Mister Villain

CHAPTER SIXTY-SIX

This day had so much good cheer, she even joked with herself that she would go through years of being in an unrequited love, just to experience all of this again.

"OH MY GOD! I have to tell Mommy!!!" Gab sprang up from her seat and immediately went back to their room to get her phone.

"And there goes the cavalry..." Derrick remarked.

"Nai-imagine ko na gaano kasaya si Tita Rio" Josh said "Have you met her?"

"She has dinner with us diba?" RJ reminded his friend "She even has dinner with them kahit wala ako e."

"It is not my fault you decided to stay in BGC" she told him.

"Baka mabigla ka kumuha na nang bahay yan sa Bulacan para mas malapit siya sa'yo" Kris piped up.

The good-humored smile on RJ's face told her that it was indeed a possibility.

How much more unbelievable could the guy get?

They heard the patter of feet and saw Gab running back to them. "Mommy, I'll put you on speaker."

"Oh! Am I on speaker na?" the Faulkerson matriarch's voice floated up to them.

"Good morning Tita Rio!" all the gentlemen, except for RJ and Ruru, greeted – sounding exactly like toddlers greeting a guest about to enter their schoolroom.

There was laughter on the other line. "Good morning Jake, Derrick, Josh, and Kris! Hindi ko pa ata naririnig ang boses nang mga anak ko?"

"Good morning Mommy!" both RJ and Ruru greeted back.

Everyone then turned to look at Maine. She felt blood rise to her cheeks. "Uhmmmm... good morning po Tita!"

"Mommy!" Kris mouthed to her.

She shook her head at him in embarrassment.

"Good morning my dear sons" Rio Faulkerson responded "And to my newest daughter... ulitin mo ang greeting."

"Told you!" Kris mouthed at her again, grinning.

She had known the Faulkerson matriarch for quite a while and tama si RJ, they have even had dinner and she has even stayed for hours at a time at their house pero hindi niya maalis sa sarili ang mahiya ngayon.

"Go Maine!!!!" Gab cheered her on, breaking the tension knotting at her stomach.

"Uhmmmm... good morning po Mommy."

The whole room exploded with applause. Lalo siyang namula.

"Good morning anak" the woman on the other line responded "Congratulations to you and RJ! I'm already excited to have you both for dinner. Marami tayo pagkukwentuhan."

"Thank you po" she responded.

Gab picked the phone up "Oh Mommy sabihin mo na din kay Daddy mamaya ha!"

She walked back towards their room, and Maine had never known such relief.

Sa lagay na ito, everyone has been so welcoming of her.

Still, parang mas nakaka-pressure. If people treated you well, there was more strain in ensuring you returned to them the same sentiments and actions they have done towards you. If they treated you badly, you could just walk away from them and brush them off far easier.

She wondered for the nth time whether this was an alternate universe she had stumbled into and one of these days, she was going to wake up and find she had been in a coma for years.