Maine spent the next few days adjusting to her new job. She took care of Kirby and followed every single instruction and chore that RJ assigned to her. And since his standards for everything were high, Maine had to constantly push herself hard just to meet his expectations.
"Maine?!!!" she heard him yell from the second floor of the house. Maine placed the duster on the table and ran upstairs.
"Sir, bakit po?" Maine asked as soon as she saw him.
"I need you to go the grocery okay? Lala's coming and we don't have food."
"Okay po." She answered, taking a step closer towards RJ.
"Then, I need you to cook okay? And take Kirby with you ... he spent the entire morning playing around. I need this place to be quiet kasi sigurado iingay na naman pag dumating si Lala." RJ told her. Maine took a moment to catch her breath. After doing so, she asked him another question.
"Eh si Manang Loleng po?"
"She'll be busy cleaning the house."
"Eh kayo po?"
"Ako yung amo dito di ba?" RJ asked before handing the money to her. Maine immediately took it and placed the cash inside her purse.
"Oo nga po pala ... sorry naman."
"Yung susi dun sa isang kotse nasa dining table sa baba. Gamitin mo na lang."
"Ahh ... sir?" Maine asked.
"What?"
"Hindi po ako marunong mag-drive eh."
"Then you have to commute, I'm sorry. Now go." He told her. Maine nodded and left RJ's room. She quickly looked at herself in the mirror. She sighed and fixed her hair.
"Menggay ... day off mo na bukas, okay? Push pa." she told herself. Maine then went downstairs and called Kirby.
"Kirby?!?!" she asked and he emerged from the kitchen.
"Bakit po?" he asked. Maine also spent most of her free time teaching him how to speak the tagalong language.
"Food shopping tayo. Tara."
"I want food."
"Bibili kita ... tara na." Maine answered. Kirby smiled and skipped towards her.
--
Richard stepped out of his room as soon as Maine and Kirby left. He went downstairs and walked into the kitchen. There he saw Loleng talking to someone on the phone. When she realized that he was there, Loleng quickly ended the call and smiled at him.
"Iho, nanjan ka pala."
"Si Lala po ba kausap niyo?" he asked.
"Ah hindi ... pamilya ko. Uuwi ako sa kanila bukas."
"Nice." RJ answered. He took a can of beer from the chiller and walked away. Suddenly, his phone started ringing. RJ pulled it out of his pocket and answered the call without even looking at the screen.
"Hello?" he asked.
"Dude!" a familiar voice yelled from the other end of the line. RJ just closed his eyes and sighed.
"Carter, man, what do you want?"
"It's Dana's party tonight, you're going ... right?" his friend asked. RJ thought about it for a second before he gave Carter an answer.
