where will destiny take us?

☆ 19 ☆

New group works came piling up. And with Midterms coming up, dumadami nang dumadami ang mga presentation at gawain namin.

We had another research proposal and this time, it's a Tagalog research. This became more of a challenge dahil dumami na nga ang gawain, pareho pa kami ni Ivan na hindi masyadong sanay when it comes to constructing Filipino sentences.

With another research na kami na naman ang mag-partner, Ivan and I see each other more often than we both want. Nagkaroon pa kami ng conflict sa schedule at hanggang ngayon ay we're trying to figure it out. Ivan may sound unenthusiastic because of too much work but at least he's been there on most of the times I need him there.

Maaga na siyang pumapasok and he stays way long after school to wait for me to finish tennis practices. He waits for me 'cause we have to finish the Tagalong research. Nagiging cooperative naman siya pero I guess, part na ng dugo niya na mag-skip for at least one day a week and to ignore my texts.

Kahapon, he had a race. Hindi na ako nag-abala na pumunta sa abandoned house na 'yun at tinawagan nalang siya.

"Did you win your race?" I asked right when he answered my call. "'Cause if you don't you just wasted your time for something useless."

I can hear voices and cheers on the other line. Its faint but its there. Hindi nagsalita agad si Ivan kaya napairap ako sa hangin.

"Ano na?" I asked impatiently. "We have a deadline tomorrow. Tatlo nalang 'yung need ko and I know you can do it immediately."

["You're annoying, do you know that?"]

I blinked because I did not recognize the voice at first. I had to stop, my brows furrowing to remember who owns that voice. "Scarlet?"

["Yes."]

I sighed heavily. "Why do you have Ivan's phone?"

["'Cause he's having a race,"] she answered, hostility really evident in her tone. ["Why are you calling anyway?"]

"Tell Ivan I need the summary of three other studies by..." I paused, looking at the wall clock in my room. "Seven-thirty. Strictly."

["Why?"]

"Anong why?"

["Why does he have to do that?"] she asked. ["I'm sure you know about his dyslexia. He can't possibly do that in that short amount of time."]

Mas lalong lumalim ang kunot ng noo ko. "What—"

["And why are you forcing him anyway? I'm sure you can do that on your own."]

"Pwede bang 'wag kang mangialam?" inis kong sabi. "This is what we've been doing for weeks. And you're not his research partner so I'm sure you don't know."