Tú Eres Mi Sol

LXXXV

"Bakit ganyan ang mata mo?" Richard asks Dei. They were doing a video conference. He flew back to work a day after Ann's successful angioplasty.

"I can't sleep."

"Ha? Bakit namimiss mo na ako?"

"Hindi."

"Bakit ang sungit mo?"

"I wasn't able to sleep last night."

"Dei, Love, what happened?"

"I took over some of Opa's responsibilities so he can stay with Oma full time at home. May hindi akong na-sign na isang check, nadelay yung delivery so we had to halt production. We lost a lot of money. Opa didn't scold me but I could see disappointment in his face."

"Nabigay ba saiyo yung check ahead of time?"

Dei nods. "I placed it on the table to get back to it later pero I didn't."

"RJ, Love. You're disappointed at me as well are you? Aren't you going to scold me? Why isn't anyone scolding me? That's a lot of money I lost!"

"Dei, Dei. Calm down."

"How can I calm down? That money could have sent a hundred kids to school, Love. How come no one is mad at me? No one is shouting at me!"

"Dei, Love."

Dei starts crying. She looks very frustrated.

"Dei, Love. Naayos mo naman di ba?"

She nods.

"Everyone knows you screwed up. You know you screwed up and we can see that you've been beating yourself because you screwed up. And you fixed it the moment you realised your mistake."

"Hay, Dei, love. I wish I could be there to comfort you. Hold on, Aren't you going to work today?"

"Oh shoot! Bye for now, Love. I love you! I have to run to work." Dei gives him butterfly kisses and kisses the camera.

***

The next two weeks were quite hectic for the two, Richard has been working everyday even weekends. Dei was swamped with work, too. They kept missing each other. Either Dei would be asleep or Richard would be.

Richard had a tough day. One of the programs that he was part of was tested today and during testing, one of the prototype headlights of the car blew. It totally melted the wires leading to the fuse. It took them a whole month to write the program.

One of their team members left the team today and now, they only have two weeks to completely rewrite the programs. It's 9 in the evening, he's tired and hungry and all he wants to do is sleep. He's had only 2 hours of sleep and one meal today. He was cranky like a machine which hasn't been used in a year. His favourite takeout place run out of his favourite meal.

And when he was walking from the restaurant back to his apartment, it started raining and he didn't bring any umbrella, so now he's going into the apartment building, soaked.

"Richard." he heard his name called, he looked around.

"Victoria. You're here. Why didn't you call?"

"I did several times. And sent you messages, too."

Richard checks his phone, empty battery.

"Victoria, you know I'd invite you to the apartment if I could but I won't."

"I know, Richard. I wouldn't expect any less. I just had to come over because I had important things to discuss."

***

Dei was running from the airport, it was already late. Her flight was delayed for 4 hours. She hopped into the car.

She hasn't had sleep. She was answering emails on the plane. She had documents in her bag to read. Her work phone has not stopped beeping for messages.

She walks into the building. Hair disheveled, her bag in disarray and luggage in tow.

Dei sees the person she was looking for, who was at the receiving area of the apartment building. She walks to the table.

"RJ."

"DEI!" Richard replies, looking very surprised and shock was evident in Victoria's face.

"RJ, keys please. I'm tired. I'm heading up. It's been a long day."

Richard hands Dei the keys to the apartment, Dei leaves the two.

While Dei was waiting for the elevator ride, Richard shows up. The elevator ride was quiet. Richard took Dei's things from her and opened the door as well.

When Richard walks out of the room, he sees Dei crying and he runs to her.

"Dei, Love, what's wrong?"

"RJ, I travelled all the way to here, without sleep, without food. I'm dead tired and what do I find? You and Victoria? Is she the reason why you haven't been answering my text messages since this morning? Just tell me, I love you but if you are no longer happy. I would let you go."

"What are you trying to say? I think there's something wrong with my phone. It was fully charged this morning. I haven't been able to check it at work, when I checked it tonight, the battery was empty."

"Is that your excuse RJ? It's a lame excuse."

"Dei, Today was not a good day at work. It's perhaps the worst since I got there. I didn't have the chance to check my messages. And because of that you think I'm cheating on you?"

"Are you still happy, RJ?"

"What are you saying, Dei? Do you want us to break up?"