Unexpectedly Attached To You

Chapter 9

The moment Noah and I were back on the main roads, tumunog ang cellphone ko na naiwan ko sa bag ko.

Agad ko itong kinuha at binuksan. Akala ko ay bubungad saakin ang madaming text at tawag ng mom at ng kuya ko. Pero hindi iyon ang nangyari.

I only had one notification. It was a text from Trixy reminding me of our Batanes trip in a week for her birthday. She announced it earlier sa lunch table namin.

To: Trix
Yeah. Magpapaalam ako pag nasa bahay na ako. I'm exited! <3

I disappointedly put my phone faced down on my lap. Sure, I was exited for the trip but I was expecting at least one text from either my mom or my brother. Like the time I was an hour late from school dahil may late nag community service ako. I had almost hundreds if texts and calls from both of them. Pero ngayon? Wala.

Hindi kaya nila napansin na wala ako sa bahay? Are they okay?

"Anong iniisip mo?" Noah once again successfully broke me out of my thoughts.

"Ah, wala lang. I just got a text from my friend." I gave him a smile to assure him that i'm okay.

"It disappointed you that much?" He asked reading my reaction.

"Huh? No! It wasn't bad news. It's great actually."

"So bakit ganiyan ang reaction mo?" He had his eyes on the road

"Ano... inaantok na kasi ako. I didn't get to sleep last night. I pulled an all nighter for the first time." I saw his eyebrow rose.

"Bakit?"

"Wala naman. Gusto ko lang." I laughed.

"You could've told me. Hindi na sana kita dinala kung saan para nakapag rest ka."

"Hindi. Okay lang. I liked it." He finally looked at me for a split second.

"Really?"

"Yup! Ang ganda do'n. It was so peaceful." A smile started to grow upon my lips as the image of that place was back in my head.

"We can always go back whenever you want to." he suggested.

"Whenever?" Paninigurado ko pa.

"Whenever." He confirmed.

During the whole ride home we just talked about the most random things and joked around. Madaling lumipas ang oras at hindi ko namalayang malapit na pala kami sa bahay.

I was going to tell him to stop a few houses away from ours pero may naisipan akong gawin. Hinayaan ko siyang ihatid ako hanggang sa tapat ng bahay namin.

"Thank you for today." I got out of the car without waiting for his response.

Nasa harap na ako ng gate namin nang tawagin niya ulit ako. Hindi ko narinig na bumaba pala siya ng kotse.

"Bakit?" May naiwan ba ako? Or may nakalimutan ba akong sabihin.

"Your welcome." Sabi niya at ngumiti. Tinanguan ko siya at tumalikod na papasok sa bahay.

Dahan dahan kong binuksan ang pinto namin. Inaasahan ko na bubungad sa'kin ang kuya ko at tatanungin kung saan ako nanggaling at bakit nagpahatid ulit ako sa may ari ng sasakyan na sinakyan ko kahapon. But pure silence with a cold breeze is the only thing that welcomed me home.

Is this still home?

Sinara ko na ng tuluyan ang pinto nang mapagtanto ko na walang nagaabang saakin. Pero hindi parin ako umalis sa kinatatayuan ko. Tumingin pa ako sa paligid ngunit kadiliman lang ang nakita ko. Walang nagabala na magsindi ng ilaw sa loob ng bahay. Ang nagbibigay liwanag lang sa loob ng bahay ay ang ilaw sa labas ng bahay.