AMA-Con: The Compilation

Forever Alive

PROMPT BY: @notmykindoftea

WRITTEN BY: @rjandmengconvos

***

 "You suck at goodbyes." She says. She scrunches her nose and shakes her head. The two of them were sat across each other, playing their third round of chess.

"Is that why you never let me say goodbye to you?" He doesn't look up. Instead, he moves his king one step to the right. He claps his hands together and winks at her, "Checkmate, mahal."

"I said let me win this time." She moves her queen which ends up getting eaten by his king. She loses again for the third time. He reaches out to touch her but she moves aback. She shoots him an apologetic smile; one that she has always been giving him since this whole thing began and he just shrugs and plays with the king in his hand. "Hey, you know it's part of the rules."

He nods. He's upset but he tries not to show it but as always she figures it out.

"We can play another round?"

"Umay na 'ko sa chess." He chuckles. "I wish I could kiss you, you know?"

She looks at him, restraining herself from going near him. If she had her way, she would be touching him and not the sexy kind of touching. She'd really just rather hold his hand than do other stuff; like play chess for that matter.

"Me too."

*

"Mahal, bangon na. Malelate ka nanaman. See you in a bit. I love you." He slowly wakes up to the sound of her voice and for a split second, he thinks that she's real; that she's sat beside him, her lips near his ear, trying to get him to wake up but when the alarm doesn't go off like a normal person should after one or two attempts of waking someone up, RJ realizes that her voice is recorded and that he's alone. He groans and gets his phone from the bedside table. He snoozes the alarm.

"Teka lang, mahal." He mumbles on the pillow and tucks himself under his blanket.

Two minutes later, the alarm starts again.

"Mahal, bangon na. Malelate ka nanaman. See you in a bit. I love you."

RJ knows that it's already fifteen past eight. At eight forty five he should be out of the house and driving to work. Yesterday, his boss threatened to fire him if he shows up late to work again. After taking a two week leave that somehow became four without notifying the office, his boss had his eyes on RJ. He stretches his limbs and sits up. He gets his phone and shuts off the alarm.

"Kailan kaya 'yung pagkagising ko andito ka pa rin?" He asks his lock screen which was a photo of his girlfriend, Maine. "Promise, mananalo ka na sa chess mamaya. Pero next time naman magpaalam ka."

He gets up from his bed and starts his day. He goes in the shower, spends fifteen minutes there. He gets out, wears the outfit he prepared for himself last night. He goes out of his room and goes straight to the living room to wear his socks and black shoes (that he also prepared for yesterday). He grabs his man bag from the end of the couch. He takes a mental note to take breakfast on the way to work. Otherwise, Maine will kill the living shit out of him. He grabs his keys from the tabletop and makes the sign of the cross, in front of the altar near his door before leaving.

It wasn't always like this. RJ used to hate routines but it really wasn't until four weeks ago that he started living off of a routine.

There was a time in his life where every day was different that it actually excited him to wake up. Every day he would wake up tangled under the sheets with his girlfriend and if not, he'll wake up to the smell of freshly brewed coffee and crispy bacon and pancakes. Sometimes, if he wakes up early, he'll hear her singing along to the radio. After eating, he would remind her to fill up her car and then he would kiss her goodbye. Until four weeks ago.