Chapter 2

8:30 PM
20213 Westwood Drive, South Executive Village

"It was a very long meeting." Martin Fernandez thought as he opened the front door of his large, two floor minimalist-designed mansion.It was the home that he shared with his wife, Angela, and his only child, Brian, which had a spacious backyard with a pool and a jacuzzi, as well as a billiard pool area in the middle of the ground floor.

Martin is a mid-40 year old Filipino executive with Spanish decent. A tall, handsome man with full black hair with gray hair highlights on the side, Martin regularly works out and plays golf with his colleagues and friends. Angela, on the other hand, is almost the same as Martin, though due to her Chinese blood, she looks younger than her age. She loves dressing up well, even if she only works at home, handling her own business of selling jewelries.

Tired as he was, he loosened the knot of his necktie and moved his head around to relax a bit.Being the COO of the company he inherited from his father, every day for Michael had been stressful - considering he had to contend to the expectations left to him by the board and his father himself.

He had also felt bad that he had to have his only son ride a cab home, knowing that it was raining very hard the whole day. However, Martin was left with no other choice. His clients for a very important business deal called for an urgent call that he could not refuse or re-schedule. Given that it had almost been two hours since he had told Brian to take a cab, Martin was expecting that his only son was already home.

He was a couple of steps away from his home office, when he heard his lovely wife, Angela, call him. "Martin?"

Martin stopped on his tracks and turned around, seeing his wife walking towards him. Tired as he was, he tried to smile before giving a soft kiss in the lips of his wife. "How's your day, honey?"

"It was fine." Angela replied, softly patting Martin's shoulders, as he looked straight towards the eyes of her husband. "I've already had them have your dinner ready."

Angela paused, as she looked behind her then around them. "Where's Brian?"


Martin looked at him, puzzled. All along, he was under the impression that Brian should have already been at home after taking a cab. "I told him to take a cab. I was stuck in a meeting."

Angela looked at Martin, very worried. "You didn't pick him up?!"

Martin sighed in despair, as he started walking towards the front door while getting his cellular phone. Angela    followed her husband, worrying about where her son was. Martin, on the other hand, was worried that his son was stuck in school, given that it was still raining hard on the way home. He looked at his cellular phone, and there was no message from Brian.

Martin started looking for Brian's name in his phone's contact list as he was almost near the door. As he was about to call up Brian, the front door of the mansion opened and both Brian walked into the mansion. Martin and Angela both stopped on their tracks with a faint smile on their faces, a bit relieved that their son was already home.

From the open door, Marc soon followed in and stopped to close the front door. Martin and Angela looked at the visitor, wondering who he was, since it was the first time that Brian had brought a friend with him.Marc smiled at them, and nodded, while softly greeting "Good Evening." Martin and Angela politely greeted back.

Angela walked towards her son, who immediately hugged her. "How were you? Where have you been?"

"I'm sorry it took me so long to go home." Brian apologized, looking alternately to his mother then his father. "It was raining hard the whole day, I wasn't able to get a cab. Good that..." Brian turned around and was about to talk about Marc, who just looked at him and smiled. Brian realized he hasn't introduced Marc to his parents yet.

"Oh sorry. By the way," Brian paused, as he looked and pointed towards Marc.

"This is Marc Santos. He lives just beside us. I met him at school today." continued Brian as he glanced towards his parents.

"We were both stuck at school due to the rains." Marc acknowledged as he chuckled, looking towards both Martin and Angela.

Martin smiled back as he walked towards Marc. He reached out his hand to Marc, whom immediately shook the hand back, smiling."Well, I have to thank you then." Martin stepped back and faced Marc, while both Angela and Brian looked at them. "So, we are neighbors. I don't believe we have met each other yet."

"Ah, yes." Marc replied, innocently scratching his head, "We just transferred to the village last week. We haven't really met anyone yet, since we had spent the past days transferring our things."

"Well, why don't you stay for dinner?" Angela invited, as she placed her arm over Brian's shoulder.

Marc pressed his hands together, and slightly bowed facing Angela in acknowledgement for her invitation. "I really have to go though. My Dad will be looking for me already."

"Oh, okay." Martin said, as he started walking towards the front door "Let me at least walk you to the gate."

"It was nice meeting you, Marc." Angela remarked as she waved goodbye to Marc. Marc looked back and waved goodbye to Angela, as Martin opened the front door. Marc then looked at Brian, nodded his back his head and greeted "See you tommorow, Bro."