Firsts

XI. Birthday

NOTE: Warning. It may not be for everyone, so feel free to not read this.

And... I tried. =) Be nice to me. 

Thanks ubermunster for your words of encouragement! You have no idea how much that means to me.

Publishing this now because tomorrow busy tayo sa DTBY. 

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"Happy birthday, Menggay!" Rj greeted.

"Hey! Nasaan ka na?"

"Cebu pa din. Hindi pa kami tapos dito eh. Sorry to miss your day."

Maine sighed. They hadn't seen each other in almost two months and this was his first call to her in three weeks. "When will I see you, Jay?"

"I don't know yet. I'm going through workshops now."

She didn't want to face the issue today because it was her birthday and she had a lot schoolwork but she asked anyway. "Jay, are we okay?"

"Oo naman. Ipapadala ko nalang yung gift ko sayo and the pasalubong. May gusto ka pa ba from here?"

"Ikaw."

"Lambing naman. Sorry talaga. Hey, I have to go. Tawag na kami."

He dropped the call without an "I love you". He didn't even ask her how she was spending her birthday. 

She also didn't hear from him again for another week.

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"Happy, happy birthday, Meng!" Rj greets.

"Rj! Where are you?" She asked over the phone.

"Taping pa, but tomorrow whole day akong free for our celebration. Tuloy tayo ha?" he promised.

Maine was at a dinner with her family when he called again. He had already called first thing this morning, waking her up and told her he had left her a gift at the reception. When she was awake enough to go down, she saw the biggest bouquet of Ecuadorian roses she had even seen and he had them in orange, which she loved.

"Yup! Tuloy tayo," she confirmed. Then, remembered her news. "Rj! Thank you sa referral sa friends mo sa network! Three of them are having gowns made! Tapos, a magazine will feature me and a couple of other designers so I can also show there some of my creations!"

"Uy! That IS good news."

"Yes, sobrang thank you sa help."

"Wala yun, ano ka ba. Hey, tawag na ako. Happy birthday ulit! Dress comfortably for tomorrow ha? And bring your swim wear."

The following day, Maine found out that Rj was taking her to an exclusive resort in Subic.

"Balikan lang eh because we have work tomorrow, pasensya na ha?"

"Okay lang! I'm just so thrilled to be here. Can we go swimming already?"

He lead her to their room so they could change and where she was surprised to see balloons, another bouquet of white roses and chocolates. "OH MY!" She turned and gave him a hug. "Thank you! You're the sweetest."