NOT YOURS

Kabanata 3

The breakfast extended for lunch so we had to stay until God knows when. Luckily Madi's cousin, Cyrill came to join us for lunch. She's one of my closest friends although super rare na lang namin mag bond dahil pabalik balik siya sa Canada for whatever business she has there.

Nandito kami ngayon sa veranda sipping tea. Everybody's inside tapos si Madison she had to leave for a sudden meeting sa company nila. Sasama na nga lang sana ako but Cyrill came so I stayed.

"Grabe noh noon sinuggest ko pa sayo na gayumahin si Madi tapos ngayon you guys are married! Pero wait, ginayuma mo nga ba?"Kumunot naman ang noo ko at nahampas ang braso niya ng mahina.

"Hoy I won't stoop that low, okay. And it Zae Andree Silva we're talking about here, she won't be able to resist me at all."

"Okay okay! Well hindi ko alam kung anong meron sa pangalan mo at nag work pero atleast dumerecho agad sa kasal diba. You're both madly inlove with each other now. " Umiling ako tumingin sa malayo.

"Tone down the madly. Ako lang kasi iyon."

"Yung alen?"

"Yung ano, madly inlove? She's barely that." I chuckle at lumungkot naman bigla ang mga mata ng kasama ko.

"Wait, a loveless marriage parin ba? I thought you guys are way past that. Hindi ka naman mahirap mahalin ah .I guess your name finally does nothing for you." I rolled my eyes at her as a reply at uminom sa baso ko.

"I don't know since nauna ka naman sakin ikasal lol, but you guys should talk about it. Nung nalaman kong arrange marriage nga ang mangyayari remember how I asked mommy na kausapin si tita about it? Like it's effing insane! Ang babata niyo pa, you barely lived on your own yet tapos you barely know each other to that level. So they better stop the nonsense." Cyrill sipped her tea as I reminisce how she was ranting to me na gagamitin lang kami for business and more business but at that time I was like I don't care, I'm getting married to my crush so thats what matters, too bad she was right.

"Pero mom told me, it'll work well daw. Both of you would be given enough time to get closer. I was still against it since tigas din ng pag-ayaw ni Madison but you, you were happy so I was like fine go ahead."

"It worked naman, Cy. We chose to make it work but I don't know she stills maintains a distance between us. She still feels unreachable kahit abot kamay ko na siya this time. Ewan ang gulo din eh."

"Does this still have something to do with the incident before? If oo josko naman."

Imbes na matawa sa expression niya right now. Medyo namutla ako. I just dont wanna go back there anymore that was too conflicting, I was thinking to myself kung tama pa bang hayaan kong maovercome ng love ko yung outcome nung incident na yun o hinde.

"Partly, tingin ko oo. But she still stayed, she forgave me."

"There's nothing to forgive, love! Wala kang kasalanan. Wala kang ginawa. She didn't hear you out! God! I remember how much I wanna have a catfight with her or sapakan man lang, when I couldn't reach you. Halos isang linggo kang walang paramdam nun tapos nung nagkasalubong ulit tayo you looked aloof and I was so worried." Napalabi naman ako at napatingin sa lap ko. I felt uneasy and I think Cyrill noticed it too.

"But you're strong and I know that. You surely know where to stand kahit everything's falling apart na." She gave me a smile kaya tumayo ako at niyakap siya.

"Wait stay. Let's take a picture dali!" Natawa ako at pumewesto ng maayos sa likod niya still having my arms wrapped around her. She was able to click a photo when a notification popped on her phone. Dalian niyang inalis ang notification but I still saw it.

"Uy wait! Zae it's nothing-"

I grabbed her phone and went to her Insta panigurado there would be news posts about her. I have no plans on opening the dm she received dahil I read it clearly. "Zae, akina muna!" Nilayo ko sa kanya ang phone as I stepped back realizing that maybe things are not going as smooth I expected it to be.

"Did you know? Alam mo bang she's coming back?"

Cyrill bit her lower lip at napatingin siya sa malayo, "Zae, ofcourse she can come back anytime she wants. She lives here, taga dito siya but I didn't know na it'll be this soon. But it'll be fine okay, it's been two good years na.."

'... made a post'

Dali dali kong inunlock ang phone niya just to immediately see the newest picture posted by the person I don't know what to feel about.

'Guess who's back in town.'

-katreesesinclair

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