Wonderful Unknown

Chapter 4

A/N: Hindi ko kayo matiis. Lol! Para 'to sa lahat ng nakaka-miss kay Archimedes Aguerro. Kikiligin kaya kayo or masasaktan? 😅

P.S. Pag may nahuli kayong typo, DM niyo ko, please. Pero walang prize. Haha!

***

"Hello?"

"Hey."

Something's wrong. The moment she heard his voice she knew that he was not alright, which was probably why she couldn't find it in her to end the call, even if it was the right thing to do.

At least that's what she had been telling herself in the past three months. He was literally a thousand miles away, and it should have been easy to distance herself from Archie.

But like what most people warned, his absence really made her heart grow fonder.

Those incredibly few days when he failed to send her an "Archimedes Daily Report," Roxy found herself crankier than usual. Or worse, she would cry herself to sleep over empty promises and what could have been.

She checked the wall clock and took note of the time. "Archie, sobrang late na diyan ah."

"Yeah, it's almost 3 AM," he confirmed. "How are you feeling? Did you take all your prenatal vitamins?"

"Okay lang ako... Ikaw?"

Archie had been persistent in the past few months - checking in, sending random text messages and sharing memes.

She thought that he was just making good on his initial plan for them to remain friends, to keep the communication lines open, and she repeatedly shut the idea down. But then he implored her to change her mind, confessing how much he wanted to be part of the baby's life.

And Roxy didn't have the heart to take the whole fatherhood experience (even from afar) away from him.

She agreed to send him updates about the baby's health and development, but she didn't plan on entertaining messages that were not about the baby.

And then one day, she woke up missing him.

A couple days later, he sent her a "Took the wrong subway" text. She was so worried, she sent him a long reprimanding reply that ended with a demand for an update so she would know that he got home safe.

He called her instead.

Still, Archie being the annoying "maligno" that he was, there were days when she didn't feel like talking to him. But then there were nights when she quietly suffered through Archie withdrawals, and she would scroll through their recent text messages.

"Long day, actually," he sighed.

"Gusto mong pag-usapan?"

If he was surprised that she initiated an actual conversation, he didn't let it show.

"It's my dad's birthday," he said softly - quietly. As if it was a secret that he wanted to preserve and keep to himself.

"Archie, I -"

"It's okay. You don't have to say anything," he told her. "I just wanted someone else to acknowledge it. Z was doing really well these past couple of weeks, and Mom didn't want to mess up her progress by reminding her."

"I'm sorry, Archie," she said softly.

"We weren't that close," he admitted. "It was really bad before the end - but, yeah. Me too."