyang siniko si Rain upang suportahan sya.
"Oh?"
"Ye. .yes—we are going to use him in exchange of Mr. Lim's daughter Laika!"
"Wait—what's going on here?"
Biglang napakunot noo si Mr. Ybanez ng marinig ang sinabi ni Rain.
"Why something is wrong, Sir?"
Nagtatakang tanong ni Mike.
"Who told you that Mr. Lim's daughter is with Mr. Galo?"
Napabaling ang lahat kay Sophia.
"That's what Catherine said—"
"They deceive that poor girl but anyway Mr. Lim's daughter is not with Galo, she's under Mayor Montero's wing!"
"Ho?"
Sabay nilang tanong kay Mr. Ybanez. Bigla naman silang nagkatinginan na dalawa ng mag sink in sa kanilang utak ang mga pangyayari.
"Moira!"
The two of them muttered in chorus. Daig pa nila ang nasabugan ng bomba, lalong lalo na si Rain. He was the one who killed Mr. Lim, Moira's real father.
Paano pag nalaman ni Moira ang buong katotohanan? She's going to hate him and worst baka magiging magkaaway pa silang dalawa in the end.
Why the truth is always painful?
What a forbidden love! Di niya maiwasang komento sa sarili. Ngayon palang kakalimutan na niya ang babae.
Everything just becomes complicated, bigla nalang nahilot ni Sophia ang tila nananakit na sentido. Kaya pala those sons of bastards was trying to get rid of Moira para pag takpan ang mga kahayupan nila.
Naikuyom bigla ni Sophia ang mga kamay ng maalala ang pagsisinungaling ni Mark.
"We have a plan 'Lo, were going to use Mr. Galo's son to make them turn against each other, when Mr. Galo would no longer trust Mondejar. He'll lost an important ally, that's the time we could take Galo's head and wrap this thing up!"
Saglit na nag isip si Mr. Ybanez, binalingan naman nito si Mike at tinanong kung ano ang opinion nito.
"What do you think, Mike?"
"Well what princess said makes sense, we have to take them before the council meeting, kung isa-isa ng nawawala mga alagad ni Mondejar, wala ng council meeting na magaganap, as we all knew that their main objective is alisin ka sa pwesto so they could take you down!"
Natawa bigla si Mr. Ybanez, he knew what Mike said is true ,but whether he's still in the position or not he doubt that they could actually get him.
"Fine I approved on this but you have to minimized the casualties and after this you two should stay low for a while!"
"Yes sir!"
They all said in chorus.