Back to You || Maiden/Aldub

n i n e

When they started their relationship, not once did he ever think it would end up like this - and not so soon.

It took one disagreement. One small little disagreement to ruin it all.

What people called the honeymoon phase of the relationship was ended quickly when she had mistakenly asked about what his best friend meant to him. Of course when asked, he said what he had known and believed. He said that she was nothing but a friend to him - nothing more and definitely nothing less.

But his girlfriend was having none of it and asked him to tell her the truth. And Alden went on to defend what he previously said - because that was the truth. It was how he felt. Rachel didn't see it as that and tried to dig deeper - frustrating and angering Alden.

Since then, nothing had been the same.

The two constantly revisited the topic every week and Rachel was not going to stop until she heard it from him.

She wanted to hear that it was his best friend that was really the one that held the key to his heart and the one that he wanted to travel down the road to forever with. But just as how repetitive her question was, so was his answer.

No matter how frustrating it got, Rachel was on a mission to hear Alden say that it was Maine all along. She knew it was going to hurt once he said it aloud, but she also knew that right from the beginning it was always going to be Maine - even if Alden didn't openly say it.

She just chose to ignore it.

A part of her wanted to believe that maybe it was just her reading too much in to Alden but she knew, just like everyone else did, that he wasn't fooling anyone but himself.

Rachel was no fool. But she was in love, and she was not going to let go until he said those words. She needed him to say those words.

At least so that it would be easier for her to leave.

Alden sat on his living room couch for what had seemed like forever; haven't moving from his spot since Rachel had left him an hour ago - his girlfriend's words repeated over and over in his head. Each time it did, a new part of their conversation stood out to him.

Finally, after weeks of Rachel's hounding and persistence, her words finally got through to him - triggering his thoughts to somewhat process it all.

"Kuya, okay ka lang?" His little sister asked, popping her head into the room. She heard everything that happened between the two earlier from her room upstairs, considering how loud they were. But once Rizza noticed the booming voices subsided, she made her way out of her room to ask her brother about what exactly it was that just took place in their living room.

"I love Maine." He mumbled, mostly to himself - his eyes still fixated on the wall across from him.

Rizza gave him a strange look before walking over to sit next to her older brother. "No duh." She chuckled. "Late much?"

"No, you don't understand." He shook his head, turning his head to face her. "I love her but I'm not in-love with her. Best friend ko lang sya."

"Kuya," She sighed, giving her brother's knee a soft pat before lightly squeezing it. "Ewan ko ba kung ano'ng gayuma ang nainom mo, pero you're the one that doesn't understand. We're talking about the girl you drove all the way to Bicol for because you were worried she might have a panic attack at her shoot, kahit hindi ka nila kailangan doon."

"That's what best friends do, you support each other." Alden defended. "That doesn't prove na in-love ako sa kanya."

"Eh di bakit ka epecto'ng epecto nung dumating si Justin sa buhay nya? Bakit mo sya inaway? If it was just love, you would have been supportive because it's for her happiness."