Yūgen

Something New - Reprise

It was a Saturday, if I'm not mistaken.

Richard and Maine had been busy cleaning up and rearranging her condo unit all morning. And honestly, it was quite the treat watching them haul stuff around, sift through every drawer and box, and turn the whole place inside out. It almost felt like those years back at Apartment 716—except that this place wasn't 716. And Richard doesn't stay here.

"Ba't naman kasi bigla mong naisip mag-general cleaning dito?" Richard asked as they took a little breather and sat on the couches.

"Ano lang, I just wanted to give this place a breath of fresh air," Maine answered, "bagong arrangement, bagong-linis, less clutter, the whole nine yards."

"Aba, may pa-nine-yards-nine-yards pang nalalaman. Talaga, ha? Well, buti na lang pala, wala akong biyahe today. 'Tsaka malayo-layo pa naman 'yung deadline for my next story."

"Wow. Procrastination galore. Parang high school uli, gano'n?"

They both laughed. I think it's the first time I heard them do so together in quite a while. And I mean, a while. It was music to me.

Then, the doorbell rang.

"Delivery po for Ms. Mendoza?" went the voice from outside.

"Aba, magpa-pizza ka?" a surprised Richard remarked as he went for the door.

"Uy, hindi, McDo. Charot!" Maine snapped as she stood up and went to her room to get her wallet.

"Ikaw naman, gumastos ka pa."

"'Sus! Pagod na nga tayo kakabuhat dito, you'd still expect me to cook? 'Tsaka, minsan lang ako manlibre, 'no. Bigay mo na sa 'kin 'to, Faulkerson, okay?"

After paying the delivery guy and quickly setting up her little dining table, it was finally lunch time.

Just the two of them. Just like in 716.

"So, how was the date with your ex-suito—"

"Ops! It wasn't a date, remember? Dinner lang."

"Okay, okay. Dinner."

"It was...fine."

"'Di nga?"

Maine did not even look at Richard as she continued taking bites of pizza and chicken wings.

"Huy. Fine ba talaga?" Richard kept egging her.

"Okay, no. It wasn't."

"Wow. Talaga ba?"

Maine finally looked at him, pouted and nodded. Richard could only muster a chuckle.

"I don't know, Chard," Maine sighed, still in between bites, "there must be something that I hoped would be there but wasn't. As in, waley. It just wasn't working out."

Richard sat back, finishing the last bite of his pizza slice. "What makes you say that?"

Maine sighed one more time and just looked up to the ceiling, still pouting.

"Teka, teka, baka naman 'yung hino-hope mo, 'someone.' Hindi somethi—aray ko naman!"

"You know what? I give up. Wala nang next time-next time sa Darren na 'yan. And I don't give a shit kung buong Dangwa na ang ipadala niya sa opisina ko. Papatapon ko lang lahat kay Barbie 'yun."

"Uy, uy, uy, relax ka lang! 'Ba, pambihira. Parang nagpapakuwento lang ng dinner, uminit na ang ulo."

"Eh, kasi...ikaw, eh..."

"Ako?"

An awkward silence followed for a few seconds. Or maybe a minute. Maine was looking at her plate again. I would've thought she had a little slip of the tongue back there.

Next thing I knew, Richard reached for her arm and caressed it.

"You'll be okay, Nicomaine," he sounded a bit more reassuring this time. "Maybe it's not time yet. Maybe this year's not the yea...shit, wait..."

Richard let go of Maine's arm, stood up and walked away from the dining table. There probably was something in what he tried to say.

"Bakit, Chard? What's wrong?" a puzzled Maine asked.

"Wala. May...naalala lang ako," Richard replied as he kept walking towards the door to the balcony. "'Papahangin lang ako rito sa labas. Tapusin na natin 'yung kuwarto mo after."

"Oh...kay..."

Richard stayed outside for a little bit. I couldn't tell if he was starting to cry or anything like that. But he surely looked uneasy. Meanwhile, Maine took to her remaining pieces of chicken wings, then started cleaning up the table and continued making some minor rearrangements to the living-dining area.

Then, she headed for her room, carrying a step-stool with her. She started putting back some items on the higher shelves. And then, there was that wicker basket-looking box where I was in. There were also some old letters, paperwork and other little memorabilia and mementos I was mixed in with. It looked like Maine wanted to put us up on the top-most shelf, but she could barely reach up.

A few more stretches. And when she thought she had made it to that top shelf, she lost her grip. Almost everything fell out—myself included. I just so happened to bounce off Maine's foot so hard that it seemed to hurt her.

She scrambled to pick all of us up, anyway. I ended up somewhere on the floor where I thought she would see me.

Then, after she got all the other loose stuff back into the box, Maine seemed to stop for a moment to stare at my presence. No, maybe she was trying to wonder where I came from. Next thing I knew, she picked me up and started turning me around.

"Oh. My. God. Shit," she mumbled as she kept on looking at me. She seemed to have remembered something.

"O, Maine, ano na'ng nangya...Maine?" Richard wondered as he walked into her room.

"Richard, look at this. I forgot na nasa akin pa pala 'to." Maine said as she turned around and showed me to the same man who gave me to her years ago. It was so nice to see him up close again, after so long.

Richard got me from Maine's hand and also took a good look. "Of course. Apartment 716. Which is, by the way, a much cleaner place now."

"Talaga ba?" she asked in jest, "I think I have to see that for myself one day."

Richard gave me back to Maine, but also held on to her hand. "Well, tutal, nasa 'yo pa naman 'to. It's an open invitation, Mendoza."

They looked at each other and smiled. That was probably the closest thing that time to seeing her as happy as she was the moment she first opened the door to Apartment 716.

And for some reason I didn't know, they held each other's hands much tighter.