Her Inevitable Fall

KABANATA 11

"You cooked so well!" puna ko sa pagkaing niluto ni Reye.

As agreed, we shared lunch in his unit. His unit was my immediate destination after running my grocery at the nearest store around the condo building. Hindi na nga ako sinamahan pa ni Reye kasi nadalhan na 'sya ng kapatid. Probably Thyrone made his grocery.

"Thanks for liking it, Thyian!" sagot niya. "Buti na lang at kahit ano ay kinakain mo," masaya niyang puna.

Totoo naman na masarap ang sinigang na baboy na luto niya. Saktong-sakto ang asim at may kaunting anghang pa. I don't know, but I like foods that are a bit spicy. Nakakadagdag gana sa pagkain.

Aside from the sinigang, he also made porkchop and vegetable salad. Galing! Tuloy masosobrahan ngayon ang aking kain. Kailangan ko tuloy mag-extra exercise mamaya to burn the fats I took today.

"Ano bang meron at pinakain mo ako ng masarap?" I teased, even though I had a clue about his new job at their company. Hindi ko nga lang pinapahalata. "Ang sarap talaga ng sinigang mo! And the pork chop and salad too. Pwede makahingi ng take out?" I asked playfully.

He laughed and nodded. "Of course! Meron kang take out mamaya," he answered.

Tumawa na rin ako sa nagging sagot niya. kahit kailan talaga gusto niyang i-please ako. "Oy, joke lang! Nagbibiro lang ako," pigil ko na rin sa kaniya. Totoo naman na niloloko ko lang sya. Baka isipin pa nyang masyado akong matakaw.

Umiling-iling sya sa akin. Tumayo at may kinuha sa loob ng refrigerator. "Hindi, talaga meron na akong nilagay sa Tupperware. Sinobrahan ko na ang luto ko kanina para mamaya 'di kana magluto sa bahay." Nang bumalik sya ay meron nang dalang sliced cake. Umupo sya sa kaniyang upuan at inilagay sa tabi ko ang isang saucer na may cake. "Besides, pa-blow-out ko na to sayo. I accepted the job offer of Mr. Marques at the Procurement Department of our company," he happily shared.

Pumalakpak ako. Excited about Reye's achievement. Even though I was informed earlier by this information, hindi ko pa rin mapigilan ang matuwa para sa kaniya. Tumayo ako at niyakap siya, "Congratulations, Reye! Nakakatuwa naman ang balita mo. I'm so proud of you," komento ko pa sabay bitiw sa yakap at balik sa aking upuan.

Nginitian nya ako ang happily replied, "Thanks to you, Thyian!" Kumagat siya sa kaniyang cake bago nagpatuloy. "Besides, if you didn't make those efforts to come with me to our company, I won't realize what I wanted to do with my life. Ang galing-gaing mo kasi sa pagmo-motivate! I hope you still allow me to hang out at your office?"

Nginitian ko sya at masayang sumagot, "Of course! Pwedeng-pwede!"

Humaba pa nga ang aming usapan pagkatapos ng lunch. By 2:00 in the afternoon, I finally decided to leave his unit and return to mine. Mukhang napagod din si Reye, kaya naisipan ko ng huwag ng magtagal para makapag pahinga pa sya sa kaniyang unit. Besides, tomorrow is Monday at maaga pa ako sa work while he has class.

At 5:00 in the afternoon, I woke up from my short nap and saw on my phone screen a text message from Thyrone. Hindi ko alam kung matutuwa o maiinis ba ako sa pag-contact nya sa akin? Kasi naman the message content isn't about my lost file. It's just him, asking me how am I doing?