Despite how fickle and uncooperative Nicole might be, the woman was still a paying customer, so Rebecca forced herself to keep the smile on her face. "Well then, Derick, if you follow me, please."

"So you're in charge of my welcoming party, huh?" Derick said when they were a few feet away from Nicole.

"Yes," was Rebecca's simple answer. To stop Derick from discussing anything other than the party, Rebecca described to him what the actual party would look like.

Derick must have felt Rebecca's dismissal since he also focused on checking the place, sometimes nodding and asking questions Rebecca.

By the time they were finished, Rebecca felt relieved, happy even that a few minutes more and Derick and Nicole would be out of her way for the day.

But before Rebecca could give Derick back to Nicole, he stopped and looked at Rebecca.

"Do you have any more questions about the party?" Rebecca asked.

"No, it seems perfect enough," Derick answered. "You will pick me up before the party, right?"

"I will make sure that the company will provide you transportation that day." It wasn't a no and not a yes, either. Rebecca's job didn't include chaperoning a full-grown man around.

"Yes, but if you want the party to be a success, you'll come and get me yourself," Derick bantered, which made Rebecca pause. The man was right. He was the very reason Nicole organized the event in the first place!

"I'll pick you up at the said time, Derick," Rebecca conceded, her face stiff from keeping the smile on her face.

...

Rebecca had promised Raynor she would pick him up at seven at school that afternoon, but her appointment with Nicole and Derick didn't finish until seven that evening. Because of that, Rebecca messaged Raynor that she would be late, but still, she could have avoided being late had Nicole come at their appointed time. Then Raynor wouldn't have to stay at the library waiting for her.

At least, it was where Rebecca thought Raynor would be. So she was surprised to learn from the school security guard, the first person Rebecca met when she arrived at school, that Raynor was at the teacher's office.

"That's her!" Otis shouted as soon as Rebecca stepped inside, pointing his finger at her. Rebecca ignored Otis and looked at Raynor, who sat across from him instead.

"Raynor, what happened?" she asked and sat beside him.

Raynor made a sign that said he was alright.

The teacher, who was also inside the room, coughed to get Rebecca's attention. "I'm sorry for keeping Raynor here, Rebecca. It's just Otis here who has concerns about you." The teacher said, looking at Rebecca with curiosity and worry. The teacher was Raynor's homeroom teacher, and because of Raynor's particular circumstances, Rebecca had been in constant contact with her. The woman no doubt didn't want to put Rebecca in an awkward place, but she was also a teacher and had to do her part.

"I see," Rebecca answered slowly. No doubt Otis had reported the incident this morning to the teacher, but Rebecca wasn't worried. She, after all, knew a thing or two about revenge plots. Try as Otis might, he wouldn't be able to pin the blame on her or Raynor.

"Come on, Teach! Do something," Otis whined. "I'm telling you, she was the one who beat me up. Look at the bruises I have!"

The teacher cleared her throat. "Calm down, Otis," she gently chided the boy, and the latter shut up in anger. "Rebecca, do you know anything about this?" she asked.

"No," Rebecca said innocently. "I'm not sure what he's saying."

"She's lying!" Otis shouted. "Teach, you can see my wounds. They're proof enough that she hurt me!"

The teacher looked at Otis and Rebecca.

Rebecca, on her part, did her best to sound hurt when and worried at the same time when she said, "Otis, why ever would you tell your teacher I beat you up? You know I don't have any reason to hurt you."

"Yes, you do!" Otis answered before he could stop himself, making Rebecca, Raynor, and the Teacher look at him.

"What do you mean, Otis?" The teacher asked, unaware that Otis asked for a medical certificate so that he could bully Raynor.

"I—I m–mean…" Otis tried to explain, but the teacher was already looking at him suspiciously, making Otis stutter more. "I–It doesn't matter if she has. The fact is, she beat me up, and I want her punished!"

"Young man," the teacher said, "We don't punish anyone just because of assumptions. You know that!"

"Otis, are you sure you didn't get those wounds from playing with your friends?" Rebecca interjected before Otis could shout again. The latter was wasting her, Raynor, and the teacher's time.

"No, I didn't!"

If Rebecca didn't know the real reason why Otis was hurt, he would have believed Otis that he didn't get bruises while playing with his friends. With how little Rebecca knew Otis, she was eighty percent sure the latter didn't have any friends. If Otis had, they must have only stuck close out of fear of the boy.

"Then…" Rebecca paused purposefully, waiting for Otis, the teacher, and even Raynor to look at her in question. "Could you have gotten them from trying to skip class?"

Silence, short but very telling, descended on the room.

When Otis's teacher spoke next, it sounded firmer and suspicious, "Otis, is that true?"

"No!" Otis choked. "No, of course not! Oh, forget this! I'm leaving!"

The boy didn't look at the teacher and scrambled to get his bag and ran from the office.

‘And that is how you win a fight!' Rebecca thought happily.

...

Otis slammed the car door shut and faced his uncle, Derick. "That woman threw and beat me up, Uncle! Now my body is hurting. She even threatened me! Look." He raised his arms and rolled up his sleeve. "I have bruises all over. Can you give me another medical certificate?"

Derick barely glanced at Otis's arms before starting his car. "Not a chance."

"Uncle!"

"You lied to me once, kid. I'm not going to help you again."

"But Raynor's aunt beat me up this time. I even have wounds. Why can't you?" Otis whined.

"You should have thought about that before lying to me the first time, Otis," Derick answered, his voice indifferent. "You reap what you sow."

Otis started protesting, grumbling and mumbling any excuse he could use to persuade Derick into helping him, but the voice of the man who sat in the back seat stopped him, "Enough, or I'll send you back to your mom's house."

Otis shut up, and he remained quiet and still until they returned home.

Fred leaned on his car while he looked at Otis, running toward the big house. When he heard Derick walk toward him, Fred asked, "So what's the story?"

Derick looked at the now-closed door of the house. He told Fred the story about the medical certificate and the police involvement with a sigh, then ended it with, "The boy's aunt even visited and threatened me at the clinic. Guess she also visited Otis this morning." Derick chuckled while he shook his head. "Who knew a small woman like her could do that?"

‘Indeed,' Fred silently agreed while he lit up a cigarette. Never did it cross his mind that the woman who was so timid in bed would be that bold.

"Are you joining us for dinner?" Derick asked after a while. When Fred shook his head, Derick shrugged. "See you later then," he said and went inside.

Left alone under the darkening sky, Fred took out his phone and dialed a number.

"Where are you?" He asked when the call got connected. "I'll pick you up."

Fred heard something breaking on the other side of the phone, then the woman's voice came, "Sorry, I can't talk right now. I'll get back to you later."

"Wait, Rebecca —" Fred frowned when the call got disconnected.

Rebecca stood back with Raynor as they silently watched their mother apologizing to the two older women in the middle of her small restaurant.

One of the women broke a glass and shouted at Rebecca's mother, "You must remember to pay your loan this month, Mary, or else your restaurant might just… disappear!"

"I will, of course, I will!"

Rebecca heard Mary answer, and the latter's voice, when she did, was so soft, meek, and distressed that it made her gut wrench in anger. Mary was a tough woman. So tough that she always told Rebecca not to cry for no reason and to know how to fight when needed. It took a while for Rebecca to understand that, but she did, which was why she was the person she is now.

Mary was no perfect mother, sometimes raising her hand at Rebecca when she did something wrong and rarely hugging her when she needed it most. But she was the parent who stuck around and raised Rebecca, so in some way, Rebecca had some love for Mary.

So, when Rebecca saw Mary lowering herself down from the two women, Rebecca knew she wanted to hurt them.

Rebecca started to walk forward when she felt a hand grab her arms. It was Raynor. He shook his head as his way of telling her not to go. With what had happened, Rebecca forgot Raynor was ever there. She smiled to reassure Raynor and signed, [I won't do anything. I'll just check up on mom. Stay here.]

Rebecca didn't wait for Raynor to respond and approached the three people inside the room.

"Mom, what's going on?" Rebecca asked Mary.

Instead of answering her question, Mary hissed at her, "Rebecca! What are you doing here?"

"Is this your daughter, Mary?" The woman who broke the glass asked.

"Yes, I am," Rebecca answered before Mary could. "Did you want something from my mother?"

Rebecca heard what the two women were saying, but she pretended not to know anything.

The woman sneered, "Your mom here ow—"

"That's none of your business, Rebecca. Aren't you supposed to be at home right now?" Mary didn't shout the words, but Rebecca felt her mother's intention to push her away.

"Mom…"

"Benson is waiting for you at home. You should go."

Yet another thing Rebecca and her mother couldn't seem to agree upon. Rebecca had tried to tell Mary that she and Benson were no longer together, but Mary didn't seem to listen.

"Mom, I told you before, Benson and I—"

Mary hissed. "Stop it, Rebecca. We'll talk about this another time. I have guests."

Rebecca could no longer do anything when Mary turned her back on her and faced the two women who looked more like the enemy than Rebecca.

Angry, she turned around and walked out of the restaurant as fast as her legs could. She saw Raynor move to try to stop her from leaving, but she ignored him. Ironic as it might, it was safer for Raynor to stay with their mother.

Rebecca knew this street like the back of her hand, so even without thinking, she knew where she could go to avoid the many people who were scrambling to get home wherever it was.

By her estimate, it must only be around nine in the evening. Yet Rebecca was tired to the bone. Rebecca slowed down when she was far enough from Mary's restaurant to catch her breath.

"Go home and sleep," Rebecca repeatedly mumbled to herself while she walked along the street. It was all she could do at the moment to stop herself from thinking about Mary, Raynor, and Benson. It was too much for her right now to deal with them at the same time.

It was when Rebecca turned another corner that she noticed something was wrong. She was being followed. Rebecca saw the man wearing a black mask five minutes ago but thought he was just another stressed worker trying to get home, so she quickly forgot about him.

But she started noticing how he kept pace with how she walked.

When Rebecca slowed her pace, the man would also slow down, and when Rebecca quickened her pace, the man also followed.

Hands trembling with panic, Rebecca reached inside her pocket and took out her phone. She pretended to dial a number and said loudly, "Hey, babe! I'm very close. I'm around five minutes from Victoria Road. Really?" Rebecca looked around and made sure the man saw what she was doing. "Oh! I see your car."

Rebecca might have missed the black car parked across her had she not looked closely at the street. So, it was a relief to really find a lone car at that time of the night and in this almost secluded area.

Rebecca still had her phone in her ears as she crossed the street and approached the car. She tried not to run so as not to signal her stalker that she had long noticed him.

'Now what?' Rebecca started to get more anxious.

If she was lucky, someone was inside the black car and was willing to help her. But if not, then tough luck.

Rebecca knocked at the passenger seat, and her knees almost buckled in relief when the window slowly pulled down.

Her knees never buckled, though, because the next thing Rebecca felt was shocked upon seeing the man in the driver's seat.

"Get in," Fred urged the woman who didn't seem to have plans on getting inside her car. It had gotten colder these days, and the woman was obviously trembling from the cold.

When Rebecca was safe inside, Fred quickly turned on the heater inside the car. He noticed that Rebecca was distracted by something outside, so he looked in the direction she was looking but saw no one.

"Are you alright?" Fred asked. Now that he had a closer look, Rebecca looked more rattled than cold.

'She's scared.' That made Fred curious. Yet another thing he found surprisingly amusing was the woman who looked as cold as ice.

"Rebecca, are you alright?" Fred couldn't help it. He reached out and caressed the woman's cheek. 'Scared and cold,' Fred changed his assessment. Rebecca might be good at hiding things, but Fred had observed the woman for quite some time to understand if the woman was hiding something from him and herself.

Rebecca looked at her then, dazed but at least a little more herself. "I'm fine," she said in a breath of relief. "What— What are you doing here?"

"You weren't answering my call." Fred pointed at the phone Rebecca held tightly in her hand.

"Oh! I was busy."

"How did you know where to find me?"

Fred heard a suspicious glint in Rebecca's voice, but he just shrugged and asked instead, "Do you have work tomorrow?"

It wasn't the right time for him and Rebecca to discuss such things. 'There's time,' Fred told himself for the nth time.

"N–No," Rebecca shook her head. "But I have to attend an event in the evening."

"I see. Make sure to call me when you're out this late," Fred said, his voice firm but gentle.

He heard Rebecca chuckle. "Why?" Fred was surprised to hear a hint of bitterness in her voice when she continued to ask, "Are you going to come for me if I call you?"

"Call me, and we'll see," Fred answered. He didn't dare give Rebecca an outright answer, fearing that she would dismiss him as a liar. Fred didn't lie.

"Do you want me to take you home?" Fred asked to change the subject.

"No, not yet," Rebecca answered.

"Good!" Fred was right there to reach out and buckle Rebecca's seatbelt. "Let's go somewhere else."

Fred parked the car when they reached the bar. With no words said, Rebecca followed him after he opened the door for her. The blinding colorful lights and upbeat music immediately welcomed them as soon as they entered.

Protective as always, Fred wrapped his arm on Rebecca's shoulder, took her to his side, and fended her off against the already intoxicated guests.

Seeing how stiff Rebecca somehow became, he leaned against her ear and asked, "Is this your first time?"

Before she could even respond, Fred spoke again and answered his question himself. "Well, I guess not. I just remembered we met at the bar last month."

Rebecca had once come to the bar with her roommate in college. However, Benson, who was her boyfriend at that time, never liked crowded places, so she stopped going. If she weren't stressed enough to seek an escape, she wouldn't have gone to the bar last month and met the man.

...

The music was invigorating. It was the kind of music that persuaded people to be the wildest people they could be, to forget that they were nothing but a body made for dancing to the music.

"You sure know a lot of places!" Rebecca shouted at the man to make herself heard.

"Fred!" The man behind the counter greeted the man.

'Is that his name?' Rebecca thought while she watched as Fred greeted the bartender. Fred smiled, shook the other man's hand, and exchanged a joke that made them laugh out loud.

"So, who's the girl?" The man asked Fred.

Fred, however, winked teasingly at Rebecca and answered the man with, "Can you give us two drinks?"

The man nodded with a grin and poured two drinks as Fred requested.

"Put it in my tab, yeah?" Fred said as he took the drinks and gave one to Rebecca. "You can drink, right?"

Rebecca nodded.

"So why did you bring me here?" Rebecca asked when the bartender left them to serve another customer.

Fred shrugged. "I thought you might need to relieve the pressure off you a bit."

"Why made you think that?" Rebecca asked.

Fred stared at Rebecca and simply answered, "Your post."

It took a while for Rebecca to understand what Fred meant. When she did, her face flushed with embarrassment.

Everything that could go wrong went wrong the month Rebecca divorced Benson. Not only did Benson leave Rebecca, but she also got into a fight with Mary about the divorce, and Raynor had a fight with some gangster kids. Out of frustration, she blocked all her friends and posted a short article about it. Seeing that Fred knew about Rebecca's post must mean he was the only one who read her post.

"There's nothing wrong with getting stressed now and then," Fred said. "You know the best way to relieve the pressure?" Rebecca frowned and waited for Fred to answer, "Alcohol and sex."

Rebecca doubted that, but ten minutes later, she found herself in the middle of the dance floor dancing to the song's rhythm.

Fred watched as Rebecca flung her arms upward and swayed her hips to match the music booming inside the bar. He wondered if Rebecca was even aware of what she was doing right now. Fred excused himself a few minutes ago from Rebecca to use the men's bathroom only to find out that the woman had disappeared. He searched for Rebecca, of course, and was relieved that she was only dancing with the bunch of people in the middle of the dance floor.

Fred streamed through the crowd to reach Rebecca, quickly grabbing her arms to face him.

"Hey!" Rebecca laughed in surprise, joy, and probably drunkenness as she wrapped her hands around his neck. "I've been looking for you!"

Fred should have been annoyed and shouted at Rebecca for leaving their seat without telling him, but all the annoyance he felt disappeared when Rebecca suddenly tiptoed and kissed him on his lips.

It gave Fred pleasure to kiss Rebecca wherever and whenever he could, but the growing doubt that the woman might not know who she was kissing dampened that pleasure. So he forced himself to break the kiss and asked Rebecca, "Do you know who I am?"