Not wanting to reveal their relationship just yet, Riki went ahead of Niko to the kitchen and immediately got to work peeling potatoes and preparing other veggies like what she did previously.
"Anong nangyari? Bakit ka late?" Ina asked when Riki joined her and Jake.
"Na-late lang ako nagising"
"Bakit? Anong ginawa mo kagabi? It's so not like you to be late like this"
"Naging Miss Minchin ka na ba ngayon dahil sa mga patatas na binabalatan natin lagi?" Riki huffed as Ina continued to interrogate her.
"Hindi ba pwedeng concerned lang? Kasi nga you're never late for anything. I think this is the first time nga na na-late ka"
"Bakit ka ba concerned kung late ako? Hindi naman to school o kaya office na may time in ah" Riki said. She was starting to get annoyed at Ina's questions. She kept quiet and just shut Ina out. On the other hand, Ina kept on yapping about time schedules. Even Jake seemed to be very engrossed with his peeling that he ignored Ina. After a few more minutes, Ina kept quiet.
---
"Riki? Riki Mendoza?" A voice broke the humdrum.
Riki turned to the voice and acknowledged it. A hand pointed to a note stuck on the bulletin board at one end of the kitchen. Riki stood up and went to it to check it out.
"You haven't touched your breakfast" the note read.
Riki checked the watch on the wall beside the board and saw that it was almost lunchtime. Riki glanced at the hallway on one side of the area. She signaled to Ina and pointed to the restrooms and Ina nodded.
Riki went toward the restrooms but turned and headed for another way as soon as she was covered by the kitchen wall.
---
"...over here!" Niko said and waved as soon as he saw Riki.
"Have you been waiting long?" Riki said as she sat down on the empty picnic table for 4; Niko was seated at the next table.
"No naman...clean your hands first..." He nodded toward the wipes that were on the table. There was also a small bottle of alcohol.
"Thank you." Riki really appreciated how Niko doted on her that way. She had yet to meet anyone else as caring as Niko aside from her mom.
"Let's pray?" Niko offered. Riki nodded and bowed down her head and clasped her hands together. "...keep Punch safe always...Bless us o, Lord..."
"...and please remind Iggy not to tire himself too much...Amen"
