1:30 am - her digital clock displayed.
Whoever this is better have a life and death reason to call her at this ungodly hour. She thought with her mind still clouded from disrupted sleep. It was barely an hour when she went to bed and the interruption is really not welcome.
"Hello?" She croaked.
"Maine, open the door."
"Sino 'to?"
"You know who I am."
"No, I don't."
"Nicomaine."
Slowly, the familiar low timber of the voice in the other line resonated through her senses, waking her up. "RJ?"
"Oo, buksan mo yung pinto."
Hurriedly, she traversed her small hallway from her bedroom. Richard was leaning in her door frame when she opened the door and seeing the dark circles under his eyes, his tousled hair and undone tie, she knew that something's up and she's almost afraid to ask.
"A-anong problema?"
"Ikaw." He grunted. "Ikaw ang problema ko." With that, he moved forward, pushed her in, closed the door and pinned her to the wall next to it.
"You have a thing for walls, don't you?" She retorted.
"If you think sarcasm will get you out of this, then sorry to break your bubble, but no."
Again they were standing so close that she is starting to lose grip of her mind but she forced herself to be coherent and asked, "Ano bang problema mo, bakit ka ba nandito ng dis oras ng gabi?"
RJ's mood went shadier as she asked. He held both his hands flat on each side of her head, caging her in. "Marami kang hindi sinabi sa akin. Hindi mo sinabi sa akin na umalis ka noon para hanapin ako. Hindi mo sinabi sa akin na itinakwil ka ng pamilya mo dahil sa ginawa mo. Why, Maine?"
"P-paano mo nalaman 'yan?"
"Hindi na importante kung paano ko nalaman. Sagutin mo yung tanong 'ko." Richard peeled his other hand from the wall and enclosed her waist in an embrace that pushed her closer to him. His face was so close that their lips would touch if one of them speaks. She saw how his eyes went darker the moment her body touched his.
"Bakit, kapag sinabi ko ba sa'yo maniniwala ka? You were so angry, I didn't think you'd listen to me."
Pain emanated from Richard's eyes. With a strained expression he embraced her tight, his lips touching the crook of his neck.
"I'm sorry, Maine. I am so sorry naunahan ako ng galit. I was so selfish and childish to do all these. I chose to live in hate and pain and not to forgive."
She pushed him gently so she can look at him and cupped his face with both her hands. "RJ, sorry. Alam kong nasaktan kita noon. I am the reason why you lived a life of hate. Ayusin natin lahat."
With tears in both their eyes they kissed, washing away all the traces of doubt and pain that had consumed both of them for the last six years. There are still questions to be asked, issues to be discussed but they are together now. The cold days of longing had all gone, leaving room for happiness that they both deserved.
