THE sound of Sara’s giggles woke up Maria. With half-lidded eyes, she turned on her side and checked the wall clock. It says that it’s already seven a.m, and she has to prepare for her new job.
“Sara?” Maria called for her daughter as she sat up. “Sara?”
“Mommy, I’m here!” Sara shouted from the living room. A few minutes later, she appeared on the doorway with a broad smile on her face. “Uncle Euclid is here.”
Maria’s brows furrowed. But, when Euclid also appeared on the doorway behind her daughter, heat raised on her cheeks. She looked away and pretended that she’s looking for her slippers.
“Good morning, Maria.”
Euclid’s smooth and gorgeous voice was penetrating her skin down to her core. Maria doesn’t understand why she still felt this way towards him. It was as if what happened between them last night was their first.
Maria shook her head as she ditched on her mind those thoughts of last night. She scolded herself for feeling like a clean woman who has her first sex with a man. Maria knew that Euclid was also thinking the same way about her. Maybe that’s why he forced her to have sex with him because he thinks that she has learned a lot in her years of experience as a prostitute.
Maria felt a lump in her throat. She shouldn’t be feeling hurt by those words because it’s all true. But, deep inside her, she knew that she wouldn’t take if Euclid will tell her all those things.
“Mommy?” Sara touched her face. “Are you still sleeping?”
Maria looked at her daughter. “No, baby…” she said and stood. “What time did you wake up? Why you didn’t wake me?”
“I woke up when Uncle Euclid arrived,” she said and looked at the ceiling as she thinks about the time that Euclid arrived. “I don’t know what time it was.” She looked at Euclid. “What time did you arrive, Uncle Euclid?”
“It’s six-thirty,” he said. “Wendy wasn’t here when I arrived.”
Maria nodded and fixed their bed. “Wendy goes to LTO early.”
“Who’s with Sara when she leaves?” Euclid asked. Maria can feel on her back that she’s staring at her. “She left Sara alone?”
“Of course, not.” She turned to face him. “I’m home before the sun rises.”
Euclid nodded. “Good,” he said, not taking his eyes off her chest. “Very good.”
Maria knotted her forehead and followed his gaze. When she realized what he’s staring at, she quickly crossed her arms in her chest. “Don’t stare!”
Euclid chuckled. “I can’t help it. I have keen eyes for details.”
“Shut up!” Maria said and turned around. “Can you please go away?”
“No!” Sara protested. “We’re still playing.”
Maria sighed. “Okay, but tell him to go back to the living room. Mommy has to fix some things here in our room.”
“Okay!” she heard her daughter answer. “Come on, Uncle Euclid, it’s your turn to serve the tea.”
“Oh, was it my turn already?” Maria sensed sarcasm in Euclid’s tone.
When she heard their footsteps going away, Maria closed the door quickly. She then opened the drawer beside their bed and looked for Wendy’s cell phone, but it’s not there.
“Shit.” Maria raked her fingers through her hair. “Why did she bring her phone? She often leaves it if I am here.”
Maria sat on the bed. “How am I going to call him? I need a job.”
*
Euclid felt his phone vibrate inside his pocket. He took it out and saw Fred’s name on the notification bar. Euclid’s brows furrowed at what could be the reason for his message. He clicked it open.
‘She was looking for the phone that she used last night.’ — Fred
Euclid typed his answer and sent it quickly as soon as Maria went outside the room. She was wearing different clothes now, her hair was tied in a high pony that showed how small and perfect the shape of her face was.
“Do you need anything?” Euclid asked her, noticing her peeved expression.
Maria shook her head and called her daughter. “Sara, did your breakfast?”
Sara nodded enthusiastically. “Uncle Euclid brought me doughnuts,” she said and ran to their small fridge. “Here, have some!”
She took the box of doughnuts from Sara’s little hands and smiled sweetly at her. “Did you eat until your tummy is full?”
Sara nodded with a broad smile on her face. “I drank my milk too, Uncle Euclid made it for me.”
“Very good,” she said as she put the box on the table. “Did Aunt Wendy tell you something she leaves?”
“When I woke up, she wasn’t here already,” she said and pouted her lips. “Maybe Uncle Robert called her again.”
Maria chuckled. “Maybe her boss called her early.” Her brows drew together when she looked at Sara’s messy low ponytail. “Who did your ponytail?”
Sara looked at him and smiled. “Uncle Euclid!” she said and laughed. “It looks funny, right, mommy?”
Euclid laughed. “I used to tie your mom’s hair like that when we’re kids.”
Maria’s brows furrow. “We’re not kids anymore when we met,” she corrected as she removed the pink band off Sara’s hair. “And, this style doesn’t suit me.”
Euclid shook his head. “For me, you looked sultry in that hairstyle…” he said in a slow grin. “You looked like a goddess when I saw you walking by the beach. The loose skirt of your thin white dress flowed by the wind of the Balesin Sea.”
Maria looked away from her. “I can’t remember that it happened.”
“I will never forget that night, Maria,” Euclid said in a low voice, almost a whisper. His intense gaze was on her, hoping that his thoughts would penetrate her heart and soul. “I will never forget the sound of your voice when you told me that—”
“It’s about time to forget it, Euclid,” Maria cut off. “And, don’t ever mention it again.”
Euclid clenched his jaw. “I can’t believe that it’s easy for you to forget me.”
“Mommy, is Uncle Euclid, your ex-boyfriend?” Sara suddenly butts in, her brows were furrowed in confusion as she stared up at her mother.
Maria held her daughter’s shoulder. “Sara, what makes you say that?”
“Because you always fight at each other,” she said and crossed her arms on her chest. “You don’t treat Uncle Euclid the way you treat Doc Connor.”
Euclid watched Maria’s reaction to her daughter. “Sara, it’s because Doc Connor is different.”
“Different in what way?” Sara asked. “I don’t understand, mommy.”
Maria crouched beside her daughter. She pinched her cheeks and smiled. “When you’re at the right age, you’ll understand.”
Sara scratched the side of her cheeks, became more confused about what Maria told her. She glanced at him, then looked at her mother again. “Then, why did Uncle Euclid kiss you while you were sleeping?”
***