MAINE first woke up the following morning. She saw Luisa curled on the couch. She got up and went to her bedroom, staggering up the stairs. Before she reach the top flight, Luisa woke up, too, and is ready to go home.

"Thank you for keeping me relaxed, Maine." Luisa sleepily said, yawning. Her body is not ready for today's endeavors.

"No problem." Maine answered also yawning. She's staggering to get to her bedroom. "I need to get ready, I hate it!" She somewhat yelled but came out like whining.

"But you must." Luisa said, still yawning.

"Yes, I need to get ready. Just when I am so relaxed, I need to get up. Ugh!" Maine continued on, whining.

Luisa laughed at her whining. She felt the same. But like Maine, she needs to get up, too. She has a minor surgery to assist at three in the afternoon. She needs prepping.

"I'll let myself out after I put all this cup and saucer in the sink." Maine is still at the top flight which made Luisa giggle more. Maine pouted. She is not happy with Luisa. It's too early for it.

Luisa locked the door behind her and went to her own house to get ready.

She quickly bathed and dressed. She decided to wear her waterproof tight jeans, white v-neck ladies shirt, wore her leather jacket and leather boots. She also put on her favorite red lipstick and braided her hair. She looked at herself in the mirror and smiled.

"Dang, Maine, you look like a villain." She whispered, giggling. She grabbed her Jansport galaxy mini backpack and walked out of her room.

When she got out of her room, her coffee table was clean. She just shook her head and smiled. She then grabbed her cellphone together with her license and slipped it into the back pocket of her pants. Before she got out of the door, she took the key to her Lexmoto LXR 125 that is mounted right above where her helmet is hanging.

Maine turned on the alarm and locked the door. Holding the helmet on the other hand, the key on the other, she entered the door of the elevator cabin quitely. She pressed the "P" butoon for the parking lot level and the door closed.

Their building's parking security tipped his hat at the sight of her as a sign of acknowledgment, she passed him with a smile. Her motorcycle is at the very end.

She put her helmet on as she reached her motorcycle. Before getting on, she checked the time. Alright, it's 12 noon. Based on her calculation with the distance and the anticipation of the traffic, she will arrive at her destination by 1:30 in the afternoon.

A few moments later, she was on the road. She remembered and marked every road she passed. She was careful to drive a motorcycle even in the heavy rain.

Luisa and Mike always remind her to use her car at such times like this because not only does she get sick, she might get in an accident, too, especially in the flooded areas where you cannot see what's underneath those murky, dark water.

On some parts of the streets, there could be holes made by heavy trucks and some were an unfinished job by the public works and wasn't covered or marked properly for safety after being excavated.

A few minutes later she is on the road. She remembers every road she'd driven on. Luisa and Mike always advised and reminded her to use her car at such times. But Maine is Maine, she'll still use her bike.

Her attention came back to the present in time to dodged the car that swerved in front of her. The driver avoided the pothole which later on was good for her. She quickly saw the pit, that gave her time to avoid it, but her motorcycle had to climb to the sidewalk. Fortunately, nobody was walking on it.

"Damn!" She whispered, cursing. Maine, in some ways, got rattled at what had happened.

She stopped for a little bit and took a deep breath to calm her nerves down. A few moments later, she's back on the road and is in good shape.

She moved down the next lane since she's nearing the corner where she's turning. As soon as it cleared up, she made her turn.

A few more curves and turns, she was in the middle of Bermuda Avenue when she realized that there was a blockage ahead. The way she assess the area, there are no passage way even for a motorcycle.

She's too far down the road to go back to the main road to take a detour. The public works, again, did not put a proper sigh to let the motorist knows of the complete closure of the road.

"Damn people." She was not happy for one good reason, she doesn't know the area.

Since she doesn't go out very much, there are still roads throughout the city that she has not been able to reach unless he rides along in an ambulance.

And even with that, she only put her attention to the patient and not to the road. So... how can she?

"I love my country, but I hate the streets!" She uttered between gritted teeth.

Maine is an adventurous person, a daredevil, a grand prix champion, she may be a girl and she is not afraid to get dirty and get mud on her, but she is not stupid to fall into one of those street holes.

Maine is not afraid to break a nail even after a good mani-pedi, she is not afraid of her skirt riding up because she's wearing cycling shorts or spandex under it, and although she is a woman, she is not a typical girly-girl kind of a woman, she's tough.

She would rather just be like this. There's no man around her, she is not going to fall in love, she's not getting married and she will not have children to suffer the way she did.

To top it off, no one will divorce her and there will be no children be left behind to fend for themselves.

Everyone is happy, at least, that is one child out of the way of fighting parents. And besides, I am not worth keeping nor loving.

Maine slowed down and pulled over on the side of the road, she took her helmet off to take a deep breath.

She looks around to see if anyone is nearby so she can ask where the Emerald Trading Post is. She noticed two women not far from her walking down the street towards her direction.

She kicked her motor's stand and got off. She crossed the street to approach the two women.

"Miss! Miss!" He called out to the two women. "Do you know where the Emerald Trading Post is?" The two women looked at each other and shook their heads.

"I'm sorry, Miss. we're not from here, too." Replied the other woman with a Visayan accent. She just scratched her forehead out of frustration.

"Shems! Paano na this?" She quietly asked herself. Frustration is written all over her face. She pushed the feelings aside.

After thanking the woman she turned her back and returned the motor on.

"Lord, I may have not spoken with my parents for a while but I'm not a bad person right? We're okay, You and me, right?" She quietly prayed.

She just took a deep breath and again, gave out a frustrated sigh. Annoyed with what was going on, she leaned on her motorcycle. She was about to scream her head off when she just realized that she's carrying her cellphone. Duh, Nicomaine!

"You are so stupid, Menggay! you will always remember the anger you have towards your parents, even when you're not with them, but your cell phone? Dumb dumb, it's always with you, but yet you still forget it! You fool!" She inwardly scolded herself.

Maine typed in Emerald Trading Post in the search bar. She waited for it to load. She gets more annoyed by the slowness of the net in the Philippines. That's what happens when you are running on data. She can't even pull up her email.

A century later, her search entry loads up and redirects her to a location on google map. A smile came up. She's glad that she wasn't that far away from where it is. All she had to do is go back a few corners and make a left and another left on the first street. After that, she has to drive straight and she'll arrive at her destination. Cool!

She hurriedly mounted on her motorcycle and drove off. She followed what the map said and she got there.

She looked around and even asked the few people that were walking but no one know where the Emerald Trading Post was.

Then she quickly realized after asking one buko vendor if he knew where the post is, he pointed at an abandoned building behind her. It looks dilapidated and was built in the turn of the nineteenth century.

There's nothing wrong with it but no one knows the name of it. As the vendor explained, they know it as a firehouse, that's all.

She parked his motorcycle at the far end of the parking lot in front of the building. There were also two motorcycles parked there, a Yamaha R3 and a Kawasaki 300. She smiled. Even if the other is a 321cc and the other is 300cc, they are still nothing compared to her Lexmoto. She glanced at her ride and smiled.

"Even if you're only 125cc motorcycle, you can still beat those two. You may be small for them but you can make them eat your dust." She patted the top headlight of her Lexmoto.

She parked it almost leaning against the wall in front of it. She won a few trophies back in high school at motocross competitions with this baby.

No one really knew who she was during the race. She won't take her helmet off after the race and during the awarding. After all the commotions, she goes back to where she parks her motorcycle then walks towards her dorm building as if nothing exciting happened that day. Those were the days, Maine. Forget it.

Since she parked at the very end, she can see the entire, almost vacant, parking lot. Maine can also see the building next to it and the Post across it.

Maine couldn't help but think that this was the firehouse where Luisa's boyfriend, Mike, is working?

Maine shook her head to stop herself from belittling the firehouse's front facade. She pulled her phone and texted Luisa. She wanted her to know that she's already here.

She forgot to ask Luisa for Mike's number so she could call and let him know that she's outside by the parking lot.

She had just sent a text when the three teenagers and a kid approached her. All of them are male.

"Hello, miss."

__________
End of TPA 2: Trading Post

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💖 ~ Ms J ~ 💖
12.02.19

The Periwinkle Affair
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August 26, 2019