Chapter Text
Hannie's POV
"Sir? uwi na po ako, hindi pa po kayo uuwi?" I was taken aback from the person na nagsalita. The lights are dim already and dalawa nalang kami dito sa office– ako at ang intern, dahil last day na niya and as her supervisor, I stayed to accompany her
"anong oras na pala. thank you again ha? congratulations and goodluck sa future endeavors mo. hindi ka na talaga magpapa absorb sa company namin? final na?" the intern shook her head bago sumagot, "I'm sorry sir, I think nasabi ko naman po na ayoko talaga sa program and corporate, mas gusto ko po maging streamer" sagot niya. ngumiti naman ako sa kanya at tumango nalang
"okay galingan mo, papanoorin ko mga streams mo. maybe invite me and ma'am chae pag maglalaro kasi magaling kami mag roblox" pabiro ko naman sa kanya kaya nagtawanan nalang kami.
"I sometimes play roblox sir pero right now may fave akong game and nagkakaroon talaga ako ng sponsors from them" halata naman ang excitement sa kanya kaya I excitingly asked her if anong game yun.
"Genshin sir! actually matagal na yung game pero relevant parin siya up until now dahil sa lore. do you know that game po?" I let out a sigh and smiled before answering her, "yep! very much"
"anyway, umuwi ka na at magpahinga. I'll send your evaluation nalang via email, will that work for you?" tumango naman siya and we both bid goodbyes.
"genshin huh? how was my account na kaya don?" I whispered to myself. umupo naman ako sa swing chair and faced the window showing the makati's city lights. maya maya ay nag light up ang phone ko and saw a message from jeongwoo
Love
hannie, you going home tonight? I cooked something for you :)
napangiti naman ako sa nabasa kong text and decided to reply sa kanya,
Han
I will! can't wait sa luto mo haha pahinga lang ako baka antukin sa pag drive eh. take care! :))
Love
Okay ingat ka!
I closed the messaging app and accidentally pressed the google play. unang bumungad pa yung game na iniiwasan ko. But to feed my cat's curiosity, I downloaded the game and waited for half an hour to download its resources. and after one hour, finally, nag download na yung game kaya nasa login screen na ako.
"ano nga username ko dun?" sabi ko sabay kamot ng ulo. I searched for my notes, nagbabakasakali na di ko pa nadelete yung username pati password and I was right! andito pa nga ang login details.
"prkhn03 amp, ang jeje talaga ng mga kabataan noon" sabi ko while inputting my login details. I entered the game and maraming nagbago sa interface. mas malaki na rin ang map ngayon and as expected, marami na akong namiss na quests.
To feed my cat's curiosity again, tinignan ko if may buhay pa sa friends ko. lahat sila 30+ days ago ang last online, for sure years ago na talaga last na online nila. nagkibit balikat nalang ako and nag explore sa game. I got amazed by the new features, nakakagulat din na lumilipad at nagmomotor na yung mga characters sa sky. this game never fails to amaze me, kaya pala may hype parin ito up until now.
while doing my commissions, napansin ko naman na may red notif ang message bubble sa lower part ng screen, indicating na may nagmessage but I got confused kasi lahat naman ng friends ko ay matagal nang hindi nagoonline? but again, out of curiosity, I opened the message and the person that I didn't expect to see, was right here in my messages, saying "hi" as if nothing happened few years ago.
nanginginig naman bigla ang kamay ko while typing. magtatype sabay buburahin and magcocompose ulit ng message. I can't even construct a proper sentence because of my hands. binitiwan ko naman yung phone at saglit na nag buntong hininga.
"han, magrereply ka lang naman? and naka move on ka na rin" sabi ko sa sarili ko habang hinihilot yung kamay ko.
I took all my courage and decided to face my fear—takot na baka masiraan nanaman ako ng ulo.
prkhn03
hello :)
I immediately closed the message and nagsimula ulit maglaro. maya't maya ay tinitignan kung may message siya ulit pero ginagaslight ko nalang sarili ko na wala lang yun, hangin lang yun, wala ako dapat hintayin.
After 5 minutes, they finally replied,
jlcutie71
hello po! friend po kayo ni papa?
I stared at my phone intently, confused sa tanong niya. what do you mean, papa?
prkhn03
papa? who's him?
jlcutie71
my papa jey po.
jlcutie71
may ❤️ po kasi sa nickname niyo and I thought it was my dada but he said no po, so are you guys friends po?
natawa naman ako sa mga nalalaman ko ngayon. what do you mean heart parin ang nickname ko sa kanya? and wow? he got a child?
prkhn03
ah, yes we were friends back then but hindi na kami nag-uusap ngayon eh :)
jlcutie71
why po?
prkhn03
secret, bata ka pa for sure you'll not get it
jlcutie71
I asked my papa po, namiss ka raw niya po
napakamot nalang ako sa ulo nang makita yung message ng bata. seriously jey?
prkhn03
ohh i see, ingat kayo jan ha?
jlcutie71
can I go inside your world po? you seems nice po eh. can we play?
prkhn03
okay sure hahahaha
and yep! I accepted the kid's request. It was obvious na baguhan lang siya sa paglalaro kasi clumsy pa siya sa pag navigate ng characters and napipindot bigla yung burst ng character niya. natatawa naman ako sa nangyayare pero I still teach the kid how to use the characters.
We spent an hour playing sa world ko. fast learner ang batang ito kasi natuto siya agad mag farm ng resources, mag wish sa mga characters na gusto niya and mag domain run. Minsan pa nga ay ako ang tinuturuan niya dahil sa tagal ko na hindi naglalaro ng game. kinukwentuhan niya pa ako about sa lore ng mga new characters and places na mapupuntahan namin. He's indeed Jey's child, dahil may pagka pilyo rin ito at hindi nauubusan ng kwento.
jlcutie71
hello po! I'll leave na po, sleep na raw po kami sabi ni papa. thank you for playing with me! next time po ulit :D
prkhn03
sure kid!
nag log out narin ako sa game at nagpahinga na. iniisip ko parin yung mga nangyare kanina and ramdam na ramdam ko yung mabilis na pagtibok ng puso ko. Pakiramdam ko uminom ako ng sampung kape sa sobrang bilis ng tibok.
after few minutes, I decided to leave the office para umuwi. pagkaupo ko sa driver's seat ay biglang umilaw nanaman ang phone ko. I thought it was jeongwoo kaya dali dali ko agad binuksan but it came from an unregistered number
+63*********6
- Is this number still working?
- Hello hannie, it's jey. long time no talk?
My kid was so curious about you nung nagkwento ako sa kanya about sayo and he wanted to meet you, sobrang funny mo raw kasi kausap. I said 'no' naman kasi wala na tayong communications pero nagpupumilit parin siya. Can you guys meet nalang for world peace? Sorry ha? I know this was so sudden, para lang talaga sa ikakatahimik ng anak ko.
- If you can't, just tell me thru this text and I'll show this to him para di na siya mangulit. thank you :)
huminga naman ako nang malalim. I guess the fate wants to play with us nanaman?
nag-isip naman ako bago sumagot. this is for the kid, for the world peace, and I think wala namang masama?
Han
yeah, sure. just give me the exact place and date.
+63*********6
I didn't expect you to answer right away pero thank you. let's meet on saturday at 4pm :)