After the "CUT!"

Broken Promise

He is late, again. He is always late these past few days. Either he is busy with work, or he is busy with work - no in betweens. They never argue about anything actually, just how he always prioritizes work over anything else. But he promised, he is all hers tonight/today. And he never breaks his promises.

'Be there by 11ish Love, we will welcome your 35th together' - RJ

She's turning 35 in 10 minutes and she has this hobby of reminiscing everytime she's about to turn another page of her life. Tonight she's feeling a little bit sentimental. Don't judge her she's already in a happy relationship but she just can't help but go back to her failed relationships and ponder on what went wrong. Those relationships taught her a lot of things and made her a lot stronger. And it pushed her to finding her Mr. Right.

Her first boyfriend ever was Jake, she was 17 almost 18. He was this popular jock in school while she was the campus head turner. She knows that it's a cliché for the two of them to get together but they still did. They were like a power couple for more than 2 years until Jake has mysteriously disappeared right after graduation. No texts, no calls, no emails... even social media posts just suddenly stopped. The only news that got to her is that his family opted to migrate to Europe. It broke her heart but she had moved on.

The next time she dated, she was already 25. Ken was a co-worker of hers, they are under the same department. The way they got together was unconventional. He was married, already divorced actually. The idea of falling for him never crossed her mind until she already fell for him. Maybe it was the proximity, they are always together in projects and Ken is really a nice person. One day, she just woke up and realized that she's already fallen deep. It was a happy relationship, not perfect but she could put up with this for years and years to come. It would have been her happily ever after had she not caught him in bed with another woman. Of course he denied having an affair, claimed that it was a set-up but for Maine, cheating is a cardinal sin.

Then of course RJ. Dorky but sweet RJ. She met him at a coffee shop – another cliché – 5 years ago, when she was so sure that she will end up an old spinster with nothing but her pets for company. But then he came unexpectedly, he was a revelation and a welcome gift. Just the other night, she saw in one of his bedside drawers a small velvet box. She didn't have to open it to know what's inside. She knows that he is planning to propose, as they have already started talking about their future together. She's already turning 35 and she's so ready to settle down. Tonight's date night is her idea.

Three consecutive knocks broke her out of her reverie. She glanced at the clock – 11:55 PM – she hurriedly open the door and there he was standing at the other side is the other constant guy in her life. Despite his slightly disheveled appearance, he still looks as handsome and as charming as he usually does, it's actually bordering unfair already as she can never look that way all the time.

"Oh Alden, what are you doing here?"

"It's not yet the 3rd right? We still have a couple more minutes. I wanted to be the one to greet you happy birthday first."

"Oh that's so sweet of you. Wait, let me just call RJ. He's so supposed to be here an hour ago. Maybe he's just caught in traffic or something. Let's celebrate together. "

"He won't come."

"What do you mean? Did he messaged you?"

"He won't come, Maine. I got rid of all of them because I don't want you breaking your promise. I want you to always keep your promise."

"Alden, I don't undertand."

"They always break their promise. They always say they will stay but they don't. Nobody stayed, just you."

"Alden I –"

"You said you never break promises, and you know that I hate broken promises right, Maine? Happy 35th, now we can get married."

He went down on his knees and Maine's eyes widen when she saw in his hands the small velvet box that was hidden in RJ's bedside drawer the other night, however this time it is stained with blood.

"Wait 'til I'm 35, if we're still both single and available I will marry you. Promise."
"You know how I hate broken promises Maine."
"I never break promises."

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A/N: Now this is sabaw.

If you will notice, I tried to join the AMACon 30 day drabble challenge. I actually have drafts for each prompt, but I was on self-imposed internet partial hiatus - I still am. I just go online once a day for an hour at most.

Anyways... I didn't post all the others because if this is 'sabaw', the others are more sabaw. Don't have the time to edit yet... I'll be posting those here though just because. Not anytime soon though because again - self-imposed kaartehan hiatus.

Sooooo prompt is: As teenagers, they promised to marry by 35 if they haven't found someone. He makes sure she doesn't find the one.