SPIN

Seven

Note: hello! Thanks again to everyone who took time to read this! As I've said, it's a concept I've been curious about for awhile so I wrote it. Sorry pala, I didn't think it would hurt! In my mind, it was more sad than painful. Don't hate me. ✌🏻️

I didn't mean for this fic to be a long one so this is the last chapter then an epilogue, which I will upload shortly after this. Uploading them tonight in case internet connection will be problematic where I am over the holidays.

Kung hindi kayo natuwa, errrrmmm, I cannot be reached. Cheret. 😊 Patatawarin please.

***

"Saan ka galing?"

"Out."

"Kanina pa ako nag-a-alala, sana you left a note or something!"

"Pakialam mo ba? Kung wala kang magawa, eh di sana nag-report ka dun sa Kaye mo na namimiss ka na!"

"Bakit mo binasa messages ko?"

"Kung ayaw mong mabasa ko, dapat pinalitan mo yung password mo."

He sighed and took her hand. "Halika nga dito." Alden led her to the bed. "Ganun nalang? You'll jump to conclusions? Paano kung ganyan ka sa mga chismis about me dati?"

"Chismis ba'to? Kitang-kita ko o!"

"I'll tell you about her. Sagutin mo muna yung tanong ko - what if naniwala ka sa lahat ng chismis about me?"

"Ang dami kaya nun? Yung iba pa contradicting, ang hirap gumawa ng kwento using that. Choose one." Maine said.

"Okay. Yung babaero ako."

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Everyone was rooting for them to be together and people wanted to know when it happens. This was still the most common question they get asked in interviews, although most have speculated that they were already an item in their first year as a love team.

He was courting her, but she hasn't committed. There was just so much she couldn't figure out, but she can't keep stringing him along. She had to be fair.

"Maine, baka hindi kita mahatid sa Bulacan on Saturday ha?"

"Okay."

"Long rehearsals daw kasi may special on Sunday sa SPS."

"Oo nga daw."

They were driving from the barangay to Maine's building. "Rj?"

"O?"

"I want you to stop na."

"What? Ang layo pa natin 'o. Gutom ka ba? Samahan kita. San mo gusto?"

"No. I mean, stop na natin whatever is going on with us."

"What?"

"You know what I mean. Stop coming over, stop sending gifts, stop driving me to Bulacan."

He gripped the wheel tighter, searched for the closest gas station and parked. "Bakit? Anong ginawa kong mali?"

"Wala. But, I can't take being one of your women."

"I told you, there's no one else."

"Really? So, bakit may chemistry kayo nung girl sa show na nag-guest appearance ka? Sa movies natin, parati kang all praises sa kasama natin. Yang kasama mo sa SPS, tingin ka ng tingin. Kung sinu-sino pa kayakap mo or inaakbayan mo. Ayoko na! Pagod na ako mag-interpret ng actions mo. Ang gulo-gulo."

"Balewala lang sayo lahat nung ginagawa ko for you?" He no longer enumerated his efforts to take care of her, to get her family's approval, to wait for her until she's ready... None of it mattered if she didn't believe he was sincere.

"I appreciate it, but everything else is just too complicated. Too confusing."

"Bumaba ka na."

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"HOY! Hindi ko gagawin yun kahit anong galit ko sa'yo."

"I know. Cheret lang. Ito naman. Chine-check ko lang kung gising ka pa."

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"Hahatid na kita." They arrived at her condominium building. He got down and held the door open for her. "Sana lang naniwala ka sa akin when I said, ikaw at ako lang."

"Rj..."

"Bye, Maine. As much as I want to be with you, I think there are some things you need to figure out on your own first. Sana, sana kaya kitang hintayin."

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"Tapos, wala na. Sobrang gulo ko, nainip ka na. Nainip, nag-move on, lumandi kay Kaye!"  Maine concluded, crossed her arms and pouted at him.

He smirked. "Galing mo dun ha." He paused before continuing. "She's a DJ. She interviewed me after a show we had in Butuan. When we announced our break-up, Kaye started texting me. I've never responded to her 'I miss you's but we've started talking and... I find her interesting."

Maine's heart broke. "Then, you should go and see where this takes you."

"Gara, ikaw ba yan?" He teased, referring to Maine's character in their first movie.

"I always believed that if you had to choose between the old and the new, you always go with the new. Kasi, di ba, may reason nga why you left the old?"

"But, if that's what you believe, why did you even want to go on this trip with me?"

Maine didn't answer that but suggested they cut the trip short and take the next flight out. As they landed back in Manila, while waiting for their luggages at the conveyor belt, she turned to him and said, "Because the choice I had to make was between someone new and someone who made me the happiest."

Her white van arrived, followed by his identical black one.

Alden boarded the white one with her.

That night, before he lay in bed, he placed their newest polariod photo beside the two others taken years ago in Boracay and Italy. This latest one, taken inside her van, no view to speak of, captioned:

#happiest