Day 6.2 | E

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#HeartboundWP

Content Warning: I am not really sure how to tag this, but it can be stress-inducing depending on your mental/emotional disposition. Proceed with caution. 

Day 6.2 | E

​​"WHERE ARE YOU going again?"

Elias looks up from his phone screen and meets Kyla's eyes. He stands and picks up his duffle bag on top of the wobbly plastic table in the corner of their makeshift quarters. He opens it and hands Ky his extra bottled water. She accepts it and finishes more than half the bottle in one go.

"Ate," he answers.

Ky raises a brow. "Talaga?"

"Where else?" Elias asks, volunteering to take a jab at himself before Ky can beat him to it. He never explicitly told her and Z that he messed up again so there's no more Nadi he can take out to dinner after a long, tiring day of community rotation, but it's pretty obvious at this point. This is not the first time this happened, anyway.

"Pero bakit?" Ky asks, walking with him outside. "That's a longer drive from here. Anong oras ka na makakarating do'n?"

Elias merely shrugs to both her questions. He doesn't really want to think about how long he would be stuck in traffic later. More importantly, he doesn't know why he even agreed to subject himself to that kind of modern torture for a dinner with his Dad, of all people. Elias never liked sitting across from him at the dining table since the day he was old enough to form his judgment that Dad is not that much of a good person no matter how many lives he had saved.

"Uuwi ka pa ba?" Ky asks, holding the door to Z's car. Elias lets out an amused huff before getting the door for her and waiting for her to get in. There are times when Ky's way of speaking reminds him of Mama. He thinks it's because of her tone, or maybe his head just likes to flag anything that's remotely connected to Mama.

Elias doesn't answer. There's no way he's staying in Ate's house knowing that his Dad is under the same roof. He would rather be on the road for hours getting back to his unit, or even sleep in his car, before letting that happen.

He shuts the door, walks around in front of the car, and knocks twice on Z's window—his usual way of telling him to drive carefully. He watches them vanish on his line of vision before hopping on his own vehicle and driving away.

On the road, Elias considers bailing. It is so easy to take all the U-Turn slots he passes on the way. His fingers involuntarily taps repeatedly on the side of the steering wheel every time he sees a chance to turn back. He doesn't owe Dad anything. He doesn't have to show up. His Dad stopped being his father a long time ago. He has long been demoted to just someone who pays for his needs and his bills.

So Elias finds it really difficult to make sense of why he's doing this, and why he can't stop. Why he can't bail, why he can't make the maneuver and take the next U-Turn slot and just not show up. Why he can't just pull over and tell his sister over the phone that he's not coming. And instead, all he can do is continue driving towards the damn dinner and watch his phone light up to a text notification from his sister informing him that their father has arrived.

Elias stays inside the car for a few minutes when he stops in front of Ate's house. He takes a few deep breaths and reminds himself na hindi siya ang dayo rito. He's not the person who almost disowned Ate when she got pregnant. If anything, mas welcome dapat si Elias sa bahay na 'to compared to anyone. Hindi dapat siya ang nangingilag. Hindi dapat siya ang kinakabahan. After all, he's not the one who no longer belongs in this family.

Heartbound Part Two (Lovestruck Series)Tahanan ng mga kuwento. Tumuklas ngayon