I haven't moved from my bed in the last 3 hours. No, I'm not sick, and No, I'm not grounded. I'm just plain bored with this semestral break. I miss being in school, miss being at the dorm, and, as much as I hate to admit it, I miss going to trainings. Life is just too boring in the confines of my room, and I am practically a zombie stuck to my ipad and doing nothing sensible.
Picking up my phone, I decided to call Mich.
"Hey ho my Baby Ji!"
"Michifu, want to go to the mall?"
"Awww, sorry babe, I'm at tagaytay with El."
"Ok, no biggie. Enjoy your date"
"See you when we resume training. Hugs!"
I let out a deep sigh. Scanning thru my phone, I decided to check my twitter and I smiled upon seeing Bea's post:
@_beadel
Stuck at home. Craving for some ramen 😑 🍜
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Bea was at the pool area of her house, headphones on while enjoying a book. Other than the househelp, she's alone in her house her family is out of the country for a trip to Beijing. She didn't join the tour because that would require her to skip 5 days of training, which is crucial as UAAP 77 would be opening in 2 weeks.
Bobbing her head to the music, she hummed along to the song as she tapped her fingers on the table. She was surprised when she felt her earphones tugged from her ear as someone tapped her from behind. Turning swiftly to check who was disturbing her, she exclaimed "what the?!?"
"Hiyee"
"Jia?!" Bea stood up and hugged Jia. "What are you doing here?" Both of them were widely grinning from ear to ear.
"Well, I was bored at home and I heard someone has serious ramen cravings" Jia lifted her hand and showed Bea the take-out bag she brought.
"Seriously?!?" She took a step back as if testing if Jia was joking.
"Ramen from your favorite shop, with 2 extra orders of gyoza, just as you always order it." Jia beamed, feeling proud of herself.
Bea jumped around with joy like a child, before lunging to lift Jia and twirled her around. "I love you!!!" She was giggling a lot before putting Jia down.
"Yahhh" that was the only thing Jia could say back. She felt out of breath and a bit lightheaded. Stopping the blush creeping on her cheeks, she jokingly punched Bea's arm "let's eat, I know your beasts are hungry" pointing to Bea's tummy.
Bea ruffled Jia's head before pulling her towards the table. She was about to sit on the chair, but Bea stopped her, first pulling their chairs close together. "There, much better" she smiled and then started fixing their food. Bea opened one ramen and placed it in front if Jia, placing the chopsticks and condiments in order along side it. She then fixed the gyoza and prepared these as well. The whole time, Jia couldn't help but stare at Bea.
"Oh wait, you don't have a drink. I'll just get it from the kitchen? What do you want?" Bea asked but she was already standing up and ready to sprint. Jia reached out to hold her to stop her from running off.
"What?"
"I'll get it. Look, you haven't even prepared your own food, while you've fully laid out mine. I know my way around, I'll just ask help from ate Alice."
When Bea refused to sit, Jia pulled her and led her to the chair. "You can start eating," jockingly pushing Bea's shoulders down to force her to sit. Jia was about to leave when Bea grabbed both of Jia's hands that were on her shoulders to wrap it across her chest "don't take too long..."
"Uh-hum" Jia agreed before pulling her arms away from Bea.
As Jia was making her juice at the kitchen, she threw a glance at Bea from the window. She couldn't help but look back how close they've become. While it started unnaturally, them being forced together by circumstance to stay together because of their task, they've slowly realized that they liked hanging out. Sometimes, it's not about the task anymore, they just really enjoyed each other's company and look forward to spending time together.
Just as she was about walking back to the pool area, she saw Bea animatedly talking to someone on her phone. Whoever Bea was talking to was making her giddy based on her body language.
Upon reaching the table, Bea smiled at Jia and put up her finger to signal "just a minute". Jia nodded and proceeded to sit down, as she fixed Bea's food which she still hasn't touched. Bea gently stroked the top of Jia's head, causing her to look up, and Bea mouthed "Thirdy" pointing to the phone, letting Jia know who she was speaking with.
Jia's forehead creased and her eyebrows knitted with an awkward feeling creeping up on her. Bea pinched her cheek before taking a few steps away to finish the call. She strained to hear their conversation, but Bea was speaking in hushed tones. Diverting her attention, she started picking on her food.
A few minutes after, she felt Bea move into the chair next to her.
"Was that Thirdy?"
"Yup" Bea replied, excitedly reaching for her food and stopping to smile at Jia before taking a bite. She closed her eyes and savored her food. Jia, on the other hand, was waiting for her to continue. When she felt that Bea would not talk, she couldn't help herself from prodding.
"Why did he call?"
"Nothing.." Bea said absent-mindedly, still enjoying her noodles. Jia was however getting irritated.
"Fine, if you want to be secretive about it..."
Bea smiled, playfully raising her eyebrows to mock Jia. "Secret!"
"FINE!" She spat out, and started stirring her ramen in a harsh motion.
"Hey, I was just kidding" Bea held her arm to urge her to look up. When she didn't, Bea lowered her head to peak at her, but she just ignored her.
"Hey, what's with the foul mood?" She asked, looking straight into Jia's eyes, and brushing the strands of hair that covered her face. She cupped Jia's cheeks, and gently pulled her chair so that they could face each other.
"I'm sorry Ji. It was a nonsense call, he was just messing with me."
"For what?"
"It was really nothing.."
"If it's nothing then why can't you just spill it out."
"Because it's not important!" Bea was already starting to get tired of this and she couldn't help her voice when it started to raise.
Jia rolled her eyes in irritation. "Fine!! Then keep it to yourself!" She crumpled the napkin and roughly threw this on the table as she stood up.
Bea stood up and held Jia's arm to stop her from leaving. "He was just playing around and asking about that date!"
Jia closed her eyes and had her back to Bea, "whatever, just go spend your day with Thirdy" She asked weakly.
"Jia!!" Bea screamed. Both of them fell silent after that. "Please, stay.." Bea spoke shakingly.
They were both breathing heavily with the amount of emotions coursing thru them now.
Jia was surprised when, after a while, she heard Bea silently giggling.
"What?!?" She asked.
Bea covered her mouth to control her laughter. "Did we just have our first fight?"
Jia pouted and was shaking her head, deep in thought. "No.. Yes? Whatever!" She was surprised when Bea pulled her into a hug.
"Let's not do that again, ok?" She breathed deeply, kissing the top of Jia's head.
Jia didn't speak but she shook her head in agreement and wrapped her hands around Bea's waist and settled into the hug.
"By the way, I said, NO"
"Huh, what?" Jia looked up with a confused look.
"I told Thirdy I can't go out with him."
"Why?"
Bea didn't respond, she just kissed Jia on the forehead as she hugged her tighter.
