Unexpected Flare

"The death of Police General Arman Ortiz was brought to justice after the suspect was caught in the entrapment operation of the National Police in his hiding place in Bataan. It could be recalled that the victim died on the spot in a van ambushed two decades ago, riding along with his wife and daughter, who were the only survivors of the crime. It was... "

Zeke grimaced and glanced at his boss, Ninong Jack, who nonchalantly turned off the television. Jack Campos was his mother's younger brother and his superior at the agency where he was working.

"Congratulations, Zeke, on your excellent work. It took us a lot of time and perseverance to review this case. It has been two decades since the crime happened and I'm glad that justice has been served with your help and efforts. I'm sure my friend will be able to rest in peace and his family will be able to live at ease without worrying about living in danger anymore." His Ninong Jack proudly said while tapping his shoulder.

"I just did what must be done," he replied. Accomplishing cold cases was not new to him, so he just shrugged at his praise.

"Don't be too humble son," his Ninong Jack told him while giving him an envelope. "You should take a vacation first. You had been focussing on this case for years".

"What is this envelope for, Ninong? You already gave me my bonus". He asked while opening the envelope and narrowed his eyes when he saw what it was. "Nothing would change even if I leave the condo and take this vacation, I would just get bored ".

"That's your ticket. And tell your complaints to your mother, who has been pestering me to give you a vacation. I think she is waiting for you to introduce a woman to her. She must be excited to have a grandchild." Ninong Jack laughed while showing his cellphone to him.

He frowned and read the message.

"Tell your godson to take a vacation here and visit me. If he doesn't come home, I will go there with a woman and I will push him to marry any woman I can pick up for him." He shrugged and stood up to leave when someone carelessly opened the office door, revealing a tall man wearing a cap, with a broad grin on his lips.

"Hello Dad!" Ninong Jack's son, Dustin, yelled while entering the room.

"Wow my dear cousin!" Dustin turned to him. "Congratulations! You may want to have a drink. I will call the gang for..." Dustin stopped speaking when he noticed the ticket he was holding. "Oh, maybe next time." A mischievous grin appeared on his lips, followed by his laughter. "Enjoy your vacation! It looked like it would be a hell of a vacation for you. If I were you, I would take a woman home with me so that my mother would not tease me about marriage anymore. "Dustin teased him.

Zeke frowned at what Dustin said. Five months ago, his mother suddenly visited him in his condo and asked for a grandchild. Her reasoning was that his age was nearing beyond the calendar, but he knew that she was just jealous of her friends ​​in the village who already had grandchildren.

To make the situation worse, his cousins ​​were also there drinking, and his patience was tested because of their annoyance. Among his cousins, he was the only one who had never had a girlfriend and he's twenty-eight already. He was the eldest among his cousins, given that his mother was also the eldest of her siblings. She was the only woman, followed by Jack, and the twins, Uncle Jake and Uncle Jay. His Ninong Jack and his father, Xeke, were best friends.

They built the "Secretos Escondedos", a secret agency that provides intelligence support to the government and other non-government organizations, such as espionage services, covert and clandestine operations, that aim to gather information relevant and helpful to resolve cold cases. That's also the reason why Dustin was there; he's working the same job as him. It was said that as the sons of the founder of the organization, they would be the one to manage it in the future. For now, they were handling cases to get familiarized with its management.

One of those cases was a newly resolved case handled by his team. The case of Police General Arman Ortiz who was shot in the vehicle he was in while taking his only daughter to school. He died on the spot and his wife, Felisse Borja Ortiz, a famous novelist, was critical and, miraculously, only minor injuries were sustained by his seven-year-old daughter. The resolution of the case took a while because there was not enough evidence as to who killed and committed the crime.

Mrs. Cortiz could not name an enemy, leaving only the position of her husband as the suspected cause of the crime, but there was not palpable enough evidence to pinpoint who the instigator was. So his group conducted surveillance on the possible suspects based on the previous investigations and then obtained evidence from the recordings that they placed in the places where the suspects stayed.

There was an entrapment operation held with the help of the National Police and the suspect was arrested. The suspect later admitted that he killed the Lieutenant General out of jealousy. The reason was the suspect was obsessed with the victim's wife, who was his classmate in college. It was then realized that the suspect had a psychological problem, so he was brought to a mental health facility instead of being jailed.

Yet he could not fathom that simply liking someone would lead to that. If the suspect of such a crime stayed in a mental health facility, it would seem unfair to the family of the bereaved.

According to the report, the victim's daughter was traumatized. Although it had almost been two decades since then, he knew that it was not that easy to forget what had happened, especially to a child. He was sure that it was still a nightmare for the child then, that he had not seen until now.

He focused on the investigation and gathering of data related to the crime, so that he did not even see the appearance of the bereaved family. Though, to compute, he assumed that the child was at the same age as his or younger. The only person who spoke to the victim's family was his, Ninong Jack, who also happened to be a close friend of the victim.

He was disturbed in his own thoughts when Dustin held his hand to look at his ticket. A mischievous smile appeared on his lips as he looked at it. "You are already leaving tomorrow? It seems like Aunt Au is already bored waiting for a grandchild, huh. You should ask her if she doesn't want a grandchild from me." Dustin insanely laughed at the same time he was stoned by his father's book.

"That's why no woman is taking you seriously! You are a womanizer!" His Ninong Jack raised his voice at his son.

"I'm leaving Ninong, just give my regards to Ninang '' he said goodbye to the two and left them arguing. He didn't want to get caught up in the fight. To whom else would the fruit inherit his nonsense? His Ninong Jack used to be a womanizer until he met his Ninang anyway.

"Sighing, he rode the elevator to leave, but even before he got out of the building, his cellphone rang. "Son, there is a beautiful woman who has just moved in front of our house. Hurry up and court her, bystanders might hit on her before you!" He frowned as he read his mother's text, rode into his car and drove away.

His head was already aching, thinking that he would be with his mother on his vacation. He did not have a choice anyway. I will just always stay at my cousin's place nearby. Nodding to his own thoughts, he promised himself that he would not allow his mother to pester him into marrying someone he did not even know - not that he was not planning to have a family in the future.

Well, a man can hope.

"Daddy! I am so scared Daddy!" a seven-year-old child wearing her school uniform, wailed as she heard multiple gunshots. She flinched when the window at the back of the car shattered. It was raining bullets that the child hurriedly transferred into the passenger seat and sat on her mother's lap while her father tried to get away from the car that was following them.

"It's okay baby, Daddy will protect you and Mommy. Honey, get my gun! Hurry!"

Felisse hurriedly picked out the gun from the secret compartment of the car and handed it over to her husband while hugging her daughter tightly, trying to get down hoping that the bullets wouldn't hit them.

"Arman, what's going on?" Felisse nervously asked her husband. Her eyes widened in fear when she saw Arman about to fight them. "Don't face them alone! Don't get out of the car! Just drive until the rescue arrives!" Felisse told her husband while pressing the secret button on her cellphone, that it would alert the headquarters to an emergency.

"I love you Felisse, whatever happens, be strong and take care of our daughter for me." Arman said before he turned to his daughter, who was trembling in fear. Just seeing his daughter trembling, catching her breath because of severe crying brought agony to his heart. It was so painful that all he wanted to do was to hug and caress his precious daughter's face to calm her down. But alas! Another gunshot was fired, breaking the window on the driver's side. All he had to do was hold his daughter's hand and kiss his wife.

"I love you, Felisse. I love you Alisha, my princess." He then stopped his car and shot the wheel of the van which was on the tail of their car. He didn't have a choice but to attack head-on or they would all die in a car accident while dealing with them. He could not let them hurt his family!

Even before he heaved a sigh of relief because the car finally stopped, a man riding a motorbike appeared on the right side of the car and pointed a gun towards him. A loud bang was heard as blood appeared on his wife's clothes. Another gunshot echoed and he didn't know what happened next because he hugged his wife, trying to cover her and their daughter. He could feel the pain as bullets penetrated his body, before he felt his eyes getting heavy. He still heard his daughter's frightened pleas as he succumbed to darkness.

"Daddy! Mommy is bleeding! Call your policeman Daddy! Wake up Daddy! Daddy! Wake up! Help me! Bad guys! Bad guys! I am so scared Daddy! Help me...!" the child stopped shouting as the gun of her father that was full of blood dropped in front of her. Her chest tightened, eyes widened in shock, and her tears stopped falling because of fear.

"Mommy! Daddy! Wake up! Don't leave me! Please help me!" The small hand touched her mother's hand trying to wake her up. It was cold, and the child's eyes froze open when blood started to flow from her mother's arms. "No!"

"She heard the police siren coming, but she couldn't care less because she knew they were late. With a trembling body, she looked at her body covered with bruises and blood - hers and her parents'.

"For a child who grew up seeing her parents' devoted love for each other, that can be comparable to the fairytales she watched, who's been treated as a princess and has received care and got everything she wanted, like a queen. That was heartbreaking, distressing, and traumatizing. There were no warriors to defend their palace. As the child finally closed her eyes, she realized that there's no such thing as magic. But indeed, she's a damsel in distress.

Alisha woke up catching her breath, full of sweat and with tears falling from her eyes "It's the same dream again." She whispered while trying to calm herself.

"No, it's not just that, it's a nightmare that is still hunting me down, even if it's been two decades since it happened." She rambled to herself. She could still feel herself trembling as if it only just happened yesterday.

"If only I could push myself to forget, I would. But who are you kidding with, Asha? That's kinda impossible." Sighing, she looked at her cell phone to check the time. It's quarter to six in the morning already.

She realized she had just slept for four hours because of the novel she was writing. She wrote in advance because she would be very busy this week. She had just moved into her newly built house and she planned on decorating the interior with her best friend's help. However, the plants that she ordered for her front yard were already delivered yesterday, so that lessened her work, well, she assumed.

She forced herself to get up, fixed her bed while thinking of foods to eat for her breakfast. "I am just going to eat fast food later. Alright! I can do this!" she said, cheering and calming herself.

"Shit! Nenette would surely kill me!" She was about to call her best friend when she saw that Nenette was calling her already. "I am really dead!" She was ready to greet her when her best friend's angry voice echoed in her room.

"Alisha Borja Ortiz! How dare you not inform me that you have already moved into your new house? Seriously? I thought you'd need your best friend's talent? I cleared my schedule just to help you! I am more excited about designing your home! And yet you asked for somebody else's help? You are hurting my feelings right now! I swear to God! I swear I am going to burn–"

"There's nothing to burn, Nette. And will you please calm down?" she said to cut her best friend's litany.

"Oh?"

"Get ready. I'll be needing your expertise today."

"That's my best friend!"

"Yeah right" she answered while rolling her eyes.

"I'll pick you up at 7 quarter! Bye Bye! "

She chuckled at her best friend's reaction before she dressed up. She decided to just wait for her best friend outside.

Nenette's a blessing to her. She never thought that she would meet a person whom she could treat like a sister. She's an only child, while Nenette is the only girl in the family, having two elder brothers. She met her when they were in grade school. Nenette was bubbly, talkative and energetic, while she was quiet, timid and shy as a child. However, a fortuitous event happened. Nenette's painting that she created during their art class, was the exact replica of the poem that she created in their language class. They did not notice until they were being called to recognize their works. She excelled in language, Nenette excelled in arts. After she recited her poem in front of the class, Nenette came to her and showed her art. They laughed together when they realized. However, they know for a fact the reasons why. They may have different personalities, but they have one thing in common. That the two of them only understand.

---

Zeke was busy preparing his luggage when he received a voice message.

"Hey yow Zeke! Open your door for your cousin! I am waiting!

"What the fuck!" Zeke cursed in his mind when he heard his cousin's voice.

"Another headache to deal with." he thought. He zipped his luggage and just sat on his bed, not planning to open the door for his cousin. He would just pretend that he was not at home, praying that the bastard at his front door would notice and leave. "That's right."

As he was about to lay on his bed, he received another message.

"I know you are inside. I can hear your music from here."

Cursing, he turned off the music and opened the door. Seeing a man, towering on his doorstep, teasingly smiling at him.

"I really want to punch and remove that smirk off your face," he informed him as he turned his back and went inside.

"What made you grumpy?" Zander, Uncle Jake's son, teasingly asked him as that man kicked the door closed.

"You have a key to this condo, Zander," he answered. "Why bother chatting with me when you can just use it to open the door and help yourself?" he added.

"I wanna piss you off. I think it worked." Zander grinned.

"And what are you going to do with my shirt?" his voice rose and his eyes widened as he saw his cousin cleanse the sofa using his shirt, before comfortably sitting on it.

"Hmm. Just making sure it's clean. Dustin might have come from here with his mess. I might get infected."

Zeke could not agree more. All of his cousins had duplicates to his condo, having the privilege of coming over anytime. Zander once visited him but it was Dustin whom he found inside with two women. And they were not stupid not to realize what those two women and Dustin did, especially that the condo was a mess. With clothes scattered everywhere, boxes of condoms on the table, broken glasses and the smell of liquor, it was indeed a wild night. He still remembered how disgusted Zander was. Zander called for cleaning services, and did not enter the place until the disinfection was completed. That's how obsessed this person was with cleanliness.

"What brought you here?"

"I need a long drive, but I can't drive. So, I am coming with you to Baguio."

"How did you know?"

"Dustin happened." Zander voiced out as if it answered his question.

"You have your car, Zander."

"I need you to drive for me"

"Really? You are aware that you just pissed me off, right?"

"I am. But do I need to beg my cousin?" Zander pouted with pleading eyes.

"Zander, I'll be leaving this afternoon," he snorted.

"I just can not drive." Zander answered helplessly, and Zeke was lost for words. His cousin looked in trouble.

"Fine. You'll go along with me. Prepare your things. We're leaving."

As Zander prepared his things, Zeke picked up his luggage and keys, and left the plane ticket his godfather gave him on his bed.

He was about to ask Zander to carry his luggage out when he saw him staring blankly into space. Rubbing his cheek, he tapped his cousin and went out the door first.

"What about your restaurant?" he asked Zander as they were trapped in the traffic entering the North Luzon Expressway.

"It will still run even without me. I asked my father to look at it for me." Zander said reassuringly.

"Have you informed Ali that we're coming over?" he asked, pertaining to their cousin, Uncle Jay's son.

"We? Why? Aren't you going to stay at your parents' house?" Zander asked him. But it seemed like he remembered something. "Oh! Aunt Au must be pestering you again! "

"Shut it!" Zeke exclaimed, but Zander still continued. "You know Zeke, Aunt Au is right. You are not getting any younger!"

"You are just two years younger than me!" he extorted.

"That makes your age two years nearer at the end of the calendar and you never even once introduce a woman to them." Zander responded in a matter-of-fact voice, irritating him.

"Not because I never introduced someone to them means I never have been --"

"Kissed? Fucked? But you really never courted someone, Zeke!" Zander cut him.

"That's because I want the first woman I'll introduce to them to be the last one. I am in a serious relationship. I want to meet someone who values relationships the same way that I do! I am also just making sure that those women I've met before deserve to be introduced." he defended himself.

"Oh come on Zeke! Don't mention those mushy things in front of me. It's creepy! Just save them to your only-last one." Zander acted like he would be vomiting at what he had just said.

"But that's... That's the truth! It's not my fault that those women I've met before turned into a fling or a one-night-stand fucking body. Don't blame me if what they want is just my money and.... And my... my.... delectable gorgeous body!" he confidently said while showing his biceps to shut his cousin up, but Zander, as crazy as he was, just laughed heartily.

"Your... your ..." Zander could not finish his words . "delectable... gorgeous.... body?!" Zander laughed uncontrollably. He even wiped the tears from his eyes as he laughed hysterically as if not agreeing with what his cousin had just said.

Sighing and gripping the steering wheel, Zeke just tried to focus on driving even though what he wanted was to strangle his cousin's neck. However, he knew that he would never win over his cousin's mockery, so he let him be.

He stepped on the gas instead so they would reach their destination right away. He wanted to get rid of his cousin fast. Driving for him was not a good idea.

He breathed a sigh of relief when he saw the street signage of where their house was located. He stopped the car in front of a white house and turned to Zander, who looked at him amusedly.

"You really wanna get rid of me, huh?" he chuckled. "Don't worry. I'm not going to tell Ali Sander about your mother's plea." Zander hurriedly went out of the car when he saw him holding a bottle of water to throw at him.

"I will just let Dustin inform him instead!" Zander even shouted before saluting towards him and entered the house with a grin.

"Zeke then followed the path that led to his parents' house. As he was about to enter the garage, he noticed a dog feeding its puppies, so he avoided them. While retreating, he heard a crash from behind his car.

"Holy shit! Did I hit someone?" He quickly got out of the car and looked for it.

He sighed a relieved breath when he noticed that he hit a plant on the side of the road. Shrugging, he entered his car and parked it in their garage.

Alisha happily entered her best friend's car when Nenette arrived. "You really have a nice way of greeting me this morning huh?" She raised her eyebrows at Nenette, pertaining to her litany a while ago.

"Just imagine my shock when I went to your parents' house to invite you out and your mother informed me that you had already moved out of that house and even decided to sleep there!" Nenette exclaimed. "I felt like..." Nenette stopped and thought of an exaggerated example that would fit her feelings. "I felt like my boyfriend just cheated and saw him banging a woman right in front of me!" She continued while waving her hand exaggeratedly.

Alisha laughed at what she heard and put her seatbelt on. "I actually forgot to inform you yesterday to just pick me up here today. I came here because of the plants that were delivered, and since I had just commuted I got too lazy to go back home. So yeah. I slept here. Good thing that the foldable bed we left here before was still here." She explained.

"So, we are finally buying all those furniture and appliances for your home?"

"Of course! But let's eat breakfast first. I am starving."

Nenette eagerly drove the car towards the nearest fast food chain. They ate and ordered take-out foods for the whole day. "Where do you want to shop?" Nenette broke the silence.

She shrugged because she really didn't have any idea where to buy quality furniture.

"Alright then, I'll take you to Mama's FAAS."

"FAAS?" She clarified because she found the name weird.

"Yep! Mama's Furniture and Appliances Shop." Nenette answered. "The quality of their products is the best. They also give exceptional service and free delivery. So..." Nenette glanced at her. "Did you by chance enlist the things you'll be needing? I know you have an artist friend here, but it is still not my house. I want you to choose according to your preference."

"Yep! But help me on how to put those things in the right places, huh." she smiled sweetly at her best friend.

"Of course!" Nenette haughtily answered while rolling her eyes.

After half an hour, they reached their destination. It was indeed a massive shop. She chose the appliances and furniture she liked. She's thankful that her best friend helped her. She always gave her advice on the products that she was interested in.

In the middle of speaking with the sales associate, she heard a baritone voice speaking with one of the employees of the shop.

"Lloyd, I will drive one of the delivery trucks, Anderson will not be able to come to work because his wife just gave birth." The man with a comb-over haircut informed the man whom he called Lloyd.

"Thank you Sir Ali, we will inform you if everything is ready for delivery."

She removed her gaze from the handsome man when he turned to them.

"Hi ladies! I am called Ali." he smiled, which made him more handsome while extending his arms towards her for a handshake. "Thank you for buying our appliances and furniture, rest assured that all of the appliances and furniture that you bought were of good quality. It will be delivered right away to your given address." he smilingly told them.

Nenette extended her arms and introduced herself. "Hello to you Ali, My name is Nenette and she is my friend, Alisha. Nice to meet you!" Nenette cheerfully replied.

She just shook her head at what her friend did before she turned to Ali. "Thank you Ali, we appreciate it." She got her card from the cashier, who returned it to her. "Thank you! How long do you think it will take before it is delivered?" She asked.

"Just give us two to three hours tops." Ali answered her question. She just nodded and pulled her friend to leave.

On the way home, Nenette kept on speaking about that handsome man in the store. "Have you seen his eyes? That's an alluring amber eye! And oh! That affectionate smile!"

She just shrugged and thanked God they were near her home. Her friend had been speaking about him since they left the shop.

"You keep saying that and I am getting..." She was not able to finish her words because she saw the plants that were supposed to be lined up right in front of his gate scattered on the side of the road. Her blood boiled in anger. She quickly got out of the car. "Who the fuck did this to my plants?!"

---

Zeke was about to enter his car when he heard a woman shouting. Realizing what the commotion was about, he hurriedly entered his car and drove away. He saw that there were two women on the side of the road. A brunette woman is trying to calm down another with a slim body. The latter was walking back and forth in front of the plants while holding the broken branch of the plant that he accidentally hit a while ago.

"Damn! It's my fault! I am so sorry, plants! I didn't mean to. Please accept my apologies and calm your owner down. She might kill me if she knew!"

He was still thinking about what he had done when he reached his cousin's house.

"You're here?" He pointed his finger to Dustin who was playing a mobile game on his phone.

"He was already here when I entered the house." It was Zander who answered him and handed him a bowl of lasagna.

"I came here for this food. But, not to see that annoying womanizer!" he exclaimed.

Dustin just laughed at the two as if he'd been used to what they were saying to him. "I came here for vacation too!" Dustin defended himself. "Aren't you happy that we are all complete here, my dear cousins? You should be happy about the privilege that you've got to live with your most handsome cousin on the same roof!"

"Yeah right. I heard it was a delectable and gorgeous body a while ago, and the most handsome one now, huh?" It looked like Zander's brain would explode just to think that there would be two arrogant people he needed to feed daily.

"That's true!" Zeke and Dustin said at the same time.

"Fine, fine!. At least I tasted the same as the food I cooked. Delicious!" Zander said, earning a laugh from them.

They continue conversing until it's dark outside.

"Have you informed Ali that we are here already?" He asked the two.

"Ahuh! He told me that he would help deliver orders before he went home."

"Seems like a lot of deliveries, huh? It's getting late." he noticed.

"Not that late." A baritone voice from the door answered.

"Welcome home my twin! " Zander ran toward Ali to hug him, which was followed by Dustin's kiss on the cheek, which Ali immediately avoided. Meanwhile, he just threw a magazine that he got on the table that Ali easily caught.

"Wow! It's so touching to be welcomed by my visitors in my own house!" Ali sarcastically replied to them while pushing the two away and went to sit by his side.

Ali Sander was the son of Uncle Jay, while Alex Zander was Uncle Jake's son. They really looked exactly alike, maybe because their fathers were identical twins. It's only the color of their eyes that they got from their mother. Ali Sander had alluring amber eyes, while Alex Zander had deep green eyes.

Ali turned to Dustin with his teasing eyes, not leaving him. "What is it again that you're saying about Zeke?"

"Damn! Here we go again." Zeke thought.

The two informed Ali about what happened. How his mother pestered him into marrying and how often she asked for a grandchild from him. And Zander even added to their conversation all the way here. Earning non-stop laughs from the three of them.

"It's a good thing, they did not know what my mother texted me." He thought. "It will be the end of my world in this case."

"Holy!" Ali extorted. "Seems like Aunt Au has been questioning your sexuality! Seriously, jumping to a grandchild without asking for your girlfriend first?"

Zeke pleaded for his vacation not to be boring. He thought it would not be because of these three. But because it's not boring, it does not mean that it's not frustrating anymore. He sighed as he closed his eyes, trying to calm himself.

"Why don't you try courting women while you're on vacation?" Zander suggested.

"I'll teach you how to court!" Dustin added.

"Stop it! I know how to!" He smirked.

"You bet?" Ali asked him teasingly.

"What? Of course I know!" he defended himself.

"A bet it is! " Zander clapped his hands excitedly.

"Game!" He smirked at the three, knowing that they never won against him in betting.

"I have someone in mind! " Ali smiled brightly at him, making him nervous.

"Fine. I'll court the woman you'll ask me to. If she answers my courtship during my vacation here, you, Dustin, will give me your salary for your next case. And then you, Zander, will give me a lifetime free meal in your restaurant. And then you'll give me appliances and furniture that I need for a lifetime for free. " He confidently said with a smirk.

"How if you don't?" Dustin raised his brows at him.

"I'll give you a million bucks each. "

"Deal," the three agreed.

"So, who is that woman, Ali?" Zander finally asked our cousin.

"Oh, she's actually a good catch. Around 5'7 in height, fair complexion, long brown wavy hair. Lovely innocent face, she seems nice but indifferent." Ali laughed as he remembered how indifferent that lady was towards him a while ago. "But that's actually the challenge." Ali then looked directly into his eyes. Zeke raised his brows, challenging him to tell more. But what he said shocked him.

"She's a newly transferred neighbor in this village. She just moved in, right in front of your parents' house."

His mouth parted in shock.

"Holy Shit!"