My shallow breathing became more cumbersome as I waited for the person to speak on the other line. All I could hear were rumbling motions of unknown sounds. I started to get annoyed, for I thought that the person the other line was playing a joke on me. When I was ready to end the call, I suddenly heard the man spoke.

"Murderer."

His full-grown baritone voice sent a quick, tingling sensation down my spine. All parts of my body erected in nerve, including the smallest strand of my hair. I gulped and cleared my throat, "Who are you?"

Without a response, the call just ended.

The man knew my secret. Big questions stuck up inside my mind: How did he know? Has he seen what I did? How was he connected to Aldrian? I promised myself that the moment I regained my strength, I would investigate; I would use all my strength to know Aldrian's secrets, including this guy—and that Doctor Lim, I would see to it that she will regret this god-damn plan! Right now, I just needed to act like an obedient puppy, wagging his tail every time his owner comes home. But when the right time came, her soft, porcelain white skin would be torn into meat grinds as I smack her with my fangs.

I heard another knock by the door, and I stealthily kept the phone under my bed. Doctor Celine was back with a tray of soup and assorted vegetable. She smiled upon entering, "This is for you. You should eat this for you to have more strength." she landed the tray on the table and walked back to her table, going back to her work.

I actually couldn't understand this lady. At some point, she was really annoying, intimidating, and manipulative. She even did all of these to me without my consent and all. But sometimes, she was as soft as a velvet running along your skin in the night time. Her smiles were shining crowns of enchanting fairies. Any vulnerable person would be bewitched by her tactics—an average man I guess, but not me. She was a witch—a terrifying, horrible, grotesque banshee. I knew that deep inside her decent front lay a monstrous beast. No one should ever trust this woman!

The inevitable cycle of time had passed by quickly as minutes turned to hours, hours turned to depressing days. I think a week or two had passed before I was finally released from the four corners of the huge, majestic dungeon, where I was caged. Scars of the surgery gradually receded through time; I couldn't feel any pain in my face anymore every time I expressed my emotions. The thought of having a new face had already sunk into me as I looked at the mirror again, caressing every portion of a stranger's skin.

"You will be discharged today," said Doctor Lim, getting some designer brand polo, t-shirts, and polo shirts from the closet.

"Whose clothes are those?" I asked.

"Yours," cackled she. "I have bought you some clothes since you will be going home today—Palacio Franco. She picked a cellphone from her pocket, waving the item to me. "I threw your phone away after I deleted all phone logs, messages, and contacts. From now on, you will use this." she handed a brand new android phone to me.

"My number is saved there, including Mr. and Mrs. Franco's. Call me when you encounter some problems while posing as Aldrian."

She murmured as she placed her hands on her waist, frowning, "Tsk! The police should have never recovered Aldrian's phone."

I knew that she was talking about the phone that was handed to me not more than ten short minutes ago. I intentionally asked her, pretending to be curious. "What?"

"Oh, no. Never mind!"

A faint sneer just crossed through my lips, hearing her response. Again, just like what I had promised to myself: I would remain cool for now.

"Get yourself ready. Mr. Franco, I mean your father's security team will arrive in half an hour. They'll take you home."

No response came out from my mouth. I stared at her for a few moments, lying back and trying to catch some sleep again. Before I even knew it, the security team was by the door already. I thought it would be in half an hour, guess their sense of time was different from mine.

This time, the guys who entered the room wore Hawaiian shirts and beige khaki pants with matching aviator glasses. At first sight, one wouldn't really take them seriously as bodyguards or security team, for they look like members of one big mafia. Then, one of them approached me. "Sir, your discharge papers have been released. Let's go."

I nodded. A nurse, with a wheelchair, entered and removed all medical equipment in my body. I felt so relieved after being free from those annoying bandages, needles, and gauges. She assisted me slowly to sit at the wheelchair. When everything was already set, we left the room as nothing had happened.

Instead of taking me to the ground floor, they took me up, going to the rooftop, where I saw a blue chopper preparing to take off. The gust of the wind slapped my cheeks, making my eyes sting under the strong ray of the afternoon sun. The pilot approached me and smiled, offering his hand, "Sir Aldrian, I am Captain Jessie Tolentino, and I will be your pilot. Shall we?"

I shook his hand, stood and started walking, wobbling to the chopper. Thankfully, the guards helped me, and I was able to sit comfortably on the chopper. Soon after, Doctor Lim followed inside, together with three other senior guards. I put a big set of headphones as the pilot briefed us about what to during the flight.

The buzzing sound of the chopper intensified, hovering into the mid-air first—maintaining its right pitch and height before thrusting forward. For the duration of our flight, all I could see were tiny blocks of colorful buildings like it was in a diorama. After about half an hour, the pilot told us that we were approaching the mansion. Craning my neck down, I scanned the view of jaw-dropping verdant scenery. The green inanimate camel hump was topped by a multi-structured palace standing elegantly, with a wide space for a garden with a highly-convoluted bush maze beside the different sets of evergreen species. Surrounded by high walls topped with exquisite, Roman style fences, the grace and lavish style of the Italian inspired architecture kissed my rolling, delighted eyes. At our current elevation, going down, I started noticing guards patrolling the area, some were even accompanied by bomb-sniffing canines. At the top of the mansion was a helipad, the chopper descended slowly and finally landed, soon after.

Doctor Lim descended, and I followed. The guards lined up, alongside with about fifty maids, wearing pink blouses and blue aprons. There were also about ten head servants, wearing closed-neck Chinese style blouses. With smiles on their faces, they bowed their heads and greeted me in unison, "Welcome home, Sir Aldrian!"

From the group, an old woman, who was dressed like the head of all maids, wearing a red Chinese blouse approached me. "Sir, how are you feeling? Your room is ready."

I stole a quick glance to the doctor as she raised her brow and nodded. I turned to the head servant again and said, "Thank you."

As Doctor Lim led my way, the maids cleared the path and eventually followed me in two lines. Dr. Celine opened the door, possibly going inside the house. The moment I entered, all I saw was an empty hallway with no doors at the sides, just wallpapers with a touch of Anglo-Japanese design, a long red carpet, and an elevator at its end. She pressed the button going to the ground floor, and it opened. I followed her inside, and the maids and guards just stayed where they were. While the car was going down, she smirked and talked to me. "That woman who approached you is the Franco family's longest-serving head servant. She has been serving this family for almost thirty years. She also is the one who takes care of Mrs. Mercedes, your... mother," a giggle after a firm tone.

The elevator bell rang and, and the door opened. When I walked out of the car, my eyes bulged out in surprise, seeing the fantastic design of the house. Sweet scents of summer flowers blooming in a viridescent meadow tickled my nose. A big central chandelier hung on the high, perfectly-varnished ceiling. I looked around, scanning the entire heavenly place. Paintings and family portraits hang on the golden walls, and burgundy curtains lay on the small windows. The vibe on the entire house felt the same, as the designs repeated almost through the entire place. Silver, marble pillars stood still on every corner of the entire ground floor. As I walked down the marble floor, I saw a central hall, filled with exquisite sofa set and different furniture, topped on a Moroccan carpet. From the hallway, one could see the three wings of the palace, going to different parts of the house. A huge central stairway rolled upwards, paved the way to five floors, each having four wings and hallways. There were too many doors which could lead to different rooms. In the extent of this house's unbelievable size, I thought I would really find it hard to be familiarized. I could get lost, not that it was completely a bad thing. Because of getting lost, I could discover many things.

"You're really amazed, aren't you?" interrupted Doctor Lim.

"Yes. I really can't believe that I am seeing this now."

"Enjoy all of these while it last. Just a reminder: this is only temporary."

"I am not forgetting that."

"Good. Now, follow me."

We walked down the hallway, east of the central hall. The once bright and well-lit golden ambiance started getting a little bit dull and dimmer as we progressed. There were about three doors on each side of the hallway, separated about one meter from each other. At the end of the hallway was a red door with a large arc on top, filled with Vietnamese rose. Doctor Lim knocked, and a maid opened it for us.

"Is she inside?" asked the doctor.

"Yes, ma'am."

"Can we go inside?"

The maid nodded and opened the door. Doctor Lim entered; and following her, my jaws almost disconnected from my skull when I saw the entire room. It was dark and eerie! It was actually empty, no signs of opulence anywhere. With just a plain white paint in all corners of the room, I almost thought that I was transported into an asylum. There was a small window on the wall, with grills for air. A small bed for a single person was at the center, with a little table-cabinet beside it. In that bed, I saw a woman, sitting—catatonic and seemed like no sense of everything around her. Her eyes were too sunken, eyebags dangling down her eyelids. She wore a white dress, and she was barefooted. Upon looking closely, I realized that she was Aldrian's mother.

I cleared my throat and asked. "Wh-why is she like that?"

The maid answered, "Her condition is becoming worse, Young Master. The gaps between her sane and insane episodes are becoming shorter. As far as I could remember, her insane and catatonic episodes were more frequent these past weeks."

Doctor Lim meddled, "This is bad. Maybe she just misses her son so bad. How long has she been sitting like that?"

"About half a day, Doctor. She doesn't eat, she doesn't move an inch. Yesterday was different though, she was talking at the wall while rolling her hair continuously. The other day, she was screaming and cursing all of us, saying that she will kill everyone who gets in her way. I am getting scared and worried at the same time, Doctor."

"What did her psychiatrist say?"

"I don't know, Doc. Last time, it was Sir Eduardo whom he had talked to."

Doctor Lim turned to me, adding more information about Aldrian's mother, "She doesn't remember anything that happens to her in a particular unhinged episode. If one time, she loses her screw and started screaming, the next day, her memory doing that will be lost. So, if she ever has those sane episodes and had those crazy in between, the only thing that she would remember are those... uh, normal days."

"It has been almost two weeks since she was normal," the maid added.

"Last two weeks? Meaning that could be the time she visited me at the hospital." I cut in.

"See, Aldrian? Next time, you should really take care of yourself. You're making your mom worried about you," said Doctor Lim, in a seemingly worried voice."

In the middle of our conversation, the stiff woman spoke, calling Aldrian's name in her whispery, dramatic tone, "Aldrian... my son. I-i-is that you?" she stretched her shaky arms and locked her teary eyes to me.

"Son... please, come to mama."

I heard Doctor Lim sighed, rolling her eyes. "Could we give them some moment?" the maids went out, together with the doctor, and I was left alone inside, standing awkwardly by the door. I was paralyzed at my place, heart racing and pounding. I could really see the longing of a mother in her eyes, through my face, my fake, stolen face. My sins just got bigger. I started to feel weak. Maybe I couldn't do this whole scheme. Yes, I was a hired killer and a drug dealer, but that didn't mean that I was an evil person as well. I was just molded by the circumstances, and I only had killed people who were vile, except for Aldrian. As my head was clouded with mists and fogs of doubt and guilt, I heard her speak again. This time, tears already dropped by her wrinkled, pale face.

"Aldrian, p-pl-please, I need you. Come to mama..."

With heavy steps, I walked to her and sat beside her. She lay her hands on my hair, fingers running down along my face as her eyes anchored to mine. Her body moved closer to mine in a tight embrace. Feeling the warm embrace of a mother, I almost forgot that it was all part of a big stage play. A director was obviously out of the picture as we continued feeling the warmth of each other's embrace. Then, she let unwrapped her hands, moving her face closer to my ear. She whispered, "Drop the act. I know that you are not my son."