From A Distance

India

Richard and Maine start to walk away from the bonfire. They take their slippers off and walk along the shore. Both are shy, unable to talk to each other.

It was only when Maine decided to bring up the question that's been on her mind since this morning.

"Bakit ganoon na lang ang pasasalamat ng pamilya mo sa'kin?"

He stares at her, hesitant what to say.

"Dali na, magsalita ka na. Kung ano ano na nga ang nasabi ko sa'yo the other day eh. Just return the favor."

He scoffs and stops walking.

"Dito muna tayo," he directs, pointing to the sand.

"Wow, mukhang mahaba-habang kuwento 'to ah!"

They both sat down, with Richard holding both of Maine's hands as he guides her to the ground. Maine crosses her legs, and looks like a school student ready for story time.

"Ms. Mendoza, your father...kind of saved our lives."

"Paano?"

"It was around five years ago. Mama died while giving birth to Rosie. Papa was so affected that he could no longer work. My grandparents were too weak to work. Si Roland naman, sayang kung patitigilin pa namin siya sa pag-aaral. So, I had to quit school to take care of my family. Nag-apply ako kung saan saan. Thankfully, I landed a job as a guard at a mall. Nakatulong siya, but the pay wasn't enough for the six of us."

"Sa-sandali? Where's my Dad in the picture?"

"Nagmamadali ka ba? Eto na o, siya na nga ang susunod eh."

"Ay, sorry, sorry naman. Sige, continue."

"Your Dad visited the mall I was working in. I was assigned to be one of his escorts. He liked how I worked, he saw potential. Kaya, pinag-aral niya ako. He asked me, kung ano ang gusto kong kuhanin na course. And to be honest, I never actually thought of what I wanted to do as a career. Kaya sabi ko, gusto ko lang magtrabaho para sa kaniya."

"Wow, you've got guts!"

"That's exactly what he said! I guess it kind of motivated him to train me into becoming one of his bodyguards. He met my family, even supported them, as if making me study free of cost wasn't enough. That's why, we're so thankful for him."

"Wow. Mabuti ka pa, binigyan ng importansya ng Dad ko."

"Ms. Mendoz-"

"Maine," she cuts off.

"I'm sorry?"

"Maine na lang ang itawag mo sa akin."

"Then drop the formalities for my name too."

She stares into his eyes, that look fierce and sincere. She allows herself to be sucked into them, discarding all her inhibitions, letting her guard down for the first time. They're a deep shade of brown, she thought. She's not gonna be surprised if it soon becomes one of her favorite colors.

He looks over to the direction of the waters, and also directly at the full moon. The skies were clear, a first after a few days. She keeps looking into his eyes, trying to take a mental picture so that she can always look back at it. She sees his eyes small, looking relieved at the sight in front of him.

"Maine, nakalimutan mo na ba ang mga sinabi ko sa'yo?"

She doesn't respond but he continues his argument.

"Don't..."

"...wait until it's too late. Yes, RJ, I remember," she says, cutting him off.

He switches his focus to her after hearing his family's nickname come out of her mouth. He savors the sound, replaying it over and over his head. He doesn't understand why he all of a sudden realises that she had such a beautiful voice. It was low, but feminine; a nice balance.

"Like you, I took my Mama's presence for granted. Lagi kasi siyang andiyan, I always expected that she was going to be with me, until I get married, and have a family of my own. But she unfortunately passed giving birth to Rosie."

"I'm sorry...what?"

"Yup, her body wasn't able to handle the labor. She didn't even get to see a glimpse of her child after she gave birth."

Maine doesn't say a word as she tries to process what she just heard.

"Now you don't see me blaming Rosie right?"

"Of course you wouldn't start blaming such a sweet girl like her. And besides, she's your little sister."

"And he's your father."

She looks at him with defeat as she knows that she already lost the banter.

"What I'm trying to say is, give him another chance. Maybe you can't do it now cause you've done it a lot of times and it hasn't worked out. But seriously, do it soon."

He stands up, and places his hands on his hips. He takes a deep breath and starts running into the waters. This shocks Maine, and makes her get up.

"Huy! Saan ka pupunta?"

He doesn't respond, or look back but instead, he dives into the ocean. She couldn't see him for a while, making her panic, but soon enough she sees his head bobbing along the waters.

"Maine! Dali! Halika na dito!" he screams from afar.

"Ayoko! Di ba? Pinagsigawan niyo nga ni Yaya kamakalawa?"

"Ang alin?"

"Na may mens ako!"

They ended up just looking at each other, smiles both starting to creep in. They burst into laughter with Richard splashing the waters and Maine holding onto her belly. It was the start of something new for them, though it wasn't vocalized, they now have an agreement that the bickering was going to stop.

She turns around and starts to make her way back to her room. She stops when she feels a tap and drips of water on her shoulder. She turns back, seeing Richard wet as a dog.

Richard places his hand in front of her.

"Hi, I'm RJ."

"Maine," she says as she accepts his moist hands and shakes it.

"Unfair naman. Hindi puwedeng Menggay?"

She quickly takes back her hand and raises it up pointing at him.

"Don't push it Mr. Faulkerson," she firmly says, however a smile starts to show on her face.

A/N: No more vote counts after this chapter! Which means, my updates will kind of be unpredictable. But don't worry! I won't leave you hanging! I'll only be doing so, so that I can produce better content for you guys!

However, I have this chapter that I'll want to upload before Christmas, cause it's a Christmas party chapter...but I need to prep a few more chapters before I upload that one...so expect quite a few updates this week.

Any questions, comments, reactions, or if you just wanna talk about the Destined To Be Yours teaser 😉, just comment below or tweet me at @mtfaulkerson!