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 Thirdy's cab nang biglang niyakap ni Bea si Thirdy sa tagiliran nito.
"You made me so happy," she almost whispered.
Thirdy kissed her hair and replied, "Willing to do it every day, Angel."
When the cab arrived, 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 of sessions with Loel will be all about pastries and he's thinking of cooking tapsilog for breakfast.
When he arrived at the front door, he felt like something was off. He saw that the De Leons were eating breakfast. Napacheck 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 a mission, Thirds. She ghosted us," Loel said sadly. Det keeps playing with her food and Elmer's eating more 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 nagsisink 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 does this pero hindi pa rin 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 sweetness."
"Fuck you." Thirdy is back to 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 judges 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 shorts.
"Ano ka ba? We are going out," Loel said.
"Nah. I need rest." Thirdy rejected him.
"Dude, you will just cry in your apartment. I'll treat you to the best ice cream in NYC. Ewan ko na lang kung damdamin mo pa yang heartaches mo sa sarap ng ice cream."
Thirdy just laughed it off and agreed.
---
Loel and Thirdy are 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 tastes better than his go-to Salted Caramel.
"You can still hang out at our house after the session 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 a 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, reheated the cookies Bea bought for him, poured milk into a huge glass, and turned on his TV.
"Nope. Chef's Table won't help today." Thirdy browsed all the movies he could watch until he saw Heaven is Waiting (Hintayan ng Langit).
The oven now dings and that means the cookies are ready. Thirdy dunks every cookie into the milk before he eats it.
While watching the movie, Thirdy couldn't help but cry a little and when he's done, he went to his bedroom and saw her face, but it faded after he realized that he's just seeing things.
And just like that, ang panandaliang ngiti na nabibigay ng imahinasyon ay napapalitan ng luha na kagagawan ng realidad.
In this moment, love tastes so bitter and you will always wish that you can change it. Well, you can, but only when you do it again.
