It was dark when Blaze stepped out of a carinderia. Fed and satisfied, he headed to the street now flooded with even more people. As the crowd enjoyed the parade of flower-decked carriages laden with Marian statues and images, Blaze helped himself to more wallets. He had almost got the third wallet from one of the women’s purses when a young girl walked by and tapped his shoulder. It disrupted Blaze’s concentration, and the woman’s wallet slipped out of his fingers and dropped onto her foot.
The second the woman looked down, an earsplitting scream escaped her lips. “Thief!” She bent over to pick up her wallet, faster than Blaze had managed to get it out of her purse.
“Shit!” Blaze muttered, immediately pushing through the wall of people before the woman could turn and catch him. A girl with short black hair hurrying in front of him caught his attention. It all happened so fast, but Blaze was sure she was the girl who had caused him this trouble. She had the same knee-length frilly dress that no one else around them had. He stretched out his arm, reaching out to her. “Hey, you!”
The girl momentarily turned her head and stuck out her tongue, then, out of the blue, a man’s arm stretched out and wrapped around the girl’s mouth. A group of men in tuxedos gathered around her and in the blink of an eye she disappeared from his sight.
Blaze’s eyes widened. He stood there dumbfounded for a second before a shrill voice spoke behind him. “That’s her, Mr. Policeman! That’s the girl who tried to steal my wallet!”
“Miss, could you please turn around?” the policeman said.
Blaze grimaced. Using the elastic band which he always had around his wrist, he bundled his long hair into a low ponytail and turned around. He glanced at the police officer who seemed taken aback when he smiled and faced the woman with an I’m innocent look in his eyes. “I’m sorry, miss, but you are mistaken. I’m a boy, you see.”
The woman studied him for a second then shook her head. She turned to the policeman. “No, I’m sure it’s him.”
“But you said it was a girl,” the police officer said, completely fooled by Blaze’s façade.
The woman frowned. “Well, look at him! Anyway, I’m sure that he’s the one. He’s wearing the same clothes and has the same face.”
“Boy, you’re not lying, right?”
Blaze faced the police officer confidently. “Of course not! I wouldn’t dare lie to a policeman.” He laughed inwardly. Yeah, right!
“He’s obviously lying!” The woman pointed. “Why don’t you check him, Mr. Policeman? He could be hiding more wallets. He could be a girl for all we know.”
“You’ve got a point.” The police officer looked him up and down from head to toe. “You won’t mind if I check, right?”
Blaze had hidden his newly collected wallets in a place where no one would put their hands in public, but the odd spark in the police officer’s eyes made Blaze nervous. Before he knew it, he was sprinting at full speed with the police officer on his tail.
After running for about twenty minutes, Blaze finally managed to lose the police officer. Wheezing, he watched the passing cars and wondered where he was for a while. After recognizing the street near the cheap boarding house where he was staying, Blaze straightened up and took a deep breath. Exhaling with relief, he walked back to the boarding house.
“¡Llama a ese hermano tuyo ahora!” (Call that brother of yours now!)
“¿O qué, le ganarás a esa niña?” (Or what you’ll beat this little girl?)
Blaze paused upon hearing the foreign language. He stepped back and looked at the alley. “Ah!” He gawked at the girl wearing a frilly dress, awkwardly paired with tennis shoes. “It’s you!”
The girl and the four young foreign boys surrounding her all turned to Blaze. Realizing that he had just interrupted something he shouldn’t have, Blaze slowly retreated, but the girl used the boys’ confusion to step out of the circle and run to his side. She linked her arms with his and spoke in an unnaturally sweet voice.
“Mi amor! ¡Ayúdame!” (My love! Help me!)
Blaze didn’t know Spanish, but “mi amor” was something Filipinos understood even without a dictionary. Blaze scowled and pulled away his arm. He was not stupid, there was no way he would play the hero. Even if each of the young boys looked easy to handle, with four of them together there was zero possibility of him winning.
“Look, I don’t know this girl!” Blaze told the boys who were inching toward them. “Sorry, kid, but if you’re looking for a hero to save your ass, get someone else.” With that, Blaze walked away. However, he hadn’t walked that far when he overheard three girls walking from the opposite side.
“Hey, isn’t that the girl…”
“Yeah, the one who got out of that expensive car?”
Blaze ears immediately expanded. Why hadn’t he realized it? That dress hadn’t seemed like those he often saw from street vendors and the girl had been speaking Spanish. Of course that girl couldn’t be anything other than a little rich miss.
“But tennis shoes, with that dress!” The girls laughed together and stopped all of a sudden. “Hey, isn’t she in trouble?”
Why didn’t I save her! Blaze could have easily done it earlier, but he was too preoccupied with saving the wallet, which had no more than a few thousand pesos’ value. Fate practically threw her into my arms. Shit, think! Think, you idiot.
Blaze sighed as he turned around. He could only think of one solution before the boys managed to take the struggling girl with them, one that didn’t involve leaving his beautiful face scratch free.
But no pain, no gain. So here goes nothing.
Blaze charged at the four and pushed the one who was holding the girl’s arm as hard as he could. “Don’t you feel ashamed of yourselves ganging up on a single girl?” he asked, bravely putting himself in front of the girl, hoping that someone in the crowd would side with him.
“If you’re waiting for someone to help, you better give up. No one will dare go against them.”
“Eh? What do you mean?” He nervously looked over his shoulder and met her nonchalant eyes.
“These guys are gangsters. You better fight hard, mi amor.”
Blaze steeled himself. Blaze had been prepared for the worst when he went back, so this situation was one of the things he had anticipated. “Okay then, while I distract them, go call the police.”
“No way.”
“What?”
“They’ll probably arrest me too.”
“What do you mean, you brat! Hurry up and call someone!”
“Hey, you lovebirds! We’re still here!” said one of the boys, swinging his fist toward Blaze. Blaze tried to avoid it, but the boy still managed to smack him straight in the face. The force of it sent Blaze tumbling. The pain made him want to shout, but he held it in. Blaze swallowed his frustration as another boy kicked him before he could get up.
Blaze had no idea how many times he was punched and kicked to the ground but he was truly grateful when he saw the damn brat he was sacrificing himself for pull out a cell phone just before he passed out.