Ever After (End Game Book 2)

Tabula Rasa

Borj was no longer at the sofa when I woke up.
Kuya was preparing breakfast and he looked at me the moment the door of my room opened.

"Gising na pala ang Mahal na Prinsesa!"

"Kuya!"

"Good morning, Little Sis"

"Good morning!", then I looked at the shower wondering whether he's in there.

"If you're looking for Benjamin, he left early. He said he had meetings to attend to this morning"

"I'm not looking for him"

"Sino niloko mo? Ako?"

"Kuya!"

"Let's eat. I'll drive you to work na rin"

"Okie. Kuya, do you have time this weekend?"

"Why?"

"Can you teach me how to drive?"

I saw when he stopped what he's doing and looked at me.

"I think I've mentioned it before naman na I'm really considering to drive again. My car is just parked sa condo. Why not have that practice and drive again?"

"If that's what you want"

"That's what I need"

"Ok. I'll pick you up at 9"

———-
I reached the office before 7am.
There's no message, or anything from Jimenez.
I should be happy since it seems that he understood what I said last night, and there's no need for further clarification.
I just thought he would try to negotiate and maybe fight me a little about it.
I guess, he gets what I meant, and it might be difficult to swallow, but maybe, he also realized that I'm right.

My phone pinged, and I immediately took it to check.
~Roni, let's talk please~

It's Basti.
I tried to ignore it.
Maybe, once I'm sure that things are settled, I will message him and we'll have that talk.

It was about 11am when the interns knocked on my door.
"Ms. Roni, may pa-flowers at Starbucks si Mayor"

I just shook my head, and smiled weakly.
It probably is from Basti.
He finally found my workplace.

"I'm sorry I didn't let you have that "coffee" last night. I'm sorry for all the blunders. We should be having that coffee before the drive home...."

"Ooops! Sorry, miss. It looks like Mr. On Fire is outside the kulambo"

"Kids, give that to me here. And didn't anyone tell you that it's not nice to read someone else's letter"

"Sorry, Miss", they both said while handling me the flowers. "He bought coffee for the whole team"

"And Miss, he said, "I'm sorry for the nth time, and I love you to forever"! Woah! Miss, saan nakakabili ng katulad ni Kuya?"

"Kids, out!", Mel said pushing them all out of the office. Then he went to check the flowers. "White Tulips- two dozens. Anong ginawa ni hijo? Inuna na naman si ex-fiancé?"

"Mel, akala ko ba boto ka sa kanya?"

"Oo, nung wala yung ex-fiancé sa picture. Iparada nya talaga sa harapan mo lagi yung babae no? Anong akala nya? Just because the wedding was called off, pwede na silang maging friends ulit? And does he think na robot ka para walang maramdaman tuwing isasama nya yung girlalu? No beshy. That's a big "no"! Red flag ang kuya mo"

"Mel, will you stop? May problema na nga si Roni, ginagatungan mo pa"

"Mr. Ian, andito ka pala! Hey, this is your one in a million chance no? Pag nawala na si Jimenez sa picture, the playing field is finally fair"