Jia stopped crying after a few minutes. She made sure to have wiped her tears before she looked up and faced me.
"Sorry," she whispered embarassedly.
I extended my arm and put my hand on her head softly, comfortingly, before I hit her not that lightly.
"Ow!" she exclaimed.
"That's for saying sorry."
She glared at me and I would have been intimidated a bit if only her eyes weren't puffy.
"Thank you. Okay na?" she hissed.
I smirked. "It's nothing. I'm being a friend."
She sighed.
"You really are a great friend. And I am really thankful. But one of these days, I'm going to hit you back."
I laughed because at least she wasn't all depressed and shit.
"Okay. Okay," I said to calm her down. "How about dinner first?"
Jia nodded and I convinced her to ride with me after she got her things. I'll bring her home na lang and she'll Grab back to the gym tomorrow.
When we got to the restaurant and our orders were served, I decided to ask her seriously how she was because she was quiet in the car and didn't want to talk about it.
"I'm fine."
I opened my mouth to retort.
"And you're gay. We're telling the truth here."
I rolled my eyes because she didn't even let me speak.
"BS."
She rolled her eyes as well.
"Seriously, I am fine. I mean, as fine as I can be. Earlier was just because Miguel was there but now that he's far away from me, okay na ulit ako," Jia explained.
I looked at her with confusion.
"Mas mahirap kapag malapit siya at di niya ako tinitigilan. Pero kapag wala naman siya, kaya ko naman, eh. Kaya ko naman," she whispered the last part as if convincing herself.
I sighed. I didn't know what to tell her.
"Jia," I said, trying to form the best words I can say to her now. "Kapag di mo na kaya, you can rely on me until such time na kaya mo na ulit."
Jia looked at me thankfully.
"You're so sweet, Bea. Thank you."
I just smiled at her.
We continued talking about other things after that. I took Jia home and I told her she could talk to me any time.
Then, I went home.
I was surprised however to read a message from Miguel that he was waiting for me at the lobby so I headed there after parking my car.
I saw him sitting on the couch with his shoulders slumped.
"Miguel," I called him.
He glanced at me shortly before looking past me. I knew he was looking for Jia.
"I already brought her home," I said.
Miguel sighed. "How is she?"
I shrugged. I don't know what to say. I knew Jia wasn't alright but she did insist that she was fine. But I'm not sure if these were things Miguel should still know.
Miguel sighed again. "Can we talk?"
"Sure. There's a bar not too far from here. We can walk there," I said.
