016

I never really thought of Eros lying. It never really struck in me, how suspicious it was that he was in my room telling that he came out of my laptop. I now regret that I kept it from Joanna.

I received a text from her as I lay down in my bed and thought about things.

Joanna:

Are you home?

I replied her "yes". Then I heard my phone rang. I saw her name on the screen and quickly answered it.

"Are you with someone right now?" She said as soon as I picked up the phone.

"I'm not" then got up and went to the curtain to close it.

"Good. You still have your old phone, yes?"

" Yes. I do" I walked to my study table and opened my drawer where I usually put the things that I think is still useful.

"Give it to Eros"

"Why?" It's not a big deal but I wanna know her plan.

"In this game, Ms. Guia" she called me the way our helpers do in pure sarcasm. "I have one rule for you and that is no questions. Just follow what I'll tell you to and let me do the rest"

"Okay. I trust you"

"Good. You have to hang up. Amy will surely be knocking on your door any minute now" I nodded when I know she's not around to see me.

True enough, a minute after I hung up, I heard a knock on my door and Amy's voice "Miss, it's time to have dinner"

"Give me a second" I quickly hid my phone inside the pocket of my skirt.

As usual, Amy is waiting for me outside my room.

"Good evening , Miss" she greeted.

"Good evening, Amy" then we started walking.

"How's your day, Miss?"

" Just the same as the other school days. We had lectures, discussions. How about yours?"

"Well it's also the same the other days. We've done our chores and also had 15 minutes break except for the time we have to eat. And when we had lunch, we talked about things"

"I wish I could talk with everyone and eat with them"

"But there are rules we must abide. Don't worry, there will be a time where you will put smile on their faces"

I wish that could come sooner.

I ate alone as mom isn't around again. I'm actually glad that there'll be no interrogations but I'm also sad by the fact that I'll be alone in this home for a while. I showered, changed into pajamas and brushed my teeth. I made sure that I brought the box of phone before going downstairs.

I went to the pool and sat on one of the benches. I sat and wait there silently for Eros.

I just need to trust Joanna in this plan of hers. this won't backfire and what if she's right about them? Am I going to take it? With Amy's look, I thought of her as a sweet girl who will not betray me.

My thoughts were interrupted when I heard a rustle in the bushes. I followed where the sound came from. It was in the bushes in the corner. I walked silently to that corner. I made no sound. If it was an intruder, I'm doomed. The rustles stopped.

I extended my arm and was about to move the leaves but I was stopped when I heard a a voice from behind. "What are you doing here, Miss?"

I turned around and saw Eros "Oh, you're here"

"I am. Why are you still up? You're supposed to be sleeping by now"

"Well, I came to see you but I heard something here. Stay there for a second. I'll just check what could it be"

He grabbed my arm and said "Maybe it is a cat"

"We don't have a cat" I pulled my arm from his hold and walked to the side of the bushes. There's no one nor a cat.

I silently walked back to the bench where I left the phone. It didn't left my mind. What would it be? I'm so drowned in thinking about the thing that could be behind those when Eros spoke.

"Maybe it's just the wind" I looked at him. If he didn't suddenly spoke, maybe I would've who's actually hiding there. He even stopped me. What would you be hiding? "Why did you want to see me?"

"Oh, yeah. Here it is" I handed him the box of the phone I had last year. Of course, the phone is in there. He opened it and his eyes widened with what he saw. It's one of the latest unit of that brand last year but I just used it for a year and bought the latest one this year from the same brand. The difference is that my phone case is simple black while his is filled with Swarovski rhinestones. It has cute little crystal around it and its camera, the big crystals and flower and a mini parfum bottle attached to it. It is also color black so it should not be a big deal to him. "Did you like it?"

"I .. like it" he said even when I can clearly hear him being unsure to whether or not he actually likes it.

I grabbed it from his hand and typed in my number. "That's my number. You can call or text me if you want to. I'll reply, I promise"

"Why did you gave me this?" he asked while he's still inspecting the phone case.

"Well, I can't really contact you this morning and then it hit me. I don't have your number and you don't have phone in this world. Plus, I'm not using it anymore. You can have it" I didn't lied. I just didn't told him the part where Joanna ordered me to do so. He looked at me as I still smile at him. Don't look suspicious. Don't ruin Joanna's plan.

"I guess, this will also help me. Thank you for this" then he sat beside me.

I smiled even more "It's settled then"

"It has the app we used in one of your rooms" he said while looking at the phone.

I looked at it also and realized that he was referring to Netflix. "Yeah. You could watch movies in your phone using that app"

"Would you like to watch a movie here?"