Work Text:
“May class kayo? Area 2 tayo.”
“BGC mamaya? G?”
Two texts, sent several hours apart to two separate GCS — one, geographically located in Diliman, and the other is received right in the heart of Taft; while the recipients are in Agno to be precise.
4PM
Her favorites — more accurate to call it her comfort food actually — is complete and right in front of her. Pancit canton, kwek-kwek, and cold Coke straight from the bottle, but she does nothing but to poke the kwek-kwek with her plastic fork — the orange balls rolling around in orbits for about five minutes.
Leni clears her throat, and only then does Risa look up; taken aback with the amount of concern her ate’s features displayed.
“Ano ba kasi yang iniisip mo, Isay?” Her question landed gently, but Risa knows it’s not without probe. Leni knows her — they’ve been through a lot the past years, and because Risa was the eldest among her siblings, Leni is the closest that she’ll get to an ate. Besides, being the current Student Regent and the former one does allow for a bond to be created naturally.
“I’m — hindi okay lang naman ako.” Leni sighs, ready to disagree — luckily or unluckily for Risa, Bam and Kiko arrives together. Apparently, a text like that could only mean two things: something’s wrong in the Office of the Student Regent, or this is a personal cry for help.
“Ate Isay,” Bam takes the seat beside her. “Bakit naman para kang pinagsakluban ka ng langit at lupa jan?”
“Ito namang si Bam, malungkot na nga yung tao kailangan pang i-spell out. Hi, ate,” he waves at Leni and takes the seat beside her.
“Okay lang ako,” Risa replies, but it’s not fooling anyone, and it earned her three raised eyebrows from her friends.
“Jusko,” Bam sighs.
“Nag-lolokohan pala tayo dito eh.” Kiko leans back on his chair, arms crossing across his chest.
“Sige na, Isay. When you’re ready.” And that made her slump her shoulder, openly frowning now. Leni always had this calming presence that makes her guilty whenever she resorts to her usual tactics of trying to prove to everyone she’s a strong independent woman.
“Nag-away kami ni Win two days ago. Di pa unit kami nag-uusap.”
“Jusko, ate!” Bam reacts; he has very strong opinions about this. “Student Regent, University Scholar, member ng Dulaang UP, tapos yung magpapaganyan sayo taga Lozol? Grabe.”
Kiko shakes his head, poking a fishball from the plate and pops it into his mouth. “Hirap ng pag-ibig ah. Utak at puso dapat, pero yung isa nawawala.”
That earns a glare from Risa— she crumples one of the tissues and launches it straight to Kiko.
“Huy dahan-dahan naman kayo.” Leni scolds. “Bakit kayo nag-away?”
9PM
“Man, ang tagal! Kanina pa kami.” JV automatically hands Sherwin a shot of Jaegermeister that he downs, but not without a wince. Not so far from them, Migz is so focused on performing Malibu nights for an audience of four.
“Ano ba yan — who ordered this? Pass the Red Bull nga. Saka, dude, why here? Akala ko Xylo tayo?”
Erwin passes him the chaser, and rolls his eyes as he answers. “Corny nung tropa mo, bro. Frustrated singer yata gusto mag videoke.”
Raffy presses the question. “Gagi san ka galing? Bat ganyan mukha mo?”
Sherwin plops to the leather couch — wearing the infamous Taft uniform: Uniqlo top, gym shorts, and Onitsukas. “Haba nung meeting sa org, hassle.”
“Ulol mo, bro. Nung isang araw ka pa ganyan, gagi.” Migz chimes in flipping the song book.
“Shut up.” Sherwin shoots him a look that Migz has learned to basically ignore.
“Ris problems yan.” Migz casually says as he keys in a new song.
“Tangena ka, Z.” Sherwin accepted his fate in this friend group — he’s the favorite pulutan. The instrumental of Multo has already started playing when JV presses the stop button.
“DUDE????” Migz protests in offence.
“Saglit lang kasi, hassle naman eh. Speak to the mic first, bro. Anong Ris problems yan?” He brings the mic to Sherwin, and automatically he swats his hand away — and that earns a laugh from the friend group.
He pours the whiskey on his glass — neat on the rocks, like his Father would take it.
“She’s not speaking to me eh. It’s been two days, I fucked up.”
“Bro, what did you do?”
Sherwin wasn’t able to respond for a bit, guilt clear in his face. “Di ako umabot sa show niya nung isang araw. Though, in my defense, Dad wanted to talk to me about the business. So galing akong Valenzuela, you know how traffic that is, pare.” He takes a huge gulp off his drink. “Dumating ako pare curtain call na. She was so mad.”
“Dude, gago, ang lala mo. Exactly, you know how Valenzuela traffic is. Diba one show lang yan? Kahit si tito papagalitan ka eh.” Migz, ever animated as he was, seemed determined to put salt to the wound. “Senior high palang tayo crush mo na Risa. Third year na tayo oh tapos ganyan?”
“Bro, di ba she’s reasonable naman sabi mo? Why not just explain to her?”
Sherwin takes another sip, then another. The Tulfo brothers elbow each other because they know he’s in deep.
“That’s the thing, eh. She won’t even let me explain.”
Hours pass, and Sherwin is just sat at the edge of the leather couch, watching as the brown liquid swirls on his glass. Half dazed as the alcohol slowly clouds his mind. The boys could just look at him with concern — except for JV, who seems perfectly okay with eating the sisig.
The door swung open, and all their heads whip to its direction.
Silence.
Even Migz stopped flipping through the songbook because standing by the doorway was Risa Hontiveros and somehow she looked more intimidating than any professor they had ever encountered.
"Patay," Raffy muttered.
“Oh shiii ..." Erwin whispers under her breath.
“Uy, Ris, hi.” Migz approaches awkwardly — like a child who’s been caught with their hand inside the candy jar — and offers a high five, to which Risa just looks at.
“Bro, she’s so scary.” JV whispers to Raffy.
“Hi, love,” Sherwin stands to height — smiling and just a bit intoxicated. Risa was wearing simple jean shorts, sneakers, and his shirt. She looks so small in his shirt and the thought makes him smile.
“Susi.” Without any question, Sherwin fishes the keys of his Jeep from his pocket and drops it on her palm.
“Una na kami sa inyo, ha.” She smiles at his friends and makes a bee line to the door, Sherwin is following behind.
“Di man lang nag ambag si gago, oh.”
Risa navigates the roads of Manila thankfully with the help of Waze. Otherwise she’d get lost, otherwise the car is too quiet.
Sherwin, for the most part, is awake in the passenger seat. Just watching as his girlfriend drives.
“Love, I’m sorry,” Sherwin finally starts. Risa doesn’t respond, she just continues driving. Sherwin tries to take one of her hands and intertwines their fingers.
“Sherwin, ano ba nag-d-drive ako.” She says that, and she sounds stern, but she doesn’t exactly remove her hand from his. “You’re so impossible when you drink.”
The rest of the drive is spent still in silence, but at least not the kind that would erupt into an argument.
She brings her boyfriend up to his condo to make sure he’s settled and doesn’t do anything stupid.
“Uminom ka ng tubig — alis na ko.” Steps— though uncertain they may be—bring her to the door, but before she could reach the door knob, she feels his arms wrap around her for a back hug. She closes her eyes.
Of course.
Of course he would do this.
Of course the moment she finally gathers enough resolve to leave, he would hold her like she's something precious.
“Please.”
The words aren't dramatic. They're not grand, and it somehow makes it worse. For two days she had rehearsed every version of this conversation in her head. She had planned to be firm. Planned to make him understand exactly why she was upset.
Then he sounds like this.
“Mahal, please stay. I’m sorry. I’m sorry.”
Risa turns to look at him which she realizes is a big miscalculation on her part, because when she sees the pleading in his eyes. Sherwin looks miserable. Not the exaggerated, paawa kind of miserable he uses whenever he's trying to get his way.
Genuinely miserable.
His hair is slightly disheveled. His eyes are glassy from alcohol and guilt. His grip on her hands tightens just slightly, as though he's afraid she'll disappear the moment he lets go.
“Alam mong importante sakin yun, Win.” She says barely over a whisper. “I waited for you.” This one lands, and she sees it immediately; in the way his shoulders sink, the way his jaw clenches.
“I know,” he repeats. For a moment neither speaks. The city hums beyond the windows. Cars pass somewhere below and jeeps honk their horns. A siren echoes faintly in the distance.
“I wasn't even angry at first,” she admits. Sherwin looks at her.
“Disappointed lang.” She lets out a small laugh because there are things bigger than this, merong mga bagay na mas importante, but she’s here upset. “The entire time I kept looking at the entrance thinking baka ma-late ka lang.”
“Ris—” The guilt on his face becomes almost painful to witness.
“Then the show ended and you weren’t there.”
“My fault talaga yun. I have no explanation.” He takes her hands, and intertwines his fingers with hers— like a habit, almost instinctively. “I’m sorry I wasn’t able to fulfill that promise, but please let me show you how much you matter to me. If you let me I’ll do it everyday.”
There it goes, all the anger melt away. ‘Ano ba, Risa?’ She says in her head while she takes a breath. Bam was right — she’s the tough student regent of UP Diliman, who can be anything she wants to be in the future, but unfortunately, now, is too soft for this chinito from DLSU.
“Yan ka nanaman, ang OA mo.”
“Scared lang ako. Of the thought of losing you, Ris.” That sounds funny to others, but Win says it with the amount of sincerity most in boys in their generation cannot even imagine. The vulnerability in his voice catches her off guard. For someone who always seems so certain of himself-- someone who is literally inheriting a name where several business ventures around the country is attached, Sherwin sounds very young in this moment. Very human. Very in love. And Risa thinks to herself: Sa dami ng bagay na kailangan kong ipaglaban, baka nga sinuwerte ako na hindi siya isa doon.
Risa exhales.
Long.
Slow.
Then she reaches up and smooths a stubborn lock of hair away from his forehead.
“Fine… sige na. Forgiven.” Sherwin sighs in relief, and drops a kiss to her forehead and to her cheek before pulling her in for a hug.
“I won’t disappoint you again, I swear. . . I love you, future Mrs. Gatchalian.”
“Ops, saglit,” Risa pulls back and points her index finger at him. “Ano yung sabi ko?”
“Magsisilbi muna sa bayan po. Bayan bago landi.”
“Good,” she says with a self-satisfied smirk.
“Pero ang mundo ay bigger than bayan, eh ikaw ang mundo ko.” He counters back.
“Corny mo, Gatchalian. Ganyan ba kayo dito sa Taft?” She says despite a laugh that spills from her lips.