The Box

5. coffee

Taking a break from searching for ideas, Maia opened her Facebook page and saw that her friend request was accepted. She had an inkling that it was Rj who came in after her at the coffee shop, prompting her to do random act of kindness by offering to pay for his drink upsize and a pastry. She had been stalking his account for as long as she could remember. However, like her, his main page was locked and his profile photo didn't really show much of who he was. (Plus, both of them had dummy/alter accounts).

Maia immediately texted Paola. "In-accept nya!"

"Ows?"

"Oo! Ngayon lang"

"Now what?"

"Ewan"

"Nye!|

Now that he accepted the friend request, he saw more posts from Athena and her friends on his timeline. He looked through her page and found a lot of quotes and memes but nothing too personal. She had some photos but were mostly just tagged to some events. She had some solo photos of her but she was either in shades, with a group of people, or the photos were blurry. Like before, Chuck decided to just ignore whatever he 'learned' from her page.

---

Even if they both volunteered at the orphanage, they never actually saw each other there. Having spent most of her life with the nuns and orphans, Maia had more access to the private or restricted areas of the facility. Chuck either helped in the building renovations or in the classroom where he tutored the kids.

As the Christmas holidays approached, Maia spent more time at the orphanage especially because she was put in-charge of decorating the place, especially the classrooms. One Saturday, she asked Sister Berna to gather the children so that they could meet and discuss about the theme and assigned groups to work on the different areas of the orphanage. They decided to have a contest on the best and most creative design.

"I-a-announce natin ang winner sa Christmas party" Maia told the kids.

"Yehey!" they cheered and clapped.

Maia and Sister Berna began assigning the children to groups headed by an older orphan plus a volunteer.

When Maia started coming to the orphanage more regularly, she and Chuck would see each other in the facility. They were never formally introduced so they would just smile, wave, or nod at each other when they saw each other. And although Chuck was smitten by Maia, he didn't have the guts to approach her or talk to her. He was also too shy to ask the other volunteers and nuns about her. He only knew her as "Ate Meng", the most senior of the volunteers.

On the other hand, Maia, too, was developing a crush on this tall, fair and be-dimpled guy with a cute accent. From what she gathered from the children he tutored, his name was "Kuya Chuck" and he lived in Canada all his life. He now works in an office in Taguig. He was the grandson of Mother Carmela, but Maia never saw them together in the orphanage.

As the children discussed about their designs, they also talked about the Christmas party. As was 'tradition', the children would perform. They also made Christmas cards and notebooks which were sold to add to the orphanage funds.

"Sana bumisita ulit si Spiderman" Gelo said.

"Bakit si Spiderman, dapat si Santa Klaws!" Kiko protested.

Chuck amusedly watched the children discuss about their preparations. For the most part, he was quietly observing Maia. While the children noisily spoke of their Christmas wishes, Chuck silently wished he could gather enough guts to approach her.

---

Chuck entered the coffee shop just as the barista called out an order. "One tall peppermint mocha for Athena!"

"Athena?" Chuck thought as he approached an unoccupied spot at a long table. The space across had a pad and pen, and there was an old backpack on the seat. As he walked toward the counter to order, Maia was walking back to her table with her drink. They smiled and nodded at each other. While waiting for his turn to order, Chuck looked back at his table and realized that SHE occupied the spot across from his seat!