It's You

Chapter 22

ARNOLD

"My dear wife, I'm back!" I ran towards my beautiful wife, Sally, and gave her a peck on the cheeks. 

I saw Ben and Didith looking at us.

"Ben, good to see you after a week," she winked at me.

"Yeah, he agreed to have dinner with us as punishment for not making it before Christmas," I muttered.

"And she's?"

"She's Didith, Ben's friend. Good old friend since college."

"We were dorm mates in Los Banos for some time," Ben finally spoke.

"Hi. Sorry for the intrusion. Arnold and I saw each other at the mall," she said.

"Oh, no, please enjoy the time with us." She took Didith's bag and put it on the sofa. "It's seldom for us to have visitors aside from Ben and their neighbor, Max," Sally assured her that it was fine.

"We'll leave you both here while we prepare the table, okay?" I motioned Ben to sit beside her. "Ben will lead you to the dining hall when we're done."

"Thank you."

In the kitchen, Sally was waiting for me with a sheepish smile.

"She's the one, right?

"Shhhhh... quiet. I'm trying to give them the lost time they had."

"But I didn't realize Ben would be this serious for a girl." She was getting the plates in the dish tray. 

"I only saw her once in the dorm and knew right away that she's the one he's serious about." I took out the chicken in the broiler and placed it on a big plate.

"Let's give them ten minutes more for themselves before calling them."

"Sure."

"But in the meantime, can you take a shower with me please?" I whispered to my wife.

"What are you thinking?" She whispered, too.

I quietly pulled her towards our room.

BEN

"So, how are you? When did you return from Israel?" I asked.

"I'm good," she answered. "I didn't go to Israel. I just stayed here."

"What? But why didn't you contact me? I mean, all along I thought you were working in Netanya." She kept her silence. "Why? Did something happen?"

She smiled. It took her a few seconds before she bombarded me with questions as a means of avoiding the topic. "How are you? How's married life? Do you have kids now?"

"Don't change the..." 

"Who's married? Ben?" And Sally interrupted me coming from the kitchen.

"He's not married! But soon he'll be." Arnold followed from behind.

She looked at me but didn't say a thing. 

"Come. The table's ready. The kids are in my parent's house and will return tomorrow so it's just the two of us if you weren't here."

The dinner went smoothly with Arnold and Sally doing most of the talk.

I borrowed Arnold's car so I could take Didith home. She still lives in Antipolo. She invited me to stay but I noticed that the lights were already out so we decided to call each other instead.

I'm not sure if I should be happy that Didith didn't leave the country or that she's not yet married. But let me say, I'm relieved that I saw her again.

DIDITH

So, he's not married. And I thought he already had kids because I clearly remember when Dan told me that he was getting married to Brenda. But does he have a girlfriend? What's going on?

We exchanged contact numbers and I realized that he didn't change his. And he's sure got the nerves to even ask why I didn't contact him when he, himself, didn't even think of calling me.

Anyway, can I just honestly say that I'm quite relieved to see him again? Okay, maybe, I'm happy. I don't know. 

Anyway, I'm busy with work and I'm sure he's also busy so I won't bother him. 

BEN

Is it okay if I invite her out? Should I call her now? Maybe, I can visit her at work and then have dinner together. But I don't know where she's working! When I took her home, we didn't speak to each other. There was music between us.

I'm excited and nervous at the same time. Was I like this when we were much younger and starting to be friends? 

I can't sleep! And I have a meeting tomorrow!

DIDITH

I didn't even tell him where I was working. But he didn't ask so why should I?

I think I should text him to say thank you for dropping me home. Is it fine? What if he's already asleep?

I can't sleep! I need to wake up early tomorrow! 

BEN and DIDITH

Am I expecting something to happen?

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Thank you for reading.

Enjoy!