The soft hum of the busy city of Manila echoed through the windows of the Senate building. Pia sat in the office chair, her fingers tracing along the edge of the document she'd been pretending to read for the past hour. Her thoughts were as always somewhere else, across the hall, in an office that had mirrored hers in ways far too painful to admit.
Loren was still there, Pia knew and could feel it, just as she always did. It was their unspoken ritual now, both staying late after the other senators had long gone, buried in work that was more of an escape than a necessity. For years, it had been this way, but lately, something was changing. There was a heaviness in the air, a thick tension between them, which none of them dared to break.
From the outside, their relationship still seemed to be the same: laughing at each other's jokes during committee hearings, quiet lunches at the Senate cafeteria, being there for one another through the toughest of political battles. The media still fawned over their partnership, picturing them as a "power duo"–two women with the drive to change the nation.
But no one saw the truth behind those public smiles.
Pia and Loren were more than colleagues, more than friends. Once, they had been lovers. The promise of years of friendship had flowered into something deeper, something neither knew how to fight. The bond was intense, shared dreams, and late-night whispers along empty corridors. A time came when they became everything to each other: confidante and lover.
But as strong as that connection was, it wasn't enough. They had broken apart, their relationship shattered by a misunderstanding. It was a stupid argument, an instant of doubt and insecurity that was out of control. Words were said, accusations thrown, and in the heat of it all, they both walked away.
Neither of them was willing to end it, yet neither was willing to make that first step to fix it.
Now, they were stuck in this limbo of being close but no longer together. They still saw each other every day, still worked side by side in the Senate, but that invisible wall between them had only grown taller. And the worst part? Pia still loved Loren. She always had, and she always would. She knew Loren felt the same. She knew this by the way Loren's eyes would linger on her when she thought no one was looking-in the way her hand would twitch as if wanting to reach out but stopping herself.
They were both too careful, too afraid. Afraid to confront the past, afraid to admit to a mistake. So they let the silence spread, burying themselves in their work and pretending it would be enough.
Now, with the heavy silence of her office, Pia could almost hear Loren's laughter whispering through the corridors. The laughter they shared when nobody was watching, when no one else was present-just Pia and Loren, no senators, no public figures. Yet, at this moment in time, those moments seemed to be so far away-a lifetime ago.
She looked out her window, across the courtyard to where Loren's office light still shined. For one brief second, Pia considered going to her. She had done it so many times before, back when the world didn't feel like it was closing in on them.
But tonight was different. Tonight, the weight of what was left unsaid hung heavier than it had before. Whereas once the distance between them had been small and could be bridged with a step, with a word, now felt like an endless chaos.
It was always a strong relationship, but now she wasn't sure it could make it through the silence. How had they come to this-two women who'd built their careers on guts, on standing up for what's right, and couldn't find the courage to say the one thing that may change everything?
Slowly, Pia exhaled as her heart weighed heavily and turned her eyes to the desk-to the work waiting for her, unfinished. She could not face Loren tonight, not when the pain was still so fresh, not when the regret still clawed at her chest every time she thought about what they'd lost.
And the door closed between them, and the door onto all they'd left so undecided.
this is my first time writing actually! a friend told me that i should write a pilo story :P pilo fanzzz labas!! mwhehehehhe lofv y'all
