Be Mine

83

It had been a few weeks since they got back from their Bali trip. Lia went back to managing the café, while Caloy had to resume and catch up with work, and the rest of their friends to their normal lives.

Caloy's work piled up because he was gone for a few days and as far as loved his work, he wasn't pleased with it. The wedding will be in a few weeks and as much as he would like to take a few days off, he couldn't because he already did when they had that impromptu out of the country trip. It would've been great if he was just in Manila, but he wasn't.

He's currently in Cebu, handling a conference for the new team that their company just put up. Gary decided that it was time for their company to branch out in the southern region of the country so they could handle more clients. Caloy was happy that he took the job because he loved sharing his knowledge about advertising and all, but it also broke his heart that he had to leave Lia managing everything on her own.

It's the third day of being away from her and the past few days wasn't always easy because they were crunching up with the preparation for the house, the wedding, and the fact that some of her relatives flew into Manila to attend their wedding. He and Lia have had arguments lately and as that didn't place well towards him.

The last thing he wanted were fights and disagreements with her, but stress and time were not helping them to avoid it.

He took a break from the conference while the attendees were having a teambuilding activity facilitated by another colleague. He stepped away from the room to check some messages and emails. To his surprise, he received an email from the wedding coordinator regarding the changes in their guestlist.

"Twenty more guests?" he mumbled to himself and decided to call Lia to clarify it with her. After the third ring, she finally picked it up.

"Hi, Babe!" she greeted him on the other end.

"Hi, Love... Kumusta?" he missed her voice and that immediately brought a smile on his face.

"Um... Medyo busy dito sa café... Alam mo na... Christmas season..." he heard the familiar clangs of the spoon and fork. "Val! Sa table number 5 yan!" she instructed one of the staff. "Sorry, Babe... Is there something that you need? By the way, before I forget, I need you to finalize the song for our first dance."

"Yeah. I got it, Love." He answered. Since she chose her wedding march song, he was assigned with the song for their first dance.

"You got it? What does that mean? Nakapili ka na? Or pipili ka pa lang? Or mabibigay mo na ba sa akin ngayon?"

He nodded as if she can see him. "Don't worry about it, okay? I will send it to the coordinator before the week ends."

"Are you sure coz... Tanya, bill out na si Table 8...." He heard another instruction. "Sorry again... Okay. Before the week ends ha? I'll tell them that para di na ako kulitin. Anyway, why did you call again? Akala ko busy ka diyan sa conference?"

He sighed. She's busy, but he needed to tell her. "Yeah. I just... I just received an email from the coordinator."

He heard her give another instruction before she answered. "O? What about?"

"Twenty more guests? Sarado na tayo sa 100 guests diba?"

"Oh. Yeah. That... Mga kaibigan kasi ni Papa yan. Hindi ko mahindian kasi they are his business partners."

"Why didn't you tell me?" His palm gently massaged his nape.

"Well, if you're worried about the budget... Papa said, he'll pay for their seats!"

He brushed his hair with his fingers. He was trying to be calm as much as possible. "That's not the point, Lia! Ang sa akin lang... we have two tables with guests na hindi ko man lang kilala. Buti sana kung kamag-anak mo sila, that I would understand."