Hiding Behind the Lenses (Arte del Amor #3)

Chapter 28

Is Nikolai not home yet? I proceeded to open the lights of his condo because it was really dark when I came here.

My condo's literally just next door, at nagsasayang lang kami ng pera para sa dalawang unit dahil palagi rin naman akong nandito.

Kumatok muna ako sa kwarto niya bago ako pumasok. "I'm going in, Nichole."

Bumungad sa akin ang kwarto niya na puno ng mga formula ang bawat sulok ng mga dingding. Kahit ako tumingin ay puro equations.

Ganito ba talaga kapag nagre-review para sa board exams? Ako ang nahihilo para sa kaniya.

"Baby," Lumapit na ako sa kama niya kung saan siya mahimbing na natutulog. He tells me he doesn't really like studying, but I somehow find him doing that all the time even after he's graduated.

"Wake up." Marahan kong pinadaan ang mga daliri ko sa buhok niya habang minamasahe ang likuran niya. This will wake him up. "Hmm," he groaned and faced me.

Isang mata niya lang ang dumilat, "Hey..."

He looks so cozy in his hoodie and long pajamas, it almost made me want to laze around in bed with him. "What did you cook for tonight?" tanong ko.

"Beef broccoli." sagot niya, halata sa boses na antok na antok pa. He nuzzled his face on my stomach and wrapped his arms around me.

"Stop that, kain muna tayo." I know him so well, once he starts cuddling me, there's no way he'd let go of me in an instant.

"Wait, five minutes..."

His five minutes turned into a whole hour. Sabay pa kaming napaidlip sa buong oras na iyon. Nang magising ako ay nakita kong gising na rin siya pero parang koala pa rin na nakakapit sa akin.

Kung hindi ko pa dinaan sa santong paspasan ay hindi ko siya mapapatayo doon. He's the most hardworking person that I know, but he has days like this one too.

We headed to his kitchen and I situated myself on one of the bar stools in his counter. Nakapalumbaba ako habang pinapanood siyang mag-sandok ng pagkain at inilapag iyon sa harapan ko.

"Pwede ka nang asawa ko." natatawa kong sabi.

Pinagtaasan niya ako ng kilay, "Of course. Who else would that person be if not me?"

Hala siya...

Sabi ko nga.

I let out a sound of satisfaction at my first bite of his cooking. This is the very reason why I'm never satisfied of food from other places, he's so good at this.

Simula nang lumipat siya rito sa Maynila ay siya na ang laging nagluluto sa akin para daw sigurado na kumakain ako nang tama.

"How was review today?"

He shrugged, "It was a drag, but I'm alive. What about you? How was work? I didn't get much hold of you today, so I guess it was a busy day for you."

Huminga ako nang malalim, "That's right! Kabilaan ang schedules ko today, Nikol. Tapos si Kit tuwang tuwa pa dahil daw it's our chance to show how hardworking we are. I was like, am I a joke to you? We've been working for years! Her optimism is going to kill me one day." tuloy-tuloy kong reklamo na pinakinggan namang buo ni Nikolai.

"That must have been hard. You could always ask for a break if you need to."

The next day, I have an early appointment with my mother. I was summoned, saying that she has something important to talk to me about.

I wonder what it is about this time.

Since Nikolai doesn't really check his phone more than he does with his video game stuff, I decided to leave a post-it note on his before leaving. But before I could even knock on his door, he beat me to it and opened it.