She's My Sleeping Pill

“Good afternoon, gentlemen. I’m Jackson Mondejar and I am Mrs. Dumrique’s secretary. She’s over there.” Jackson pointed at Cayenne and the men stretched their necks to look at her. “We’re here because one of the good citizens of your place – ”

“Ms. Yen! Ms. Yen!” A girl shouted while running in their direction. “It was me! I contacted your team!”

“Panyang!” One of the ladies yelled at her and the girl stopped running at once. The middle-aged woman who was chatting with the other ladies approached the girl and pinched her ear angrily. “Why did you do that?! Didn’t you see what happened to them already?! Stop being so willful!”

“Ma! Ms. Yen isn’t like those people. She would never do something horrible because she’s married to one of the most powerful men in the city. She has a reputation at stake!”

Cayenne could no longer take it while watching on the side as the young girl received her punishment. With her bodyguards surrounding her for safety, she approached them and smiled.

“You are Epifania, right?” She asked and the young girl nodded her head. “You’ve done a great job. I am here because you asked help for Mr. Laborada.”

“Yes. Yes. It was me. He needed help for the treatment of his child. They were scammed before and they lost all their possession and his child isn’t cured.”

“Panyang! Shut up!” The woman yelled again but Cayenne stepped in this time before the woman hit the child again. “Get out of my way!”

.....

“Don’t touch our madam or you will find yourself in jail.” Her bodyguard commented which stopped the woman from hitting Cayenne. “We don’t know what happened before, but we are here to help. It’s up to you to believe it or not. At least, let our Madam do what she can.”

“I’ll lead the way.” Epifania said and walked to another direction, away from her mother and the other adults. “I apologize in behalf of their poor behavior. They’re just really concerned for Mr. Laborada’s child. Because of the situation in our community, not many people would bravely come to offer some help. When we heard that someone was willing to offer some help in exchange of a hefty sum, we pooled as much money as we could to give. I mean, it is seldom to have someone who would come to help us in this place. At first, they sent medications and other things while they schedule her for an operation. Not many of us here have finished a decent degree. So, it took us a long time to realize that we were being fooled. They said that a large amount of money is needed for the operation but we have nothing to offer anymore. Then, they suggested that Mr. Laborada should sell his kidney to earn money. He did. Then, those people suddenly vanished.”

“No wonder they acted that way.” Kyle commented as they followed the girl. “Do you have any picture of that person who came to help? Maybe we can trace them.”

“I have. I asked my cousin to take a picture of them.”

“You are very smart.” Jackson said and patted the girl’s head. “Are you studying?”

“Yes, sir. I’m currently in 6th grade.”

Cayenne just followed silently behind while observing the place that they passed by. It was a common setup for slum dwellers and she felt really bad for these people. There were kids loitering around with no shirts on and with their bloated stomach but skinny bodies, she could tell that they’re malnourished.

On another side, she could hear the noisy mahjong house. Even though they were having a problem to feed themselves, they would still gamble which most of the time; they’d end up losing.

Cayenne kept her opinion to herself and just continued walking. Ten minutes later, they finally arrived in front of a small house which was made of light materials such as thin wooden boards and tarps. It could easily catch a fire if such an accident would happen.

Epifania went inside without knocking; well, there’s no point in knocking because the place didn’t have a door.

As a sign of respect though, Cayenne and her company stayed outside and waited for the young girl to come out and get them. Many children were looking at them already and some of them even asked Cayenne for coins.

“Martin, go and find another sundry store in this area and buy something for the children. Biscuits and juice should be fine. No candies for them.”

“Yes, ma’am.” Martin told the kids to follow him and they did. He looked like a mother duck with his ducklings following him in a long line.

Two minutes later after Martin left, Epifania came out with Mr. Laborada. The man invited them inside even though his place was really small. Inside the shabby house, the bedroom, living room and the kitchen was just in one place.

Cayenne teared up as soon as she saw their situation because she often complained in the past. She questioned God why her job was so difficult, why her mother had to get ill and a lot more of whys. She never thought that somewhere out there, someone else had it worse than her.

Realizing that this would be recorded, she wiped her tears discreetly and faced the middle-aged man. She introduced herself and her purpose for coming over. She also showed him her work as proof to make sure that the man would feel at ease around them. Despite being scammed once, Mr. Julio Laborada still continued to hold on that someone with a good heart will come to help them.

He showed the stitches that he had after selling his kidney as well as the medical record of his child. “I know that I can’t get my kidney anymore and I might die soon, but ma’am, I want my child to live. I want her to enjoy her life. I don’t want her to stay in bed for the rest of her life.”

“Sir, I cannot say not to worry about anything but I hope that you will not lose hope. Epifania contacted us because she hopes for your child to live as well. In any case, that’s the reason of our visit here. Now, your place is quite far from the city and it would be time-consuming if we keep going back and forth. How about you come with us to City B to get your child a full-body checkup? We’ll pay for your hospital bill, accommodation and meals. You just have to bring your ID and other personal belongings.”

“Are you sure about that ma’am? I really have nothing else to give you.”

“We’re serious. My team chose you because they know your child is in need of immediate care.”

After an hour or so, Mr. Laborada finally packed his things as well as his child’s. His daughter was already ten years old but she was shy around people and she rarely talked. The whole time that Cayenne stayed inside their dilapidated house, the child spoke for, at most, ten times. She stuttered whenever she talked which Cayenne thought was the reason why the child didn’t like to chat with them.

On their way back to the city, Cayenne called her husband and told him the progress of her work. She also informed him that she needs a place for them to stay near Senyu Medical Hospital.

While talking to her, Stefan wrote something on a small piece or paper and handed it to Tristan. The man immediately checked the place and called the current mentainance director of the apartment which was owned by Stefan. Most of the tenants there were students and Dominic’s friends stay in this place as well to save money.

“Done.” Tristan muttered and Stefan told Cayenne about it.

Sitting on the passenger seat, Jackson was awed at how fast Stefan was to help his wife. She just said she needed an apartment for the father-daughter pair, and not ten minutes later, Stefan said it was taken care of.

From having lunch until this moment, Jackson had been observing Cayenne to see how genuine the woman was. He wanted to know if she was wearing a fake facade in front of her viewers or if what they saw across the screen was the same as the one off-cam.

[She’s really kind. I will do my best to protect this kindness.] Jackson thought and Cayenne had no idea that she gained a new loyal staff who would do everything to protect her.

Meanwhile, during the meeting, Tristan received an e-mail which came from an unfamiliar name but the content of the message was so familiar to him. He just couldn’t remember what made him feel like he was having a deja vu.

-I need help to know more about Jamie and Carina Malvar. Anything that you can find which is related to them – Ceres.

Since the meeting was just about the sponsorship of the olympic which will be held in A City, Tristan quickly replied to the sender before exiting the page he opened.

He was currently attending the meeting with Stefan and he couldn’t continue to slack off so; he promised to send the result in two hours. It wasn’t hard for him to track someone anyway.

[Jamie Malvar. Carina Malvar. Where have I heard these names?]

Note: There’s another secret to Tristan’s identity which will be discussed in the next book “My Dumb Doctor, Please Look At Me”. Please add it in your library and support it as well.