LORELEI
The day that i met loki mendez was the day my high school life changed in a way that I had not expected.
It all started when my dad sent me to Pampanga to continue my studies there. After lunchtime, our family driver picked me up and stuffed my luggage in the car's trunk. We left Manila at around two in the afternoon.
What's supposed to be a two-hour drive turned into a three-hour trip. Progress on EDSA is very slow, and then there was another car accident in the northbound lane. We had no choice but to endure the slow-moving traffic and waste our precious time on the road.
At five in the afternoon, we finally reached Angeles City. Compared to the busy streets of Metro Manila, this city did not have towering buildings left and right. The road was not as wide as EDSA, and there were no long queues of vehicles stuck in traffic.
The car pulled up on the side of a three-story apartment. I looked out the window to see the whole place.
"We're here, Ma'am," the driver said after he turned off the car's engine. He pressed a button on the side door panel and I heard a soft click from the door.
We almost got out of the car together. He opened the car trunk and pulled up my pink luggage. That's the suitcase I always use when we're out-of-town. There were three tags attached to the luggage that I haven't removed yet. They served as a remembrance for the places we've been. I was going to take it from him, but he insisted that he carry it. He carefully placed it in front of the black gate.
"Thank you, Brother," I told him with a smile.
"Nothing, Ma'am," he replied with a forced smile. The trip had been several hours, so he was definitely tired. Then he would drive back to Manila. "Be careful here."
He got back into the car and started the engine. I watched as the car drove away until it disappeared from my eyesight. It seemed like it would be a long time before I saw that car again.
I turned on my heel and stared at the apartment before me. Its exterior design was somewhat dated and looked like it had been renovated several times.
So this is going to be my new home now, huh?
Seconds after I pressed the doorbell, the gate was opened. A middle-aged woman with shoulder-length curly hair greeted me. She already had a few gray strands and wrinkles on her forehead. She looked at me.
Meet my aunt, Martha Henson, the landlady of the apartment where I would be staying for the next couple of months.
"Oh, Lori! I've been waiting for you!"
She kissed me before hugging me so tightly, I could barely breathe. I missed her warm embrace. It had been a while since we last saw each other.
"How was the trip?"
"There's still traffic on EDSA, so I was a little late getting here." I smiled, masking my annoyance from the trip earlier. "How are you, Auntie? How are you?"
"Here, still feeling young!" She replied with a laugh before glancing around. It was as if she was looking for something. "Did your dad take you? I wanted to ask him how he was. I haven't seen Walter in person in a while."
I tried to keep a smile on my lips. It was as if she didn't know what kind of person Papa was. He didn't even say goodbye to me.
"He had an afternoon meeting earlier that's why he couldn't drop me off. He wanted to see you," I lied. Papa didn't say anything like that because he didn't talk to me before I left.
"Ah, is that so?" Auntie frowned for a moment before looking at me again. "You must be tired from the trip. Come, I'll show you where you'll stay. I cleaned the room you'll be staying in earlier." She was about to carry my luggage, but I told her I could handle it. She let me go in first before she closed the gate.
The apartment that this aunt is renting is quite large, maybe ten units per floor. The rent is probably expensive because it is close to campus and other establishments. She mentioned that her tenants were mostly students who did not want to commute everyday going to school. Even I would have chosen to stay in a dormitory.
"Is it okay with you if you have someone in the unit?" She turned to me, scratching her right cheek. "Almost all the units here are already rented. Only one unit has a vacant room."
"Can't I stay in your unit?" I asked.
"I would love for us to be together, but my unit is too small for the two of us. I'm staying in a studio-type unit right now. Since you're studying, it's better if you have your own room so you can concentrate and not be disturbed too much."
That's perfectly understandable, but I had a serious concern. "Will I be accompanied by a woman in the unit?"
She looked at me as if she was hesitating to answer my question. "Man," she replied before opening the door to enter the apartment.
I came to a sudden halt. I stared at her and swallowed. I wouldn't mind sharing the unit with anyone-as long as it's not a male.
Auntie also stopped walking. Her face became serious as she turned her gaze in my direction. "Your dad told me what happened to you at your old school so I'm aware of what you've been through. I won't let anything bad happen to you while you're here. Trust me. Also, change the person I said would be your roommate."
She was trying to reassure me, but my trust issues with boys were stronger than any word of assurance from her. That can't just be erased from me.
"You will only meet in common areas like the living room and kitchen," Tita added. "You are not required to interact with each other. You will also have separate rooms. If you are worried about your safety, we can put three or four locks on the door. But I'm sure you have nothing to worry about with this person."
If my aunt was confident that I would be safe in the company of my male roommate, then she must have known or carefully studied that person. She would not arrive at that conclusion without any basis. "How could you say my roommate would be someone else?"
Tita was the first to climb the stairs and took careful steps. I supported her from behind. "He's as quiet as a rock when you're with him. He doesn't talk unless he has to. He's mysterious. It's like he has his own world. He doesn't seem to be interested in people. He's been here for two years but not once has he brought a single friend or classmate."
Did he prefer to be alone? "But did he have any companions in the unit before?"
"Yes, he had roommates before. But after a month or two, they would suddenly leave and look for someone to move to. Their reason was that there was a ghost in the unit. When they were taking a shower in the bathroom, they said they felt eyes staring at them from the window. When they were alone in the room, they heard someone calling their name."
Creepy.
Turns out one of Tita's units is for a horror movie. Whoever my roommate was going to be, I would salute him for staying this long. Either he was brave enough or he did not believe in ghosts.
"Don't worry. There are no ghosts, your future roommate said so himself." Tita seemed to sense my horror at what she was telling me. But her words did little to reassure me. "Maybe the people he was with were taking drugs that's why they were seeing and hearing things. He said he hasn't felt any other elements in the unit yet."
Should I be reassured by Tita's words and believe what that man said? They say, "To see is to believe." Unless I experienced the same paranormal encounters that the previous tenants did, I would not think of leaving this apartment.
Caught up in our conversation, we didn't realize that we had reached the third floor, opposite Room 302. Auntie knocked first before she inserted the key into the doorknob and opened the door. The door creaked open.
Taking a deep breath, I prepared myself to meet my roommate.
The unit is not that big, probably just right for a small family. As soon as you enter, two long sectional couches and a center table appear in the living room. At the back, there is a dining table with three chairs and a kitchen with an almost empty dish rack. On the right, there are two closed doors to the bedrooms. There is also a door slightly open at the back that is probably the bathroom.
What caught my attention was the boy sitting cross-legged on the floor. He was so focused on the giant jigsaw puzzle in front of him that he did not lift his gaze at us when we walked in. The pieces were all around him. What's weird was that they had no design or color-just plain white pieces.
"Excuse me, Loki?" Tita Martha let out a forced cough to get his attention. What an odd name, by the way. He's the namesake of the trickster god in Norse mythology. "I'd like to introduce you to your new roommate."
He tilted his head up, his eyes surveying me from head to toe. His gaze shifted from me to the luggage on my right.
Finally, I got a full view of his face. The first thing I observed about him was his unkempt jet-black hair with fringes that almost covered his gray eyes. His facial expression was as blank as a paper upon seeing me. The corners of his mouth did not move. I could not tell if he was happy to know that he would be having a new roommate or not.
Despite him regarding me coldly, I still waved and introduced myself. "Hi, I'm Lorelei Rios. Pleased to meet you!"
"My name's Loki Mendez," he replied lazily. "I'm in the middle of solving a puzzle here. Can you not disturb me for another five minutes?"
He returned his attention to the jigsaw puzzle. What's with the cold greeting? At first I thought Tita's description of him was exaggerated.
It was on spot!
Tita and I looked at each other and then she shrugged. She must have gotten used to Loki's cold reception whenever he introduced a roommate. Was it just me, or was he giving an impression that he did not want to share this unit with anyone?
"Okay, your room will be the one in front." Aunt Martha led the way to my room. As we walked towards it, I noticed the sticky notes stuck to the flatscreen TV. There were numbers written like mathematical equations. There was also a dartboard on the wall with a photo of a man pierced with darts. His face was almost unrecognizable due to the number of holes.
Loki's indeed strange... and mysterious.
Upon entering the room, I smelled the scent of lavender air freshener. The bed was fine and the pillowcases and bedsheets looked like they had been changed. There's a study table on one side and a cabinet in the corner. I put my luggage on the side.
Aunt Martha handed me the room key. "Excuse me if you have to share the unit with Loki for now. If I could give you the entire unit, I would. I trust your roommate that he won't do anything bad to you."
As long as he would mind his own business and he would not cause me any trouble, we could share the same living space.
"Just when you need me, just come see me in Room 101. You can also message or call me. I'll be right here."
"Thank you, Aunt." I hugged her for a few seconds. She also wrapped her arms around me, and it felt like my mom was hugging me back.
"I wish your dad would stop by to see how you're doing," she said as we parted ways. She looked me in the eyes as she caressed my cheek. "He'll definitely miss his only daughter."
Sh said goodbye to me before leaving the room.I frowned as soon as the door closed. It would not make a pennyworth difference to my dad whether I was with him or I was far away from him. He could care less about me.
I pulled my luggage close to me and started unpacking my stuff.
Later that evening, i got out of my room, bringing my slim laptop with me, and sat on one of the couches. Loki had finished the jigsaw puzzle so he sat on the other couch and was reading a book titled A Study in Scarlet. I greeted him a good evening, but he did not respond. He must be too engrossed with what he's reading.
I logged in to my social media account and checked the messages in my inbox. A number of my classmates-or former classmates, rather-from St. Bartholomew High in Manila sent me personal messages. While I was checking them one by one, Loki stood up and walked behind me to the comfort room.
My former classmates asked me how I was and asked where I was transferring. I closed the messages without replying to them. They would be marked as seen by me. Well, I did not care. I was not in the mood to make contact with them.
Fan! Fan!
My phone lit up. A message notification crossed the screen. I thought of not checking it, but when I saw the sender's name, I was tempted to open it. So I did.
TO RAVENNA: Hi, Lori! How are you? Heard from your dad that you went to Pampanga today. Just want to know if you got there safely. I hope we can talk soon. Take care always!
I shut my eyes close as I took a deep breath. For a moment, I thought of replying to him. But no, I should not. I pressed the sleep button and threw my phone to the side.
Sorry. I couldn't bring myself to reply and reconnect with them-even with my closest friend. I have no grudge against him or any of my classmates before. Most of them were good people. There were only a few bad apples. But I don't want to have any connection to the past because I want to forget what happened before.
For me to move on quickly, I had to cut my ties with the past. It's not going to be easy, but it might be what I needed to do to soothe my mind.
Hours passed, but Loki and I never spoke. Like Aunt Martha said, he didn't talk unless necessary. He was too busy reading a book or doing a puzzle. He didn't really have any intention of getting to know me.
THE SAME SITUATION WENT ON THE NEXT DAY. WHEN I GOT OUT OF MY ROOM, I GREETED HIM "good morning," but he did not reply. Not even a simple "hi" or "hello," nothing. He was still focused on what he was reading and he was still in the same spot where I last saw him last night before I went to bed. Wait, did this guy go to sleep? Or did he have a reading marathon all night to finish what he was reading?
When afternoon came, I sat on the same couch where I did yesterday. Loki? There writing numbers on paper, like someone is solving a mathematical problem We kept on minding our own business, which was good. I was always on my laptop. He was always completing a puzzle, reading a book, or doodling some numbers. If this went on, I would say Tita Martha made a good call in letting me share the unit with him.
While I was watching and laughing at some funny cat videos on YouTube, I glanced at him from time to time. He's so mysterious, I got curious about what he's doing.
And then, a miracle happened.
"Your glances are starting to make me feel uncomfortable. Do you wanna ask me a question?" Loki said without lifting his gaze at me. For the first time, he initiated a conversation. It seemed like there was something in the dish that Aunt Martha brought for lunch earlier that's why my companion was acting up.
I checked to see if he was talking to someone on the phone, maybe his question wasn't for me. When I was sure it was me he was talking to, I closed my laptop.
I might be a little curious about him, but I did not want to ask him anything.
"I appreciate the silence between us, but I don't mind talking to you," I answered. He did not bother to look at me while I was speaking. He kept on writing. Was he interested or not? "We only know little about each other after all."
He stopped writing and looked in my direction. Finally, I got his attention. "Oh, I disagree."
My eyes squinted at him as I observed his blank facial expression. "What do you mean?"
"You're the landlady's niece, aren't you?" he replied. "The special treatment she accorded you by cleaning the vacant bedroom and spraying air freshener in it was a hint that you two have a special bond. She's never done that before to her previous tenants."
My mouth gaped. I was not expecting him to talk too much.
"The proximity you two displayed yesterday also suggested that you aren't just her new tenant, but someone she knows very well. A relative then?" he went on, scribbling something on the paper. "Definitely not her child since your surnames aren't the same. Definitely not her grandchild since you're probably around the same age as her daughters who are in Manila now."
My eyes blinked at him in disbelief. I tried to recall if my tita introduced me as her niece, but she did not! She introduced me as the new roommate. If he managed to figure out our relationship by just observing, this Loki might be something.
"Speaking of Manila, you used to live there before you came here yesterday. The three travel tags on your luggage revealed that you always flew from and to MNL, which stands for Manila. We have a domestic and international airport in Clark. If you were a resident here, you would have flown CRK instead of MNL."
I remembered him glancing at my luggage yesterday. Are his eyes that clear to read what's written on the travel tags?
"Judging by the size of your luggage, you intend to stay here for quite a long time. We're probably around the same age, so I assume you're also a high school student. Clark High is the nearest academic institution from here, so it won't be surprising if you choose to enroll there."
I gulped, my eyes kept on staring at him. "H-how did you know? Did Tita Martha tell you about me?"
"The landlady didn't tell me anything except the fact that I'd have a new roommate," he answered, glancing at me for a second. "I simply observed, applied logical reasoning, and chose the most likely explanation."
He was unbelievable! There's no way he could guess everything right by mere observation!
"But that's not all," he added.
My eyebrows furrowed. He's not finished yet?
"You're trying to escape something from your past. That's why you went here, to seek refuge and solace."
My jaw almost dropped. "How did you know-"
"You ignored your friends' chat and text messages," he explained. "They sounded so concerned about you, but you didn't give them any reply."
Was he peeking at my laptop and phone? I remember him walking past me a few times while I was reading messages in my inbox. Are his eyes that fast? More importantly, where's his respect for my privacy?
"By disconnecting yourself from the people of your past, you thought you would have an easier way of letting go or moving on," he added. "One might ask: What are you trying to escape from? Why did you choose to transfer here in Pampanga which is miles away from where you used to live? Judging by your high-end laptop and phone, your family is quite well-off. You can afford to study anywhere in Manila. Why not go to those prestigious schools?"
I held on to my knees as I continued to listen to him. It always made me uncomfortable whenever someone would bring up something from my past.
"Maybe something happened in your previous school. Maybe you were traumatized so much; just being in that city easily triggers your bad memories. That's why you have to go far away. What could that incident be? Were you a witness to a gruesome crime? Were you involved in a scandal-"
"Enough!"
My fists clenched. I could not take his nonchalant remarks anymore. I shouted for him to stop talking. He shut his mouth and stared at me. If he had already suspected that I was involved in a sensitive incident, couldn't he just keep it to himself? Did he have to show off how good he was at deducing people's life history?
"Did I say something wrong?" He was unfazed by my yell. He probably wanted to continue enumerating possible scenarios.
I grabbed my gadgets and rose to my feet. I headed back to my room without saying goodbye to him. Before I turned the doorknob, I faced Loki again.
"Now I know why no roommate has ever stayed with you. You're worse than the ghost that's been bothering you here."
Once inside my room, I threw myself into the bed and sobbed. I squeezed my eyes shut and took deep breaths.
Whatever happened back then, I chose not to remember anymore.
That Loki... He might be smart, but he's insensitive. He did not care about my feelings, as long as he could show off his brilliance. Thanks to him, I almost reopened the memories that I had locked away in my mind.
Maybe it's not a good idea to be living in the same unit as him.