Paused Life

ERIC:

Erica and I froze. Leonard kept banging on the door nonstop.

“What should we do?” I mouthed at her, trembling.

Seeing that I had become useless and Lucas wasn’t picking up, Erica’s brain kicked into action. She grabbed the cup of ice cream, stormed into the bathroom, washed off the leftover bits, filled it with some of my liquid shower soap, and marched back to me.

“You can’t…” I shook my head.

Sure, my shower gel smells like sweet vanilla, but that doesn’t make it edible.

“What choice do we have?” she whispered. “This little can't kill me.”

“Erica!” Leonard barked from the door, making me flinch. “Open the door!”

“Now what?” I asked my new professor in panic.

“Hide…” she scanned the room, but we both knew there was nowhere to hide.

Our eyes landed on the window.

“No!” I refused.

Thankfully, she nodded, but that didn’t solve the problem.

“I will break down this door, Erica!”

“There!” Erica pointed to the wardrobe. I jumped in instantly, but she pulled me out just as fast. “If he suspects we are doubles, that is the first place he will check.”

“Then what?” I hopped from foot to foot like a toddler. I couldn’t vanish into thin air or flush myself down the toilet.

“My box,” she said, pointing to her gigantic suitcase on top of the wardrobe.

I clambered in like a gecko, my fingers gripping the box’s edge as the wardrobe swayed beneath me. My heart thudded in my ears while I squeezed myself into the cramped space.

Climbing the table, she quickly zipped me up.

Just as Erica predicted, Leonard went straight to the wardrobe, then under the bed, and to the bathroom.

All I could do was pray, muttering a repentance rite, swearing I’d abandon my chaotic lifestyle if Leonard didn’t discover me.

My prayers were answered.

It was also a miracle Erica had prepared the toxic ice cream as if she already knew how Leonard operated.

The minute he left, she dashed into the bathroom and vomited like crazy. I unzipped myself and zoomed to the kitchen for a bottle of olive oil…it would help dilute the soap’s toxicity.

Erica collapsed on the bed, breathing heavily. I lay beside her side, doing the same—actually, breathing louder than her.

“How do they do it in movies?” I panted. “Those flawless plots and escapes, how do they make them happen?”

“It is a movie, Eric. This is reality. And now, we need to get going.”

“Going?” I sat up. “Where? My legs are weak, Erica.”

“He might return, and I have to go to the office.”

I don’t know where she found the strength. While I want to soak myself in a tub of ice blocks and chill down, she wants to proceed?

“Leonard won’t be coming back, Erica. Can’t we just breathe for a moment? You can skip work, too. After what he did, I doubt he’d care.”

“I am fine,” she said, standing. “And I must see Nathan.”

Nathan? Seriously?

She caught my disgust. “Not like that,” she defended. “Yesterday, Juana bragged that Nathan told everyone I eloped from the wedding. I need to hear it from him.”

“And you think he will admit it?”

“Nathan is not a liar.”

Of course, only her stepmother is.

“Erica,” I said, voice low but serious. “I also met your stepbrother yesterday.”

Her head snapped toward me. “What? How?”

“I went shopping. Met him in the mall. He thought I was you.”

“You weren’t supposed to go out!”

“Excellent order from the person who went home!” I shot back. “Did you never think someone could invite Leonard over while you were there and I was here? The plan was one person at a time, but no, you are too impulsive to think. Too impulsive to remember you have a damn allergy!”

Her eyes softened, but I was too upset to care. One thing about us? We never agree. We are always at odds. That’s where Lucas comes in—he stands as our middle ground.

Calmly, she sat beside me.

“I was wrong,” she admitted. “I shouldn’t have gone home. I was just…impulsive.”

“That wasn’t an insult.”

“I know. It’s always been me. And I almost ruined everything.”

“Let’s hope you haven’t.”

After a long silence, she suggested we go to Lucas and brainstorm… about Leonard’s suspicions, her uncontrolled feelings for Nathan, and my next responsibility.

As usual, Lucas analysed and concluded smartly. He said it was too risky for me to go to Leonard’s place now. Leonard might already be installing cameras to satisfy his curiosity.

“Erica will be Erica for the time being,” Lucas decided. “Until we confirm surveillance and figure out how to tamper with it.”

Did I mention Lucas is a wizard? Anything electrical, mechanical, chemical, internet-related…you name it, he knows it. And more, he decided to stay for the next three months until we sort out our birth issue. Honestly, I am not sure why—whether for me, for Erica, or because he’s bored with his job and wanted a vacation.

Either way, we need him. Erica and I can’t do this alone.

“I really hate being around Leonard,” Erica hissed. “I could move out. I’d still be in contact with him, be engaged with him, till the time we need.”

I didn’t like her idea. My heart ached the moment she said it. The thought of not seeing Leonard at close range scared me more than being exposed. And if she moved, I wouldn’t have to go to Leonard…that would be that.

“Asking to move out will only confirm his suspicions. Don’t do it,” Lucas warned, sending repairs to my heart.

But Erica, being Erica, told Leonard anyway. He refused. Actually, he agreed, but on the condition that he’d call off their engagement immediately.

“That bastard!” she yelled, flinging her handbag onto the hotel’s only sofa.

She can’t break off with Leonard yet—too many reasons. Officially ending the engagement would drive Juana into a quicker plot to find her another husband. She could end up married in a week. The sooner her stepmother kicks her out of the family, the better.

And a role in another marriage would delay our plan—new fiancé, new distractions, new challenges. That’s what we can’t afford.

So she endured. For a week, she stayed with him, hardly coming by. We temporarily paused everything, just as Lucas advised.

“Leonard’s watching you,” Lucas told her. “Do nothing. Just home, work, home…for a few days. Let him doubt his suspicions.”

My life paused, too, unlike everyone else.

Erica at Leonard, Lucas with the agent, searching for an apartment. He found us a perfect one within those days, and we moved. But I didn’t move. Physically, yes. Emotionally, I was stuck—bored, restless, unhappy.

Then, I decided to fix my problem.

It had been too long since I felt like myself. It is time. Time to club and sweat both on a dance floor and in a stall.

“You can’t!” Lucas objected.

“Oh yes, I can. And if you are not coming with me, don’t.”

“You can’t go out dressed as a woman, Eric. For once, try to be responsible.”

He wasn’t wrong—not about the outfit, but about responsibility.

“Alright,” I said, removing my earrings, ready to discard other things. “I will go as Eric.”

“You can’t be serious.”

“If being responsible means no clubbing, then add ‘deaf’ to my profile, because I’m not hearing a word of your preaching.”

I am so clubbing tonight. And I am so hooking up.