Chapter 2

What Abbey heard from Joe almost made her cry.

“I have a spare bedroom that you can have if you would like.”

Abbey’s heart raced at those words, and she did not have to think before accepting Joe’s generous offer. At the same time, she wondered if there would be strings attached to the offer and whether she would have to pay rent. Indeed, she wondered what Joe might ask for in exchange for letting her stay in his apartment.

However, when she asked Joe how much rent he expected her to pay, he simply smiled and told her that the room would be rent free. The only thing he would like her to do was to clean and generally look after the apartment, including washing and ironing his clothes. Abbey felt that this was a very generous offer, and she immediately accepted. The pair arranged that they would meet after Abbey’s shift ended at 7 pm and Joe would take her to her new home.

When Abbey and Joe met as arranged, Abbey was pleased to find that Joe’s apartment was only a few minutes walk away fro the Chowking restaurant where she worked. This meant that she would save on the fare for the jeepney to and from work every day, and the fact that she would not have to pay rent meant that her extended family would have more money for essentials. For Abbey, it seemed as if all her dreams had come true. She even started thinking of what small luxuries she could buy for herself.

Joe’s apartment was small but for Abbey the second bedroom seemed to be heaven. She would no longer have to share a room with other women, and she would even have her own bathroom with shower. Joe showed her the small kitchen and explained how the various appliances worked. Finally, he gave her a key to the apartment building and to the apartment, and told her that she was free to move in any time she liked.

That was on Tuesday, and Abbey took a day off work on Thursday, and that is when she moved her few belongings to her new home. It did not take long because she owned so little in spite of being 33 years old. Joe was not at home when she arrived at the apartment. However, when she entered her new bedroom, she was surprised to see that Joe had left her new bedsheets and towels. This act of kindness made her want to return the favor in some way. What Abbey did not know was that Joe had made plans for how she would repay him.

Abbey innocently sat in front of the mirror on the dressing table and admired her reflection. She was a typical short pinay, just 5’2” tall. Her statistics were 34B 28 35 and she weighed only 56 kg. She had long hair that was naturally black, but that she dyed brown or blond from time to time. She had the normal dark eyes of all filipinos, but her skin was creamy white instead of the usual darker skin of her compatriots. Abbey was extremely proud of her lighter colored skin because it was admired by most filipinos and she had also seen older western men glancing at her in shopping malls. Abbey often wished that one of those western men would stop and talk to her, but they all seemed to be attached to younger pinays. Abbey felt that she would never find a man to spend the rest of her life with – little did she know that her life was about to change forever.