Labing Anim Sa Ika Limang Taon Natin

13. Soft

Hello! A rainy monday to all. Please do be careful going about, bring your jackets and umbrellas, remember bawal po magkasakit. This chap update is again, a repost. I have something half-way done but the rains reminded me of this. I'll post the other update tomorrow for chap 14 instead. I do hope you like this too.
😊❤️

Credits due to to aldub_eb's IG post for the header. Link here: https://www.instagram.com/p/CA31F5ogWud/?igshid=155km6cz7eplt. Thank you 💚

FICTION.
Disclaimer: All and fully disclaimed.

For AlDub's 5th.

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After a difficult day RJ returns to his condo to find that it isn't as empty as when he left it.

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RJ awoke to the sound of rain, making the air conditioned room feel much cooler. Still half-asleep, he couldn't bring himself to open his eyes; the only thought on his mind was the word "soft." And all around him, it was soft: the softness of the pillow underneath his head, the softness of the brand new 800 thread count egyptian cotton sheets, and the softness of her skin right in front of him. Deciding that his current reality was better than any dream he could have, RJ finally opened his eyes and took in the perfect sight of Maine's bare back, her silken curves underneath his possessive hands. She looked so peaceful snuggled there next to him. Nothing like when he found her in his condo last night ...

It had been a hard day of what he can still call work, but lately, every day was hard. They were finally able to open his restaurants with limits after the enforced community quarantine. This pandemic that consumed their lives for the better part of almost three months, and the nightmare isn't quite yet over. They got a reprieve - if only for that one saving grace, they can do deliveries and take outs only.

They have not spoken in three days. He's been getting the silent treatment since getting into an argument with her previously and looking back he now realizes it was silly. He didn't like it when she wore silk pajama shorts in her public Zoom chat with Ken Chan and he told her as much. Resulting in her getting upset with him, ignoring his calls and texts since then.

He called her though he knew he shouldn't, the call was something RJ couldn't help but do. Any happy news he gets she's always the first person he looks for to share it with, looking for a shared congratulatory smile over facetime that meant so much to him. He indeed found a smile there, a mysterious one and a question, since it's been declared back to GCQ, if he had any plans of moving back to his condo tonight. He answered on the affirmative. The last two months, RJ tried not to long for his separate life in his own place as much as possible. Every thought just reminded him of what wasn't—and what should have been. He likes his family home, sure, but it's just .. she wasn't there. It's not theirs.

Had anyone asked him afterwards, RJ would have sworn that he knew someone was in his condo from the second he stepped inside. Being an OC was too much a part of him not to notice even though there's no visible trace. No, the first thing he noticed upon entering his unit last night wasn't visible at all, it was a smell. It's like fresh linen, lemon and vanilla, just the barest trace.

Maine.

Taking a deep breath, RJ closed his eyes and wondered if he conjured up the smell of her, just like when he 'saw' her at the studio just before the ECQ and 'heard' her voice in his room just last week. How do the fans call it? Delulu? Yeah, that was him. But this time he couldn't convince himself that this was just his longing, as he re-familiarized himself with the scent of her shampoo, he heard her pacing around his bedroom, muttering to herself then singing. He paused, his common sense briefly warring with his certainty that this was Maine, returning to him at last, but eventually his cautious side won out. His hand slipped on the baseball bat he kept near the door with the umbrellas and he crept towards the closed door of his bedroom, all the while berating himself for preparing to wield a big baseball bat on the woman he loves — a fire-breathing dragon wannabe at that.

Slowly, silently, he turned the handle and pushed open the door. Alert as ever, Maine instantly froze. It seemed as though all the air had left the room, as they looked at each other again in person for the first time in almost three months, illuminated only by the city lights outside the window.

They looked at each other forever, drinking in the sight, neither saying a word. RJ knew she was waiting for him to take the first step forward, when in reality, their journey had begun a long time ago, with the words "Ikaw at ako." They'd been taking steps toward each other ever since. Even in the separation, the silence, the distance, RJ had felt Maine's presence every day, and her return proved to him once and for all that she felt his too. So he took that first step.

Suddenly, the tension broke and they were in each other's arms. His lips found hers in the darkness and refused to let them go. All the tension from the day's events, from the paperworks he still needed to file to the people he's worried about left him, banished by the feel of her in his arms after all this time. They had to talk, he knew, but this was no time for rationality. No, he had his Maine where he'd been dreaming about her, and he was intent on showing her exactly how much he missed her.

They collapsed onto the bed, entangled limbs falling less than gracefully, eliciting a deep chuckle from him and a breathless laugh from her. He looked into her eyes and saw there the same need he was feeling, the same want for physical closeness, for love. The rest, the complications and logistics and declaration of feelings all over again, that could all wait until morning. Tonight they allowed their bodies to talk, and did so with the perfect harmony of partners. The strong yes, but not quite the silent type, RJ couldn't help himself from naughtily grinning and saying one line, "Ansarap mo, Love.."

Hours later, the sound of Maine's  so-soft snores lulled RJ into a deep sleep, as rain started to fall lightly outside. He's there, right in his perfect place, right where she is.

<Fin>

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Non-proofread.
Non-beta'ed.
FICTION.
Disclaimer: Fully and all disclaimed.
Thank you for reading. 😊💚