#Yatiz is a story focusing on the lives of young people in a small seaside municipality called Carmen in the southern part of the Philippines. The name is based on a cuss word here, "Yati/Yatis" that has no English equivalent but is closest to WTF.
...
MAYA: HEY BABY. SORRY TO DISTURB YOU. I KNOW YOU'RE STUDYING RIGHT NOW. BUT...THERE'S THIS INSTAGRAM ACCOUNT THAT JUST FOLLOWED ME, AND IT SAYS THAT YOU'RE CHEATING ON ME. IS THIS TRUE?
Before sending the message, she stares at it, taking a second to reconsider what she's about to do.
She erases the message instead and presses the call button.
Ring.
Ring.
Ring.
Maya piles her two pillows and leans against them as she waits for him to respond.
Ring.
Ring.
Ring.
She stares at the butterfly stickers on her ceiling.
Ring.
Ring.
Ring.
A tricycle with loud speakers, playing "Young, Wild and Free" by Snoop Dogg, Wiz Khalifa and Bruno Mars passes by their house. Maya rolls her eyes.
Ring.
Ring.
The tricycle is taking its time and despite Maya being inside the house, she can still feel the vibrations permeating the walls and the windows.
Ring.
Ring.
The music fades as the tricycle drives off into the distance.
Ring.
Noel finally picks up.
"Babe. Unsa man?" he says, a bit coldly, almost whispering. There's noises in the background, yelling and laughing.
"BABE. WHAT DO YOU NEED?"
"Erm...Hi babe. Sorry sa disturbo." She chuckles, a bit embarrassed. "Erm...Kuan man gu—"
"ERM...HI BABE. SORRY FOR DISTURBING YOU."
"ERM...I JUST WANTED TO—"
"Babe, pwede unya na ta mag-isturya? Nag-study pa man gud ko."
"BABE, CAN I CALL YOU LATER? I'M JUST...I'M STUDYING RIGHT NOW."
"Ah. Sige babe. Sorry sa disturbo." Maya purses her lips.
"OH. OKAY BABE. SORRY FOR DISTURBING YOU."
"Okay lang babe. Sorry pud kay dugay ko nakatubag."
"IT'S OKAY BABE. SORRY FOR NOT ANSWERING RIGHT AWAY."
Somebody yells in the background, followed by laughter.
"Asa ka nagstudy babe? Saba lage?"
"WHERE ARE YOU STUDYING? WHY IS IT SO NOISY?"
Somebody calls Noel.
"Erm...Babe. Ugma na ta sturya ha? Love you. Good luck sa imong gina-studyhan."
"ERM...BABE. LET'S TALK TOMORROW, OKAY? LOVE YOU. GOOD LUCK WITH THE STUDYING."
"Love you too."
He ends the call.
Йой! Нажаль, це зображення не відповідає нашим правилам. Щоб продовжити публікацію, будь ласка, видаліть його або завантажте інше.
All at once, all of her suspicions and worries come flooding in. She doesn't quite know what to make of what had just happened. But she knows she has a bad feeling about it.
She quickly goes to Instagram again and checks Aljun's profile. She checks if he has stories posted. None. She goes to JR's profile. No stories. No posts. She goes to Jasmin's profile. Nothing. She goes to her notifications. She clenches her jaw as she stares at the recent notifications by yourbfischeatingon_u. She taps the username and it redirects her to the profile.
She reads the bio. 'if u want to know more, follow me.' She bites her lip and presses follow. She taps the Message button and starts aggressively typing a message.
Йой! Нажаль, це зображення не відповідає нашим правилам. Щоб продовжити публікацію, будь ласка, видаліть його або завантажте інше.
MAYA: OKAY. WHO ARE YOU AND WHAT DO YOU KNOW ABOUT NOEL?
She sends the message.
Suddenly, her 5-minute alarm goes off.
She taps the notification and stops the alarm. She takes one pillow off the pile and puts it on her chest as she slowly slides down, her back fully on the bed.
The account sees the message. Typing bubbles start to pop up.
Maya waits a little for the account to respond.
The bubbles appear and then disappear a couple of times until nothing. No response.
Maya sighs and locks her phone. Once again, she stares at the stickers on her ceiling, deep in thought and marinating inside her emotions.
--
Йой! Нажаль, це зображення не відповідає нашим правилам. Щоб продовжити публікацію, будь ласка, видаліть його або завантажте інше.
