Anna woke up the following morning to the smell of freshly brewed coffee. She opened her eyes and saw the cup of hot, steaming coffee on the nightstand. She was alone inside her room. Her boyfriend Rico had already woken up and was making breakfast.
"Good morning, babe." She greeted him with a smile.
"Good morning, babe." He greeted back. "How's your coffee?" He asked.
Anna sat up from her bed, took the cup of coffee, and gave it a few sips.
"Good as ever." She smiled while taking another sip.
"Ha! Still got it!" Rico jollily said. "I got you some tocino and fried eggs!" He ecstatically announced.
Anna excitedly jumped up out of bed and rushed to the kitchen. It has been a while since they had a proper breakfast together. Their busy work schedule, plus the emergence of her monstrous persona a few months back made it even more difficult for them to interact with each other.
Without the risk of the monster coming out, Anna soon realized that there's no more threat going in between them. She hugged Rico from behind and kissed his back.
"I missed this!" She said.
"I missed you more." Rico took her hand and kissed it. "I missed every moment with you." He added.
Anna felt the blood rushing to her face. She sunk her face on his back, feeling his heat and smelling the scent of sweat on his skin. She missed the way they were before.
"Food's ready!" He said.
Anna released her embrace and prepared the plates on the table. Rico took the tocino and egg, placed it in a plate. He also served a platter of steaming garlic rice on the side. It made her mood even better. Anna love garlic rice especially the one Rico cooks. There was something in Rico's recipe for garlic rice that she can't refuse for seconds.
"Here you go." Rico scooped her some of the garlic rice on her plate. "Enjoy." He smiled.
Anna smiled back and thanked her. She took some of the perfectly cooked tocino and fried egg and put it on her plate. After sipping a coffee, she took a spoonful of rice along with bits of meat from the tocino and ate it.
The food tasted great, but it was even better with Rico by her side. She looked at him with happy eyes as she took another morsel of food and gladly devoured it. After the hearty meal, while Anna was washing the dishes, Rico hugged her from behind and one thing led to another.
The couples laid on the floor, heaving as both of them were catching their breathes. It has been a while since they were intimate with each other. Rico laid his end on Anna's chest after doing their sweaty deed while hugging her tightly as if he were to lose her.
"Are…you…still hungry?" Anna jokingly asked.
"I am full… for now." He giddily said.
They both laugh as the picked up their dresses scattered all over the floor.
After their early morning horizontal routine, the couple took a bath together before cuddling again watching movies over their streaming services.
It was a lazy weekend and since their shifts were later that night, they just wanted to stay in bed as long as possible. They just want to be with each other. They opted to order lunch via take out and after their lunch, they went back to their horizontal activity.
After a few rounds of sloppy bed exercise, they laid breathless on the bed. Anna tried to move but her body hurts as much as her womanhood did. But it was good kind of hurt, she missed the gentle caresses and the rhythmic dances of their bodies while they're connected to each other.
As they laid silently in bed, they heard a knock on their door.
"Who's there?" Rico hurriedly wore his clothes and waited for a reply on the other end of the door.
"Hello, ma'am, sir, package delivery!" The man on the other end of the door replied. "A package delivery for Ms. Anna Sanbwan!"
"A package?" Rico looked at Anna. "Did you buy some stuff again?" He asked.
"No," Anna shook her head. "Absolutely not. I haven't ordered anything online for the past 3 months." She added.
"Are you sure it's addressed here?" Rico asked.
It took a few minutes for the delivery man to answer, but he did
Anna wore her clothes and went to the door to accept her mystery package. It didn't take her a while to notice the delivery man's stench was the same of that wet rug and dried blood, she smelled last night. It reminded her of the theatre, those dog-like entities that stared at her intently while growling.
"Is something the matter, ma'am?" The delivery man asked.
"Oh, no! Hehe." Anna shook off the thought. "I am just dumbfounded. Who could've sent me this package?" She tried recalling.
"Could be a colleague… or maybe… an admirer." The delivery man jokingly said.
"Geez…" Anna sighed. "That's impossible." She scoffed.
She immediately took the package and signed the receiving form before closing the door right at the delivery man's face. She was offended by his little jest. That wasn't something you would say especially, it was obvious that she had a partner in her apartment.
She took the black paper bag and placed it on the kitchen table.
"Who's that from, Babe?" Rico asked.
Anna looked at him with a dumbfounded look. "Honestly, I don't know as well."
"Seriously?!" Rico raised his eyebrow.
Anna could feel a hint of jealousy from her boyfriend.
"Babe, I really don't know." She reiterated. "Let me just throw this—"
"No! Don't throw that away!" Rico grabbed the bag.
He sat on the table and sighed. "Look, to be honest, I am a little jealous." He said. "But I trust you." He hugged Anna tightly.
Anna took a deep breathe and took the package out of the black paper bag. Inside the black paper bag, was a black, thin box embroidered with golden leaves and flowers patterned elegantly on the box.
"Tenebrus d'Oro!" Rico exclaimed. "That's a designer brand!" He added.
Suddenly her memories of yesterday's weird events came rushing out once again.
"The saleswomen of this boutique chased me, yesterday." Anna began. "They wanted to give me free designer clothes. This was the brand of those clothes I left there." She added.
"Hmmm… weird…" Rico scratched his head. "How did they get our address?"
"I… I…really don't know…" She scratched her head. "I… am… not sure…" She clicked her tongue.
She undid the golden lace tied on the box. The golden velvet cloth slid off the shiny box. Anna opened the box and saw the wonderful dresses she left behind at the store yesterday.
"Whoa! These are wonderful dresses." He said. "You might've cared for a executive and this is his way of thanking you." He added.
"I am not sure if that is the case." Anna said.
Anna has always treated her patients with the same respect and dignity. She never looked at them for their economic status or power. She was just giving them the care that they needed. So, if ever one of them would give her a gift, she wouldn't know or let alone recall from whom it was.
Anna took out the other dress and notice a small wax sealed envelope on the bottom of the box.
"There's a letter." Anna said.
"Let's read it." Rico curiously said.
Anna opened the envelope and began reading it silently.
"Fair Greetings Dayang!
I hope you find my gifts appealing. You may not know me yet, but I know you. I've known you since, Lady Guerin visited you. When the time is right, you shall know who I am but for now, let me look at you from a distance.
P.S. I hope you like the dresses. If not, you can go back to the store and exchange it for other clothes.
Respectfully,
I.I.
"Whoa! For real?!" Rico exclaimed.
"What do you mean?!" Anna was surprised how his boyfriend reacted.
"I mean they're giving you a coupon for a full year of free clothing!" Rico was dumbfounded. "Wow!"
She read the letter again, but the words she read earlier had changed. It only mentioned a free year clothing! Anna rubbed her eyes and tried reading it again but that was the only thing she saw. There was no message from the mysterious person.
Rico patted her shoulder. "Whatever you did, you did good." He smiled. "You better enjoy this coupon! And uh…I heard they also have a men's section. Baka naman (If you could)."
Anna didn't smile. She just look at Rico dumbfounded and confused.