Heart Rallies

Dix: Plaques

Bea was ready to go to work when the door opened and Seff came in. It was 7 AM and he did not go home the previous night. He seemed to have just woken up. Instead of saying anything to her, Seff headed straight to their room and lied down on the bed.

"Bakit di ka umuwi kagabi?" she asked him. "Naghihintay ako kung dadating ka. Sana sinabi mo man lang na wala kang balak."

Seff, with his head aching, sat on the bed. "First, I don't have to tell you anything. We do not have any rule when it comes to going home. Second, if you go home late, I'm not going to wait for you so you can go home too anytime you want."

"Seff Yu, I don't care if you will go home or not. My point is, you should have the decency of telling your housemate if you will be home or not because the door has an internal lock," she told him. "But if that's the case, then I can lock the door anytime I want and I wouldn't care where you sleep. Fair enough?"

Seff shook his head and went back to bed. "Whatever makes you happy."

"Okay. I'll be home by six and I'll lock the door as soon as I'm home," she said and got out of the bedroom.

Bea left the house after ten more minutes with Seff still lying on the bed. Days passed by for the two with daily arguments about their division of house chores. It has been their agreement that Seff prepares breakfast, Bea cooks dinner, and whoever cooked will be the one to wash the dishes. They would clean the house every Saturdays together and would go to the grocery Friday nights. At first, they planned to assign one to do it but they realized that she would only buy what she prefers, he would buy what he likes, and not consider the other. Who sleeps on the bed depends as to who wins a round of paper, scissor, and stone. Other than house work, they simply found reasons to argue round the clock for whatever reason. They even argued about the traffic scheme implemented in another city. A city where they do not live.

And no one follows the rules that they set which would cause more rows between them. It was as good as vitamins for Bea and Seff.

Bea works extra hours at home because of Camila's case, attends to rallies, and entertains interviews and conferences. They were both at home that Thursday night. She was working with her laptop while Seff was watching basketball like he was watching live.

"Seff, can you lower your voice please? Malakas na yung volume ng TV, maingay ka pa," she told him. Seff continued watching his favorite team, making the same reactions, further disturbing Bea. Seff apologized at first but his apologies were only good for three minutes.

When Bea felt that she could no longer bear it, she stood up, took the remote and turned it off. She removed the batteries before putting it down on the table.

"Why did you turn it off? Didn't you see that I'm watching?" he said angrily.

"Didn't I ask you nicely to lower the volume?" she asked him cooly. "Didn't I ask FIVE times?"

"Give me the batteries," he said and opened his palms up.

"No."

"I said, give me the batteries," he threatened her.

"I do not have any plan to give you the batteries of the remote Seff," she said firmly. "But I'm willing to make a deal."

"What?"

Bea couldn't help but smile. She was able to work back on the case she was handling with Seff watching his game. The television was turned on but it was on mute. Seff looked bored while watching the players on the screen and not hearing anything.

The game ended and he stood up going back to their room. He felt like he just watched the worst game of his life. With nothing left to do, he went back to the living room where Bea was. He needs someone to talk to and since his family thinks that Bea is his girlfriend, he couldn't come up to them and ask for their advice. He'd been giving it some thoughts and he decided that Bianca is someone he can be with. She's pretty and nice, intelligent, and someone he's comfortable with. She knows how to follow him and she does things for him. It wouldn't be so bad to take them to another level when they've been constantly going out.