Ricci Rivero, MD

02

To: Ricci

Whatever

Hindi na siya nag reply and I continued eating. I mean may girlfriend yung tao so why would he reply diba?

10pm na nong bumalik ako sa condo and to my dismay nakasama ko nanaman si Rivero sa elevator. San kaya to' nang galing?

Instead of getting more curious. I got my phone nalang and checked if may kailangan pa ba akong sagutin or study in advance. Mukhang wala namang ganap yung nasa gc.

"I went to the coffee shop and the first thing I smelled is coffee beans. What cranial nerve?" Rivero stated as if waiting for my answer. Ano to'? Oral recitation din?

"CN #1 - Olfactory." Sagot ko ka agad. That's the easiest. I mean yung iba kasi medyo pareha kaya its hard.

"Good." at agad na itong umalis dumiretso sa condo nya. I didn't mind.

Pumasok na din ako sa condo ko. Kumuha ng san mig light sa ref and cigarette. Nakakamatay to' pero this makes me feel calm. Lahat naman kami sa family, we smoke and that's one thing they don't know about us. Pero we don't really care if someone knows.

My phone vibrated, getting my attention.

From: Ricci

You up?

To: Ricci

Yea. Why?

From: Ricci

Let's make this now. I have important errands to do this weekend. I'll be there in 2 mins.

Sabi nya I shouldn't meddle with his personal life so instead of asking why, I replied ok.

I'm not sure if he loves the smell of cigarette but I didn't bother. Hindi nya naman ito condo eh. And yep, 2 minutes after, I heard a knock. Agad ako pumunta na sa door and opened it.

"I'm smoking. Do you love the smell of it or I need to put it off?" Bungad ko sa kanya.

He's hot but he's not handsome. May charm din siya by the way he carries himself. He has this red pouty lips that will make you want to kiss him. He's moreno. He's really far from my type kaya maybe he didn't have this effect on me.

"All good. You smoke pala?" I just nodded. This guy, mas curious pa sa life ko.

"I made some already. Check mo nalang. I'll just send it to you sa msngr." He just nodded at pumunta kaagad sa living room umupo at nagsimulang mag type sa macbook nya.

I'm in the dining side kasi nga I'm smoking pero visible pa din naman siya sa pananaw ko. The dining and the living room kasi walang any wall na pagitan. That's why.

"Okay na to'. I'll finish this in 5 mins." I didn't comment anything na lang.

Ang boring naman nito kausap. Kainis. Ang private din nya kasi .. so mysterious.

You know when a guy is mysterious kung makakausap mo siya, he just talks within the topic and nothing more. Plus he doesn't have IG, Twitter and Facebook. Messenger lang meron ang lalakeng to'. I shook my head.

"I'll print it." Pag volunteer ko. I'll print it by sunday nalang para hindi siya maging magulo.

"Okay."

It's 12 : 32 AM when we finished it. Finally, I can sleep. I'd probably sleep the entire weekend. Sobrang draining nitong lahat eh.

"Gotta go, bye." Pag deklara nya at pumunta na siya sa way papuntang door.

"Yea. Goodnight!" Yan lang ang nasabi ko bago ako nakadinig ng lock sa pinto ko.

Morning came,

It's medical biochemistry time. Ang hirap ng science nakakagago. Literal na lahat ng subjects ay magkatabi kami ni Rivero. Kasi kung ano yung inuupan mo first day yun na yung hanggang sa huli na seat mo.

"Larazabal" Dr. Ejusa called.

"Give me the 20 AA?" I pursed my lips trying to remember. I studied this pag wednesday pa. Alam ko to'.

"Essential, Semi-essential and non essential" Rivero murmured. I know he's helping me trying to remember.

"The eight essential amino acids are Leucine, Isoleucine, Lysine, Threonine, Methionine, Phenylalanine, Valine and Tryptophan. While for semi essential it is Histidine only. And non-essential includes Asparagine, Alanine, Arginine, Aspartic acid, Cysteine, Glutamic acid, Glutamine, Proline, Glycine, Tyrosine and Serine." I sighed as a sign of relief.

"Good job." Rivero complimented.

"Uh, thanks also for the clue." I looked at him and smiled. He's not that bad.

"You owe me though for helping you." Napaawang yung bibig ko. Fine, it's just a small clue pero it made me remember.

"What?"

"Inom tayo maya. Condo mo." And there I saw his eyes. Sobrang sad and tired. Tila ba after he left my condo, he stayed up really late.

"Okay." Yun lang ang tanging nasagot ko.

Night time came, around 10 pm when I heard a knock. He's really not lying. Good thing saturday na bukas. Pinapasok ko siya at nakita ko yung tequila sa kamay nya. We started drinking pero wala paring nagsalita samin. Until our 10th shot.

"Paano kung iwan ka ng taong mahal mo?" Rivero asked.