Two Doors Down

One

Patricia Doreen Co

11A

Well, that's weird, Luigi thought. Last time he checked, that wasn't his name, and he was not sharing the apartment he had been living in for the past three years.

Every package by his door were all correctly addressed to him except for this one. Blinking sleep and jetlag away, he took his phone out of his pocket and dialed his uncle.

"Hi Ninong," Luigi greeted as the old man said hello. "Sorry, just wanted to check. There's a package in my unit addressed to a certain Patricia Co?"

"Who?"

Luigi inspected the package and turned it around. It looked innocent enough, just about the size of a box that new mobile phones came in.

"Sorry, hijo, I just usually go to the building mail room and collect whatever's there, as usual. I didn't bother checking the name," his uncle replied. The old man and his wife lived in another floor, and whenever Luigi was away, he usually just asked them to check his mail and the apartment for anything amiss.

"Ah. Cool. No worries, Ninong. Just found it weird. I'm pretty sure I'm the only occupant of 11A," Luigi mused, and the old man obliged him with a small laugh.

"Could be a mistake? Check with reception if there's anyone in the building with that name."

"Will do, Ninong, thank you po."

"How was your trip?"

"Very long and tiring. I liked the cold over there, but I'm really glad to be back home. Anyway, Ninong, I'll go check this package with the guys downstairs. If you and Ninang are free tonight I'll make dinner and show you some photos. I'll give your pasalubong also."

"Uy, sarap! We'll see you later, 'nak."

Luigi hung up and took four sets of chocolates and fridge magnets from his hand carry luggage. He had just arrived from Chicago around three hours ago, and while he planned to sleep it all off after this grueling work trip, he decided it was best to get this task out of the way in case the package was important.

He locked his apartment and headed straight downstairs.

"Sir Luigi! Welcome back," greeted the receptionist.

He smiled back at Avril - always the ray of sunshine - and put the stuff he was carrying on top of the reception counter.

"Thanks, Av. These are for you, Kuya Vico, Kuya Efren, and Ate Gail," he enumerated, specifying the pasalubong piles for her and the three security guards who worked in shifts at their building. "And this one is... well, not mine. Is there anyone named Patricia Co living in the building?"

"Thank you, Sir Luigi! This is a lot," Avril replied, putting away the pasalubong in a neat pile and out of plain sight. "But yes, someone has been looking for this package. We thought it was just lost by the courier or something."

"I hope they haven't been looking for it for too long?" Luigi said, slightly worried. Avril's smile turned into a grimace and basically confirmed what he was afraid of.

"They said the package was confirmed delivered the day after your flight, and they have been looking for it since then," she replied. Avril basically knew his schedule now, what with the many favors and bilin he had asked of her and the three guards whenever he did location shoots.

"Ay, lagot," he said, counting back, and it has been three weeks since he left for Chicago. "Ninong hadn't checked when he brought the things to my room."

"It's okay, Sir Luigi. We'll take care of it."

"I'll just wait here," Luigi said. "I'll talk to them and apologize."