HEELS from a pair of brown leather shoes clicked as it entered the Malacañang Palace. It was Kuya Rick. The driver was following a pair of sneakers that heavy stomped and alternately scratched its soles on the floor. Those shoes were worn by Cjay.

“Why would Natalia go to the hospital?” Kuya Rick wondered. Cjay and his driver had been talking about Natalia’s sudden disappearance in the car up to this point. “It’s too far from the mall too. So why bother?”

“She’s a gossip. You can never really tell how far a person can go just to get some gossip. They astound me everytime,” Cjay answered briefly because honestly, there was nothing entertaining with talking about Natalia. His only concern was to keep his assistant to hold on to the littlest freedom he got left. Being locked up in the house was worse, or rather boring, than just being cooped inside Citadel’s glass dome.

Kuya Rick was carrying the shopping bags with both arms while following him which made it a struggle for him to catch up with him. Even if Cjay wanted to help, it would be useless because there had been an incident in the past when his body’s decay was so worse that he tore off his arm while lifting up a chair. That’s why he only settled with carrying the little shoe box bag for his new pair of sneakers.

“What if she knows someone in that hospital?” Kuya Rick guessed. “A friend? A relative?”

A bit of guilt chewed Cjay’s chest. If Kuya Rick guessed it right, then it would be reasonable for Natalia to sneak away from him and check the safety of whoever she personally knew among those who were trapped in the hospital.

But who could be Natalia’s friend or relative in there? Because as far as he knew, Tita Hilda was her remaining family. That was also the reason why she was left with no choice but to stay in the presidential house and settle with working as his assistant.

They stopped in front of the door of Cjay’s room. It had a deep brown paint, made darker by the smooth glossy coat of mahogany varnish. Cjay stepped aside to give way to Kuya Rick while handing him the key to his bedroom door as well. Apparently, Cjay’s lack of body coordination was the culrpit as to why he couldn’t aim for the keyhole accurately, so the task of unlocking his bedroom door went to the guards, his driver, or his assistant. The driver took the key with his one hand, causing the shopping bags to awkwardly hung on his arm. Then, he securely grabbed the door knob while unlocking the door.

When the door clicked slightly ajar, Cjay stepped ahead and pushed both of the double doors wide open with his shoulder. He grunted in the process since the wood was simply thick and heavy. When he got inside the room, he was welcomed by Natalia bent over, her back against his direction.

Cjay scowled as he waited for Natalia to stand up straight, which happened eventually when she was done replacing the bedsheet. She smoothed out the wrinkled parts of the bed with her palm before turning to face him.

He noticed that the woman changed clothes. She was already wearing a pair of white shorts that almost reached her knees and a clean purple round neck shirt with short sleeves. Her long black hair fell past her shoulders—straight, shiny, and slightly damp. It was as if she had a bath minutes ago. Her fringes were mid-parted, which was far from her usual hairstyle where she let her hair slightly cover her eyes.

Because Cjay could see her face clearly he finally had the chance to appreciate how pretty she was. She had sharp almond-shaped eyes and wide, pale pinkish lips. She looked pretty but with a foreshadowing of something sinister. It wasn’t the typical sulky vibe, but it was more like an aura of evil mischief.

She smiled at Cjay, then she turned away to pick up something from the bed before she faced him once more.

“Where have you been?” he asked in a low tone but his irritation was prominent.

“Sorry, I haven’t informed you my whereabouts,” she hugged the messily rolled bedsheet closer to her stomach.

‘Sorry? Since when did this bully thought of being polite with me?’

He smirked mockingly at her. “You came back to the hospital, didn’t you?”

Cjay barely noticed Kuya Rick as he entered the room and carefully set down the shopping bags on the floor, beside the double doors. It was Natalia who acknowledged him first.

“Let me help you,” she volunteered, leaving the rolled bedsheet at the foot of the bed and walking past him to assist Kuya Rick.

Cjay did not even glance at them who was busy behind him. It was just too much effort on his part to turn around because of the conflicting cold hardness of his dead body and the softness of his decaying flesh that made it hard to make sudden movements, especially when turning around. Instead, he put down the shoe box bag at the foot of his bed before he dropped his body to lay there on his back.

He caught Natalia stole a glance at him before she resumed helping Kuya Rick take the shopping bags’ handles off from his both arms.

“You made Sir Cjay worry, Natalia,” Kuya Rick told her gently. “Why did you leave without—”

Cjay interrupted immediately. His ears were stinging from something so unpleasant that he just heard. “It’s only Akira who got worried! Not me!”

The two didn’t notice him though.

Kuya Rick did not stop talking. “—letting us know? Why are you here already in Malacañang? Didn’t you say that you’re only going to the ladies’ room?”

“Yes! But when I came back for those two, they were already gone!” Natalia said in defense. “I checked the parking lot, and the car’s also gone. You definitely don’t know how long the lines can get in the ladies’ room!”

“We had you paged!” Cjay turned his head to his left to directly look at the two without having to lift his head or body for the same purpose. “You’re definitely lying! You never came back!”

Natalia slightly stammered as her eyes shifted between him and his driver. “Ah, eh . . . The mall’s too big. I heard the pager, but I had a hard time going to . . . going to where you are waiting for me. So, I had no choice but to go back here instead.”

It made sense that Natalia got here in Malacañang ahead of them. Especially when they had to make a little inconvenient detour to drop Akira at San Laurel Hospital to search for her.

Cjay simply sighed in resignation. “Kuya Rick, give Natalia my cell phone. Natalia, call Akira. Tell your lover boy to get his ass here already.”

She narrowed her eyes at him. “What ‘lover boy’ are you talking about?’

Kuya Rick was suppresing his chuckle, that’s why he was smirking while handing Cjay’s cell phone to Natalia. Then he turned to him. “Is there anything else you need, Sir Cjay? Any instructions?”

Based on his driver’s tonality, he was getting ready to leave.

Cjay already fixed his eyes on the ceiling before Kuya Rick even asked him that question. “There’s nothing else for you to do here, Kuya Rick. You can have some snacks now or rest. Do whatever you want.”

“Thank you, sir,” Kuya Rick politely nodded at him then, at Natalia too. “I’m going, Natalia.”

“Thank you, Kuya Rick,” Natalia replied.

When the driver left, Natalia stood close to the foot of the bed. Cjay laid down on the bed sideways, so their current position placed Natalia to his left side. Her tall figure seemed to loom over him before she tossed his cell phone. It dropped on the psrt of the bed beside him

Cjay glared at her.

“You call Akira! That cell phone is yours, right?” Then Natalia picked up the used bedsheet, pillow cases, blanket to roll them all together. “Lazy!”

“The audacity! You’re my assistant!”

“Audacity!” her eyes flared against his challenging stare. “You left me in the mall!”

“Are you finally mad?” he smirked mockingly at her. “You may have convinced Kuya Rick but not me. I can’t smell you in there earlier, so I’m sure that you already left before Akira and I got out of the mall!”

“Ah, really?” she retorted with a sarcastic grin. “So why ask my whereabouts when you have already decided to only believe your own version of the story?”

“How about I ask them for a copy of their CCTV footage?” his eyes gleamed with mischief, his smirk broadening.

Her eyes narrowed at him. She lost the smugness in her grin. “Are you really going to put that much effort into this? I’m already here, right?” Then she turned away, heading for the door.

“Just a minute! Call Akira first!”

She did not stop for him. Neither did she turn or glance back at him.

“Fuck it! My skin sticks on the screen especially when its sweaty!” he was forced to confess in a hurried voice while bearing the heavier weight of his lifeless body. Cjay grunted as he sat up on the bed. “And it peels off when I pull it away from the screen!o, do you mind?”

Natalia only turned her head to look at him. Her body slightly tilted, but still faced the door. “You’ve been using the immortality pill for years, and your condition hasn’t improved yet?’

He frowned. “What do you think?”

Natalia sighed heavily. Eventually, she walked back and sat on the edge of the bed, almost beside him. She picked up his cell phone and called Akira. After briefly telling him to come jome, she put the cell phone back on the bed.

“I’ll just get some job done, then come back here to customize your cell phone.” Natalia stood up.

His forehead wrinkled. “Customize?”

“We’ll setup the voice command feature of your cell phone, so that you don’t have to tap om the screen thst much when you’re using it.”

After saying that, Natalia did not wait for his response. So, Cjay just watched her completely get out of the room. As soon as the door shut, that’s when he finally put a finger into the confusion that he was feeling.

‘Why doesn’t she smell that bad anymore?’

***

NATALIA sat on the dining table, in the presence of President Carlos. When she told Cjay that she would get some job done, it meant having an early evening dinner meeting with the president.

She eyed on the long table that was made of varnished wood like the rest of the furniture in the dining area. Delicious food were served om plates before her yet it felt awkward to be sharing them all with the president of the country, the big boss. They sat on oopposing ends of the table, making her feel the wide distance between them.

The president wore a pair of black slacks and a white round neck T-shirt. He had been having a few spoonfuls of meal when he stopped having another one mid-air, put down the spoon and noticed her. “Don’t be shy. Eat.”

Natalia lowered her eyes at her plate with a neat arrangement of rice and other viands on it. It was her who picked what the maid would put on her plate but she couldn’t even lift a spoon to tadte them. She was still full from her feast at San Laurel Hospital.

“I’m sorry. It’s just . . . hard.” Natalia lowered her head, concealing her frantic eyes from the president’s view. She quickly thought of an excuse, and luckily, it came like a flash to her. Maybe, coming up with lies was easier when she had been hiding her monstrous form since she was a child. Natalia immediately lifted her head. “Have you heard about what happened in the hospital?”

“Yes, I’ve heard. Is that what makes it hard for you to eat?” The president was chewing while talking at the moment, but his words were clear.

Natalia nodded.

President Carlos swallowed. “There’s nothing to worry about. Everything is under control.”

“Everyone that’s trapped in there . . . they got out?”

He lowered his eyes, sadly. “Unfortunately, you can’t save all of them all, but Lawin Ops won’t stop searching the place until they get the CCTV recordings.”

There was nothing in Natalia’s mouth, but she coughed as if choking after what she heard. “C-CCTV?”

‘Of course, there’ll be CCTVs! How could I forget about that?’

It also reminded her of Cjay’s threat earlier about obtaining a copy of the CCTV recordings of the mall. She internally cursed because aside from the threat, she could clearly remember his irritating smirk!

Natalia was about to hyperventilate out of nervousness but was saved by recalling something—she was already in her bal-bal form before she entered the hospital! This only meant that no one would recognize it was her in case someone watches the CCTV footage there. It might not be the outright solution to her present problem, since the recognizable father and daughter she accompanied in the hospital were present in that CCTV video, they could tell on her, but it still gave her some sort of relief. Because she could buy some time to warn those two about a possible manhunt, especially for the father. She could also convince them to keep silent about her identity . . .

President Carlos put down his spoon, composed himself. Then he nodded at Natalia and her food, prodding her to eat. “I hope the incident won’t affect your work here. You’ll be safe.” The uncertainty in the man’s tone did not escape her ears. “So, eat up.”

Natalia was forced to spoon some rice—it was white and lightly smoking hot. Next, she pinched some meat from the tail of fried milkfish and put it on top of the rice.

“Eat a lot, hija. Don’t be shy,” President Carlos encouraged upon seeing that she was eating too little.

***

CJAY got bored in his bedroom. So, while he was waiting for Natalia and his father to finish eating, he decided to walk around the Malacañang Palace.

For him, there was nothinf unusual with his father having dinner with his personal assistant since he already did this, many times, with his former assistants. President Carlos would always have dinner with them on the first day of their job. After tha, the dinner meetings would become weekly.

While having dinner, his father would keep asking his assistants for updates about him—how his week had been, if he showed signs of zombie behavior, and his schedule for the upcoming week.

Being a zombie just gave him the ability to pick up sounds clearly, even if they were distant. He could clearly hear the faintest of sounds five rooms away from where he stood. This ability had been an inconvenience at first—the cause of his sleepless nights and distractedness—because he could hear a variety of voices, and noises all at the same time, making them a jumble of interlapping sounds. Within three years, Cjay trained himself to stop paying attention to just ignore the unnecessary noises, which ironically, made it hard to let the noticeable sounds and motions in front of him slide. If he wanted to pick up a particular sound, he had to be in the same room where it was coming from or at least, closer to it than the background noises. This condition made him prone to shouting at others as well, because if a person felt like he was drowning in a room full of noise, he had the tendency to heighten his pitch to be heard.

Cjay stopped in front of a big window at the palace’s hallway. It was a closed hallway with no doors along its walls, just a narrow path that lead to a turn that showed another hallway but with doors.

Cjay rested his elbow on the window sill, and looked outside while his arms and hands were dangling out. He already changed into a loose cut-off sleeveless shirt. For this evening, he had no scheduled work, so he didn’t have to bother about retouching or re-applying some makeup. He wiped off every makeup that he put on earlier before going to Galeria and the mall, which exposed how ashy gray his skin looked from his body to his face. A patch of flaking skin that was peeling off could be also be seen.

His dark hair was slightly tossed aside by the cool evening wind, showing his face to the shadowy green grass and thick silhouette of trees. It was a starless night, as somber as the yellow lighting from the lampposts that surrounded the fences and scattered around the Malacañang grounds; but the tourmaline cityline dotted with sparkling lights at the horizon that was reflected back by the glass ceiling of the city’s dome, making a vivid, magical imagery.

Then, he heard approaching steps.

Cjay slowly turned his head and saw Kuya Rick heading towards him. The middle-agedam wore a faded yellow shirt and a pair of shors that reached his knees. His built was average, but his legs seemed too slim to proportion that.

He returned his gaze outside. After all, he was expecting Kuya Rick to walk past him because even if he was nice and polite toward him, the driver usually ignored him when their meetings were not related to his job, which was driving him around Citadel.

“Good evening, Sir Cjay.”

That greeting did not surprise him too. Kuya Rick probably greeted just to be polite, then he would walk past him. He could still hear his breathing, as if he was rught beside him, but the silence made him assume that the driver was already gone.

He almost jumped when he saw the driver standing in front of the window’s right corner. Kuya Rick slightly lunged his head forward, peeking on his face. He wasn’t smiling, but there was a hint of it on his face.

“Seems like you’re thinking about a lot of things, sir.”

‘Why is he suddenly so interested?’ Cjay narrowed his eyes at him. ‘Did Natalia say something to Kuya Rick? She underestimates me being a zombie, treated me like I am no threat at all. So maybe she told something to Kuya Rick to make him feel the same way about me?”

He doubted his first assumption. Because why would Natalia want other people to think he was harmless? Why would she want people to like him a little more or approach him a little closer if she hated him so much?

‘Maybe, it’s not about that, but she definitely said something. Because from the way she talked to Kuya Rick earlier? For helping him with the shopping bags? I bet they’re already close. Or friends.’

And just one thought had already caused a domino effect. Since his mind touched Natalia, the domino of thoughts next to the very thought of her got pushed, reminding him of every little thing about her and every incident with her that got him irritated at her.

Lastly, he recalled his confusion earlier about Natalia, about how she suddenly smelled different.

When they first met, she literally smelled like a dead rat. He did not mind because he was used to his own rotting smell. He never questioned because none of the people around him questioned her smell as well. He assumed that she just lacked in the proper hygiene department since her old apartment was stinky too.

But since this afternoon, she suddenly smelled different. A little bit bearable. She carried a touch or a drop or two of fragrance. There was still a dead rat undertone in her scent but still, it was more pleasant than when they first met.

‘Weird . . .’ Cjay planned on ignoring Kuya Rick even if they stay by the window all night but he accidentally voiced out his concern. “. . . Natalia.”

He could not help hissing in his monologue. Monologues had been Cjay’s routine, only when he was in deep thinking. Since he could hear a jumble of interlapping noises five rooms away from him, he tend to monologue to separate his thoughts from the things he could hear. But why did he have to do this in the presence of the driver!

Kuya Rick grinned. “Whoa, that’s something!”

He glared at him. Why was he getting a hint of teasing in the driver’s tone? To make it worde, Kuya Rick was also giving him that teasing side glance that matched the irritating mocking grin he was wearing.

It was so irritating because what was that reaction for?

“Kuya Rick,” he asked brusquely, “what—” He stopped because he finally understood what the driver was implying with that tone and facial expression of his’. “This is not what you’re thinking!” he defensed harshly, widening his eyes at him. “Do you mind?”

“Why? What do you think am I thinking, sir?”

Kuya Rick was trying to catch him. He just looked so obvious with his agenda. Cjay clucked his tongue in surrender and just looked outside the window.

“You were worried when we lost her in the mall. Admit it, Sir Cjay.”

“I only got worried because if I lose another assistant, I’ll get locked into this stupid palace again. He let’s me leave when it’s for work, but you know that he won’t let me go out for other reasons without an assistant.” He sighed and had the courage to ask about what was actually bothering him. “What I am wondering about is why does she suddenly smells different?”

“Smells different?” The driver was only half-serious this time. He stopped teasing but it seemed like he wasn’t done with it yet.

Cjay slightly shook his head. He didn’t really know how to word it out—his smelling ability. He had only been a zombie for three years and that was not enough time to figured out everything about himself, his new body in particular. After mastering the sensitive hearing ability and working with his body coordination alongside of it, he was only putting attention to his smelling ability these past few months. But the ability was getting more attention from him ever since he met Natalia.

Cjay didn’t even know why of all the people he chose to confide about Natalia’s smell to Kuya Rick. Maybe because the driver was the only one accessible when he needed to sort out his thoughts about smells. He wouldn’t even dare to tell this to Natalia because she might take it differently . . . awkwardly.

“Natalia smells different.” That’s all that he could manage to say. He was still confused about the smelling ability so it would probably be safe if he wouldn’t share a lot about anything related to it.

“Smells like love?” he grinned, stifling his laughter.

He glared at him. “You’re not funny, Kuya Rick. And for your information, she stinks! She’s the smelliest creature that ever set foot here in Malacañang! People put their best foot forward when they go to the president’s house. They hide their skeletons in the closet, get dressed, put on a smile, and take their showers, but not Natalia! She brought her rotting rat smell in this place. Haven’t you even noticed that?”

The driver shrugged his shoulders. “I don’t know. You see, Citadel doesn’t really smell that nice. There’s fresher air in your yard and at the park, but not as fresh as they used to be. Also, we’re inside a glass dome, so the smell kind of compressed and mixed in here. You know that people cramped up here like sardines and even the survivors from faraway provinces were stuffed into this giant glass aquarium.”

“But she smells dead,” Cjay lowered his voice, almost hissing as he stared deeply into Kuya Rick’s eyes. He just wanted the driver to take him seriously, just for once. “I’m sure that it’s her smell. That that’s how she smells.”

“Oh, she smells bad?” Kuya Rick looked away from his eyes to glance outside the window. “I think we got used to your smell, so I thought that it’s your smell and not hers.”

His eyes narrowed. ‘Does this mean Kuya Rick hasn’t been alone with Natalia?’

Kuya Rick glanced at him. “Why did you ask about her smell just now, Sir Cjay?”

Should he tell him about his observations these past few months?

Maybe, Kuya Rick wouldn’t mind. After all, what could a driver do with the information he was going to share about being a zombie?

Cjay looked out the window, the sparkling lights sort of eased his mind. Suddenly he felt more comfortable to share his thoughts.

“These past few months, I observed that the way a person smells helps me detect something about them. I studied it and came to a conclusion that when a person smells so bad, it means they’re ill. When I first met Natalia, she’s pale and wimp. So, her smell did not bother me . . .” Cjay stopped in the middle of his speech. He felt a twinge of guilt, that he made a mistake. Even if Kuya Rick looked trustworthy or harmless, it felt strange to talk to him about Natalia. Worse, what if Kuya Rick accidentally spills this conversation to Natalia?

So, Cjay resumed his speech in his mind. ‘. . . but now, Natalia had only been in Malacañang two days and yet, her smell improved this fast. Her skin looked better . . . Her face . . .’ Even in his mind, Cjay was struggling to admit the truth about the most irritating person he had met on this wide earth. But he admitted it anyway. ‘. . . prettier.’

Kuya Rick was still staring at him, waiting for him to continue what he was saying. When Cjay glanced at him, his eyes were still expectant.

“Never mind that, Kuya Rick. That’s nothing. I already know why,” he lied as he stepped away from the window. “I’m hungry.”

Kuya Rick’s eyes widened, followed by a nervous gulp. Cjay secretly rejoiced at the driver’s reaction. His existing fear toward him only meant he was still able to put the driver under his mercy whenever he wanted to.

“I’ll just check if I can already use the dining room,” he said as he turneed his back om the driver to head to the dining room.