Bab 10: The Taxi Chase

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She was biting her nails as she watched the numbers on the top of the elevator go down until it reached the first floor. She put on her sunglasses and pulled her suitcase to the side of the hotel where her taxi was waiting.

She requested a taxi from the concierge. And in retrospect a bad decision she made that day. Forgot the guy named Felix that's probably cursing her now.

The man her mother hired wasn't just all muscle but has an actual brain. She wouldn't know that he was tight on her tail if not one of the men her mother hired sent her a message informing her that her shadow is following her to the airport and her mother was already informed.

"Find a way in this traffic to bring me to Terminal 4 with enough distance to the taxi behind us."

The old taxi driver glanced at her in the rearview mirror like he was talking to an alien.

She cursed under her breath, "I will triple the amount in the meter just do it, please."

She was expecting the old driver to ask her question but he didn't say anything and she was already panicking that she wouldn't be able to catch her eight-thirty flight. The ground flight attendant that was her contact told her specifically that she has to be there at eight o'clock. They can't wait for her for a long period of time for an international flight.

She was losing patience when she felt the taxi speed up. The old driver stepped on the gas and their taxi moved forward and overtook the whole lane putting enough distance to the taxi that was following them. But due to the traffic, they couldn't shake the taxi completely.

"You have to be in Terminal 4, right?"

"Yes, please." She told the driver to bring her to Terminal 4 as a last attempt to confuse her shadow. Terminal 4 is the part of the airport where domestic flights fly. In her head, she would get off at Terminal 4 and from there take another taxi to Terminal 3 where her flight was waiting.

She was pushing the time and her stupid plan won't work if her taxi driver couldn't put ample distance between them and her shadow, because what's the use of going to Terminal 4 if he could see him catching another taxi to Terminal 3.

"I know a shortcut." the driver's voice jolted her from her spacing out.

She wanted to say yes, but the word shortcut doesn't feel right. Most of the time, when you go for the shortcut, you ended up taking more time than was originally intended.

The driver must have read what was running in her mind, that he added, "It's a real shortcut. I can actually lose the taxi behind us and you would have a ten to fifteen minutes interval before they reached the taxi drop off at Terminal 4."

She stared at the taxi driver, thinking.

"Decide fast. I need to get off this lane we are on before we reach the stoplight."

She leaned forward and watched the stoplight a few meters ahead of them, uttering a prayer and a curse under her breath, she said, "Yes!"

She blew a deep sigh and watched the other taxi get left behind stuck in the red light. The old taxi driver swerved for a right turn at the last minute and stepped on the gas. She smirked thinking that they have an actual chance to get away from her shadow.

"Who was in that taxi that you are running from?" the old taxi driver cocked his head to check her in the rearview mirror.

"My mother wants me to marry that man."

"Is he rich?" the old man chuckled.

"I don't love him."

"You made a good choice. No one should get married if the reason isn't love."

She smirked inwardly how funny the conversation went. She pulled her wallet from her backpack and checked how much cash in peso she has. She could give them to the driver if he actually successfully brings her to Terminal 4 - fast!

She saw that she got two thousand five hundred pesos in cash. She took the five hundred to keep for the taxi fare from Terminal 4 to Terminal 3. It was just a short distance and it won't cost her a hundred pesos to take a taxi from the domestic terminal to the international terminal but she wanted to also give the next driver a good amount of money.

"Where are you planning to go?"

She looked up from her backpack to the driver who was watching her from the rearview mirror.

"I'm actually going out of the country to - "

"If you are going to run outside the country why are we going to the domestic terminal?" he asked in a tone like she was a dimwit.

"I'm thinking to confuse that man into thinking that I'm not going out of the country." she never felt judged by how the driver spoke to her. She was actually proud of her escape plan, and he just shot it down like it's the most stupid plan he has ever heard.

"Even if I put distance between us, the Terminal 4 was small enough for him to check and realize that you weren't there."

She pursed her lips in annoyance. She looked behind them and still didn't see the taxi.

"You are going to see them any minute now. So, I'm dropping you off on that 7/11," he said pointing to the 7/11 in the distance. "While I continue to drive to Terminal 4. Get inside the store, hide there and wait for the taxi that man was on to pass by. Then get on another taxi to take you to Terminal 3."

She gawked at the old taxi driver in the rearview mirror 'Who is this old man? Does he drive girls who were running away from a forced marriage for a living?'

She pulled the two thousand pesos from her wallet and handed it to the taxi driver, "Thank you for your help. I would never forget your kindness."

The old driver took the 1000 pesos from her hand, "Save your money. You would need it sooner than you expected. And don't thank me, just make sure that you find a good husband. Remember, you made the right choice of not marrying someone you don't love."

He stopped the taxi in front of the 7/11 and told her to make haste. Hide inside the store and wait.

She was shocked by what heard from the old taxi driver. She was speechless and teary eyed as she got off the taxi and dashed inside the store.

She went to the corner of the aisle away from the store entrance but near enough the window to see the taxi that her shadow was on. And just like the old taxi driver told her, she didn't wait too long for them to pass by.

Indeed, they caught up fast!

Getting off the taxi she was on was the best move. She uttered another silent thank you to the old taxi driver and went out of the store to flag down another taxi that would take her to Terminal 3.

She was quite lucky that night for right as she stepped off the curb an empty taxi was approaching. She hailed the taxi and scurried inside the backseat as soon as it stopped, "Terminal 3, please."

She rubbed her eyes and found them wet with tears. She didn't expect to shed tears from what that old taxi driver said. But his words hit her differently. 'She made the right decision.' She doesn't know if it was because of the adrenaline that's why she was being emotional, but she felt like the words of that old taxi driver were the words she needed to hear.