Destiny's Game

20

With eyes wide open, Rj waited for his alarm clock to go off before getting up from bed. It was his last day, no, last few hours in Manila. He was still savoring the softness of Nic's body from his embrace last night. It would be the last 'thing' they had. Rj nor Nic could only wish that they'd see each other again in the future.

Rj slowly got up from bed and stripped off the covers as per request of Yaya Virgie. He tried to listen to the sounds from outside that would indicate action behind his closed door -- Mama or Pops walking heavily down the stairs; the clanging of utensils at the dining room; the zooming of vehicles that passed their house. Strangely, Rj could only hear the occasional vehicle passing but none of the more 'familiar' activity sounds. He immediately glanced at his clock. He pinched and slapped himself to check if he was awake. He immediately felt the sting on his skin so he knew he was awake. Rj walked into the bathroom and took a cold shower to wake up even more.

At the dining table, Pops was reading the newspapers while having his coffee. This was his regular routine.

"Good morning" Rj greeted as he went to Pops and kissed him on the cheek.

"Good morning....Virgie, andito na si Kakoy...Sit down na and eat."

Rj noticed that Pops was dressed but in his regular house clothes and not in something he would wear for a flight.

"...keep us posted...yes...thank you...thank you very much..." Mama said as she reentered the dining room from the kitchen. She was talking to someone on the telephone. "That was Marita. There's a really bad storm in the states now and a lot of offices and airports have been closed...Kaks, the flight is cancelled. Marita will try to book us again within the week..."

"Hay terrible!" Pops said as he put down the newspaper. The story about the storm was on the headline. Rj only saw it when Pops refolded the paper and put it on the table. "...we need to call Diday..."

Just then the phone rang and Mama answered, "Hello? Oh Diday? Kamusta kayo dyan? Ah talaga? Grabe!" Mama said. She got up and walked toward the living room to take the call. Diday was Pops' sister who lived in the US also.

"...did you pack everything na ba? Maglabas ka nalang siguro ng konting gamit ulit..." Pops said as he stood up from the table. He passed by Rj and squeezed his son's shoulder before following Mama to the living room.

Rj just nodded and continued eating. He wasn't very hungry when he came down for breakfast because of the looming sadness of their departure. But now that things changed, he was more relaxed and happily ate with gusto.

After breakfast, Rj thought of what suitcase to open and what clothes to pull out. He figured he'd set out a week's worth of shirts and 2 or three pairs of pants. He still had some clothes in his closets and he was also thinking of coming home for visits anyway. The first thing he saw on his desk was the ticket to Nic's concert happening that evening. Rj smiled. In the weeks that they built their friendship, neither one asked for the other's cellphone number. Unconsciously, it became their way of avoiding more heartache from their eventual separation – they both knew from the start that Rj would be leaving; Nic also mentioned moving out of the village at the end of the summer. It was also the time when young people didn't really have cellphones yet and if they did, they were under strict reminders to only use it for emergencies.