Talk First, Think Later

Facetime Apologies

It's almost midnight in the Cayetano household and once again, Pia's burning the midnight oil. Early mornings have always been a challenge for her, given her night owl status, and has been even more so today.

Instead of trying to relax and wind down for the night, she opened her laptop once more and took another stab at her sponsorship speech for the Safe Bikeways bill. Even with the efforts of her staff, sponsorship speeches were the one thing Pia insisted she does herself.

She hasn't even finished her first sentence when a Facetime alert popped on her Macbook. Upon seeing Leni's name, Pia opened her Facetime to see Leni, also in her pajamas, on the other end. "Hi, Leni! What are you doing up at night?"

Leni wore her glasses on and looked intently at the screen. "Ito, nagsusulat ng sponsorship speech for the People Empowerment Bill."

"Oh, nice!", Pia replied back. "Hindi ako makatulog kaya I tried working for a bit to get at least something done today."

The two senators just stayed on video in silence as the clacking of keys echoed across the room as they worked on their respective speeches. With the amount of hell her own family gave Leni, she swore to herself to give her the benefit of the doubt the moment they crossed paths in the Senate and still thanked the lucky stars she did.

Pia looked back up to her camera and called Leni's attention. "Leni, I have a question."

Leni then faced the camera. "Ano yun?"

"Hindi ka ba natatakot?", Pia asked. "You're in the minority bloc, you're a new senator, and yet you have all these things thrown around you. How do you even survive?"

Leni appeared to be gazing at something faraway. "Alam mo, Pia, I've endured the worst pain ever when I lost Jess. Kung ako tatanungin mo, ung pulitika ng Senado, malayong malayo."

Pia took a sip of some tea. "So I guess nothing fazes you at this point?"

"Sanay nako, eh.", Leni said with a wry smile. "Though guess pasasalamatan na rin kita. Kasi karamhian sa amin sa minorya, mga baguhan, so having you close by really helped us navigate well."

A grin crept up Pia's face. "I don't really set myself out to be a mentor, but i'm always happy to help you out in those jams whenever I could."

The rest of the night, they just typed away and wrapped up their speeches well into the night until they got too tired to keep their own eyes open. Before she logged off, Pia called Leni again. "By the way, Leni, just wanted to say I'm sorry."

Leni knotted her brows in confusion. "Sorry saan?"

Pia bowed her head. "For standing idly by all those years ago when my brothers and friends attacked you so blatantly. Sana noon pa lang, ipinagtanggol na kita."

"No worries, Pia.", Leni replied. "Ang laki na nang tinulong mo sa akin. Bawing-bawi ka na."

A single tear rolled on Pia's cheek, which she then wiped off. "Sige, I'll head off as it's almost 2 am. We both have a long day tomorrow."

"Sige. Night, Pia!" Leni said, waving at the camera.

Pia waved her own goodbye and closed her laptop. She then put it away and hit the sack for a bit of shuteye while the moon was still up.