"HOW's the groom-to-be? Are you ready to cry to stop the wedding? Or do you want to my help to escape?"
Deive gave his friend, Sydney, a tired lookwhen he had the video conference friends on his laptop. Fortunately, he brought his laptop and an internet connection is available also in the area.
"Me? Runaway from Callea? " He clucked his tongue and smiled as if to he was daydreaming. "No, dude! She's an angel. You should have tasted her bulalo. She's a great cook. This woman is a keeper."
His brief relationships with other women made him feel restless before. Though he was not the fuck and run type, he was not the type to settle to a woman. There was something missing. Now he knew. He wanted the feel of being home. Silly as it may sound, he me her think of permanence. Being married to him was not like a noose around his neck anymore.
His other friends groaned. His friends were not big on relationships either. They avoided it like Black Plague. They said having a serious girlfriend was more tiring than running a business. They won't understand that he was smitten by his future bride. Lucian caressed his own chin. He looked like as if her declaration was an impending disaster. "You got it bad, dude! Now you speak like that about a woman. A nymph? An angel? "
"I don't really mind marrying someone like her. She's gorgeous. She's caring as well. And she has a sweet voice ... " He felt the loss of blood to the face when he thought the voice. The ghost has the same as voice as Callea. Never mind the voice. "Dude, I need to go to Church tomorrow morning. If only I could leave the house now to look for one. So I will pray before going to bed instead. "
"Ha? Are you on drugs? "asked by Averill. "You are suddenly looking for church and pray. Whoa! Maybe Callea is indeed an angel."
"Did Callea grew up in a nunnery? She sounded too nice. Are you sure you want to marry her? Maybe be a nun. " Sidney raised his hands and looked heavenward. "Next thing we know, you want to be a priest."
"No!" Deive disagreed. "Callea and I will be husband and wife soon. And besides, I've never been rejected by a woman before. "
Sidney beats his own chest. "That's my idol! Even poles wearing skirt won't say no to you, dude."
His friends laughed but he remained serious. He liked Callea so badly. She was unlike any other girls who loved to chase men. She had that air of innocence around her that charmed him. He never cared about any woman that way before. Only with Callea.
"It is midnight. I need to sleep. Goodnight, guys," Deive said and stretched his arms.
"Morning," Lucian murmured. "The night had just started for us. The rural air is making you boring."
"Callea might spank lover boy if he didn't sleep on time," Averill cooed.
He just grinned at their bullying. "Callea and I will out on a date tomorrow. She would give me a tour around her house." Maybe his friends just envy him before they don't have someone so sweet like Callea in their lives. His time dating different girl every week was over. Maybe the heavens sent her to fix his life.
The night air was lulling him to sleep. He was starting to feel drowsy when he heard the cry of a woman. He was supposed to ignore it but he kept on hearing the woman's cry as if her heart was breaking. It echoed around as if the walls of the house were crying too. The sound was distressing.
He rose and left the room. What if Callea was the one who was crying? What if she was hurt or that ghost was bothering her? She might need him to comfort her.
His heart was beating erratically as he ran out of the hallway. The cries were coming from Callea's room. He could feel chills on every inch of his skin as he trudged barefoot on the cold floor.
When he reached the door of Callea's room, it was suddenly quiet. The crying stopped. He knocked still. "Callea! Callea, are you okay? "he asked.
He didn't hear an answer. He pressed his ear on the door. He didn't hear any sobs. Not even a squeak or a breathe. It was eerily quiet inside the room. It looked like she was already in a deep sleep. The moment passed and he didn't hear a thing. Perhaps it was just his imagination.
His body became colder when he thought about the bleeding white lady and the evil cat he saw the night before. It must be her. He quickly ran back into his own bedroom and lock the door. He prayed so hard for the first time in his life. The house was really haunted.
He needed to protect Callea in any way.
"GOOD morning!" Callea greeted Luna when she woke up the next morning. The cat yawned and stretched as she rubbed its head. "Did you sleep well? So do I, Luna. I love our lullaby."
Luna slept on her bed and didn't want to leave her side. Because of Deive's kiss, she had a hard tie sleeping. She was not able to play the piano late at night. She did not want to scare Deive. So she played her favorite sound effects to set the mood - the sound of crying white lady. A few moments later, she was fast asleep. The computer was set the computer to shut down after once the music file stopped playing. So, it was okay if she woke up late because she had a good night's sleep. She only hoped that it didn't interrupt Deive's slumber.
She was surprised the moment she stepped out of the room. There was something coarse on the floor. Marina was very particular with cleanliness in the house. Her house might look haunted but Marina couldn't stand cobwebs and specks of dust. That was why she was used to walking on a smooth and polished wooden floor since she loved walking barefoot most of the time.
When she looked down, she saw iodized salt scattered on the floor. Moreover, there's a bunch of garlic next to her door. She picked up the garlic. "How did it end up here? What's going on?"
Marina was preparing a late breakfast for her when she went to the lanai. Her face wrinkled when she saw the garlic. "Oh! You got the garlic. I've been looking for it. What scene did you come up with and you got garlic with you? Good thing I just got enough garlic to use for fried rice."
"I didn't use that. I just saw that outside my room a while ago. I have no idea how it ended up there."
"Who would put that outside your room? Are you an aswang?" (Aswang is a cannibalistic human that changes itself into a monster and eats innards of humans and animals)
"Deive did it!" He placed the garlic and salt outside her bedroom. But why? Did he hear the crying effects last night? May he thought it was a ghost or an aswang? "Where is he anyway?"
"He said he would go to church." Mariana pointed the serving spoon at her. "Tell me the truth. What you did you do to make Señorito Deive offer salt and garlic to your room?"