AlDub | Maiden : Bahala na

Epilogue

Maine tiptoed around the shattered glass that sparkled in the sunlight.

Just a moment ago, RJ left the room in haste, banging the door behind him. The impact sent their pictures crashing to the floor.

Maine shook the phrase 'last straw' off her head, but she continued packing anyway. RJ had been insisting it does not have to be this way, but she just can't stay any longer. In her mind she has already left, even her tears have stopped falling. He stormed off telling her to do whatever she wants.

At least one jacket, a couple more shirts, she probably needs a scarf, or two. She pulled one from high up the top shelf; she cared not if she commits the sin of making the usually neat stack a mess. She did get her scarf, yes, but a box tumbled down with it, spilling a yellow bandana from the inside.

Once upon a time, she thought, that yellow was vivid. Full of hope and promise and lots of looking forward to.

Maine still remembers the first time they took it out of the box. They had a rerun of Aldub Forever, that special feature on them, one afternoon at her condo. There were still quite a few sheets of tissue left when they started the show, but they quickly ran out before they even reached the halfway mark. She proudly smiled as RJ's eyes widened when he saw the bandana; that was the most convoluted and longest-standing suprise she had ever planned that time. Well... they did not finish the rerun, and it went back into the box unused.

The last time they washed it was after their wedding. RJ had taken it out of his pocket to wipe his tears as she walked down the aisle. She cried with him, half-laughing. It was glaringly out of place in the glamorous 'Testament of Destiny' (as the media had dubbed the event). To her, though, it meant he remembered: ikaw at ako, ako at ikaw, tayong dalawa lang, kebs. But oh boy, did the fashion blogs have a fiesta over the tacky little thing.

And now it lay on the floor without fanfare; life and several washes having faded its vibrance away. A lot like themselves.

---

She looked around their bedroom one more time before she turned the knob. So much have changed over the years. The bookshelves have curved down a bit and just last week she noticed more paint cracks near her side of the bed. Turns out it was worse near his. But that's just the way things are, she thought. We find some things in a certain state and hope they never change, but they do. We all do.

Maine closed the door gently behind her. Just beside, she found RJ slumped on the floor.

He raised his head and met her with bloodshot eyes.

For the longest time she believed that this man is her forever. She believed him when he said he loved her for being herself. But everybody changes, and change is chaos before it's calm again.

"Love." She handed him their well-worn sunshine. "O diba, nagamit natin?"

He took the bandana from her and wiped her tears.

There is forever, because change is forever. It's just a matter of whom you choose to change with.

That night, she came back from the bathroom to her husband already asleep, arm over his forehead. She pulled the blanket up to his shoulders lest he catch another cold. She reached for the lights and saw the cracks again. Next week, she thought, while they are away, she'd have the wall repainted. She wondered if he'd object to a tinge of yellow.