Muli (An Agnes-Jerry fic)

ONE

Agnes looks up from the paperwork before her when she hears someone knock on the glass door. Her assistant Callie peeks inside, adjusting the strap of her bag over her arm.

"I'm heading home," she says, then her eyes roam around the room. "You're staying?"

"Yes. Papers," Agnes replies, taking her glasses off.

"You know you really should take -"

"I've heard that over and over and -"

"Because you're not listening - "

"Ah, I'm still your - "

" - ma'am." Callie sighs. "Yes, you're my boss, but seriously... It's a Friday, Agnes."

"Just half of this." The assistant nods. "Drive safely."

Once she's left alone, the papers don't really keep her attention and she finds herself surfing the web instead, mostly online (window)shopping. Yes, it's a Friday. Yes, she should be going out. Yes, that would be fun.

But who is she going out with?

Fridays used to be her and David's date night. On the dot, at 6 PM, the two of them are out of the door, ready to hit either a favorite restaurant, or a new one that just opened. Fridays used to mean preparing for weekends with family - either hers or his. Fridays used to be fun.

And now... well... empty office.

She figures she'll just go to a bar and have a few drinks. Dinner. Maybe call Daisy... who's probably out with a different guy this week.

An iMessage notification pops up onscreen. It's Bobbie, her cousin, the youngest daughter of her Tita Nena: "Ate, can you take a call?"

Of course she can't really bring herself to say otherwise, so she says okay. A few moments later, a window pops up. She clicks Accept.

It's not just Bobbie, but his older brothers Kiko and Miguel. Surely it must be important, Agnes thinks.

"Wow, reunion ba 'to?" she says.

"Hi, Agnes!" Kiko replies. "Parang gumaganda ka."

She laughs. "Nambola ka pa! What's going on?"

Bobbie speaks, "Gusto lang kasi naming malaman if you can make it to Mama's birthday. Hindi ka kasi nag-a-RSVP sa Facebook..."

Miguel adds, "Naisip na nga namin na 'wag kang abalahin, kasi baka hindi mo kayang makauwi, but figured it's worth the shot to ask..."

------------

"Tatay! Tatay!"