New York
October 2016
After dinner, Thirdy is teasing Bea. "I thought, you're gonna sleep in the apartment."
"Nope. I miss my bed already, Chef! You're too clingy." She's playfully pushing him away from her.
"No. I am not." Pagtatanggol ni Thirdy sa sarili.
They're both waiting for to Thirdy's cab ng biglang niyakap ni Bea si Thirdy sa tagiliran nito.
"You made so happy" She almost whispered.
Thirdy kissed her hair and replied "willing to do it everyday, Angel"
When the cab arrives, they said their goodbyes and she kept waving hanggang sa 'di na niya makita yung cab.
_______________________________
The next morning, Thirdy is so excited to cook. His last week session with Loel will be all about Pastries and he's thinking on cooking tapsilog for breakfast.
When he arrived at the front door, he feels like something's off. He saw that the De Leons are eating breakfast. Napa check siya ng watch niya and it's just 7:30am, too early for all of them to be awake and too odd for them to eat breakfast.
He smiled and hid his curiosity. "Good morning po" but the De Leons just motioned to him that he should sit.
"Where's Beatriz po? Still asleep? Do you want me po to wake her up?"
Patayo na si Thirdy pero nagsalita si Loel,
"She flew this Morning to have mission, Thirds. She ghosted us" Loel said, sadly. Det keeps playing her food and Elmer's eating a lot than usual.
"Oh. Let's eat na po" Thirdy said hindi niya kasi din alam anong mararamdaman. Baka hindi pa ganon kasakit kasi hindi pa nagssink in.
After their breakfast, Thirdy is fixing the kitchen. He's checking all the ingredients needed.
Loel came, "You okay?"
"Yep. I don't know" Thirdy said while he's counting the eggs.
"You're not okay. You are counting the eggs eh it is usually 12 naman talaga"
"Just let me distract myself"
"You know. She always do this pero hindi parin kami sanay na hindi siya nagpapaalam."
"How did you guys know?"
"Manang told us na bilin niya to wake everyone up pag lipad ng plane so Manang did"
"very Beatriz thing to do" Thirdy said and he smiled, sadly.
Loel and Thirdy will be baking Classic Buttermilk Biscuits and Tiramisu Cupcakes.
"Don't put too much nutella in it, Loel. That will be so sweet" Saway ni Thirdy.
"Nah. You need that much of sweetness."
"Fuck you" Thirdy is back on the old bully type and so is Loel.
"You should just pretend that she's a ghost and that you never met her." Trying to comfort his friend.
"Yea. Trying my best. I knew her for like a week, Loel, dapat mas malungkot ka"
"Nah. used to it already."
"So usually, how many months before she'll show up again?" Thirdy asked hoping he'll be here by then.
"No one knows." Loel said while munching the freshly baked biscuits.
"Ang tabang" Loel commented,
"Tanga wala namang matamis na biscuit." Pang asar ni Thirdy.
"Aba okay ka na ah. Nangbubully ka na eh"
"Maybe" Thirdy answered while he's busy making the icing for the cupcakes.
When they are done baking, Thirdy called the helpers to be the judge but they both know that they will just love it and will not comment anything bad.
And yep, the helpers did just that.
Thirdy is now fixing his things when Loel came back to the kitchen so dressed up,
"saan ka punta? Mukha kang taga Hawaii" Loel is wearing a floral polo kasi and a shorts.
"Ano ka ba? We are going out." Loel said
"Nah. I need rest." Thirdy rejected him.
"Dude, you will just cry on your apartment. I'll treat you the best ice cream in NYC ewan ko nalang kung damdamin mo pa yang heartaches mo sa sarap ng ice cream"
Thirdy just laughed it off and agreed.
_________________________
Loel and Thirdy is now in Van Leeuwen Ice Cream shop.
"What's your say, Chef?"
"You're right. This is the best" Thirdy said while savoring his Peanut Butter Marshmallow Crunch.
Loel ordered Salted Caramel. They both tried each other's order and Loel is just so jealous that Thirdy ordered the right thing because it taste better than his go-to salted caramel.
"You can still hang out after the session to our house even though she's gone" Loel reminded his friend.
"I'm fine, Loel! I'll be fine" Thirdy winked and even though he's trying to make the mood lighter, you can see the sadness in his eyes. It is so calm. Not calm like when he's cooking but calm to the point that he's empty.
When they are both done, Loel drove Thirdy to his apartment.
"Don't cry too much. Just text when you don't want to have session." Loel shouted while Thirdy is walking papunta sa apartment niya.
"We are only until Wednesday. We have to maximize the days! I'll be there" Thirdy shouted back and opened his door.
He went to the kitchen, reheat the cookies Bea bought for him, pour milk into a huge class and turned on his TV.
"Nope. Chef's Table won't help today" Thirdy browse all the movies he can watch until he sees Heaven is Waiting (Hintayan ng Langit) .
The oven now tings and that means the cookies are ready. Thirdy dunks every cookies into the milk before he eats it.
While watching the movie, Thirdy couldn't help but to cry a little and when he's done, he went to his bedroom and sees her face, but it fades after he realizes that he's just seeing things.
and just like that, ang panandaliang ngiti na nabibigay ng imahinasyon ay napapaltan ng luha na kagagawan ng realidad.
in this moment, love taste so bitter and you will always wish that you can change it. Well, you can but only when you do it again.
