Meeting Our Past (Countryhumans Fanfic)

Chapter 24: Travel

Kuya Martial...

Philippine's older brother.

Strict, harsh and stoic. The epitome of a well-cultured but stubborn personality. Dressed high and mighty despite the withering time, he still has piercing eyes.

The total opposite of his younger brother.

Tho, Martial is not the only one who ruled his country by imposing a direct military control, he knows other countries also have their own who's like him. For some reason, he is one of the active ones who hasn't vanished completely.

It was nearing 5:30 am. He was done showering after his morning jog. Now, is in the kitchen with a cup of coffee and pandesal.

But as the clock ticks, he's also becoming impatient...

"What's taking him so long to call?" Growling in irritation as he glares at his phone.

He knows that Philipp is on the other side of the world and their timelines aren't the same, so he was willing to wait for Philipp's call.

He continued his morning as normally as he can. The house was just too quiet without the sunshine. It was... lonely.

Martial ponders his memories of how Philipp would run downstairs after crying that he will be late because he often shut off his alarm just to sleep longer.

Martial will just scold him because he knows Philipp was staying up late playing a game on his phone called Mobile... Myths? Legends?... Whatever... He thinks way too old for those games. He did enjoy playing it.

But in the past few months, Philipp's schedule was hectic. He was barely home. He comes home past dinner so he will just go straight to bed then leave early the next morning.

So when he called Philipp last night (it was morning in Ame's territory, refer to Chapter 13) on his business trip he felt both miserable and joyous.

Miserable, because he was hoping that he will spend more time with Philipp. He's the only family that was left.

Joyous, because Philipp will have a small vacation and will be out of stress. He will meet his 'Oppa'... He will meet up with Indonesia and Malaysia... And Russia is with him, so he's contented.

Lost in his thoughts, Martial leans over the tabletop far enough that he knocked over his cup of coffee off the table. Despite his reflex to catch the cup, he failed as his hot coffee was spilled on his hands.

"Tang*na naman!" Martial hissed an over to the sink to run cold water on his burned hand.

After the pain subsided, he picked up broken pieces off the floor to tidy things up. That's when he realized that it was Philipp's favorite cup.

A chill suddenly ran over his spine.
Despite his sobriety, Martial is rather superstitious.
A broken glass indicates a family member is in crisis. If Philipp's cup broke... he could be in trouble.

Martial instantly pulls out his phone and called Philipp.

"Sagutin mo ang telepono (pick up the phone)" Martial impatiently murmurs.

The number you dialed is now unattended please try your call later...beep

"Philipp..." Nervousness creeps out Martial's voice and he calls again but the other line was dead.

He calls several times... Again and again but still none of his calls went through.

"P*ta, Philipp... Ba't ayaw mong sagutin ang tawag? (Bitch, Philipp... Why won't you answer the call?)"