Chasing Fire

Twenty-eight

"Napapadalas na yata yan, Snow?"

I tore my gaze from my laptop and stared at her. Kumportable siyang umupo sa sofa habang nakatingin sa akin at nakataas ang kilay.

"Ganun ba? Hindi ko napansin,"

The way she arched her eyebrow tells me that she's questioning what I said. Hinintay ko ang susunod niyang sasabihin pero hindi dumating. She shook her head instead.

"Baka naman wala na kayong oras sa isa't-isa kaya kayo nagkakaganyan? You are both sitting on top of your respective fields and now you hardly had time to understand each other."

"I don't think that's the problem..." Pag-amin ko. Tuluyan ko nang isinara ang laptop at sumandal sa swivel chair.

"Then what's happening to the both of you?"

Napapadalas na ang hindi namin pagkakaunawaan ni Fiero. Nagsimula ang hindi namin pagkakaintindihan tatlong buwan na ang nakakalipas. Minsan naaayos agad, pero kadalasan hindi. This one's the longest just yet. Maybe because we're almost always busy with our empire.

"Nasa Italy siya ngayon?" Yra asked me after I told her what happened. Tumango ako. "Kailan lang?"

"Three days ago, yata? Di 'ko sure,"

And in the end, Yra just sighed and shook her head. Naintindihan ko ang reaksyon niya, ganyan din si Brix nang sinabi ko sa kanya ang problema. I mean, how can we solve this if we're miles and miles apart from each other? Ayoko namang mag demand ng oras ni Fiero dahil alam ko kung gaano ka higpit ang schedule niya lalo pa't marami siyang kailangang gawin. I don't want to be that clingy girlfriend. Afterall, ako mismo ay busy din dahil papalapit na ang pasko at dumarami na ang dapat trabahuin sa hotel ko man o sa café ko.

"You know what, Snow... Sa kakaganyan niyo baka mas lalong lumabo ang relasyon nito" She started. "I know how much you love each other. But love isn't the only requirement to build a strong relationship. Now I'm going to ask you... Do you fully trust him?"

Hindi ako makasagot. Yra's question lingered on my mind even after going home alone in my house. Maraming gumugulo sa isipan ko. Hindi ko na alam kung ano ang dapat gawin. I felt like our relationship is worsening day by day. Noong una ay okay pa naman, agad agad ding nareresolba ang hindi namin pagkakaunawaan. Pero bakit pakiramdam ko iba ang ngayon?

It actually started when he simply forgot our supposed dinner. I waited for almost two hours before he finally remembered and rushed into where we planned to meet. Oh yeah sure, he's busy. So am I. But I made sure to make time for this because I know our schedule's too tight to date freely. But thinking that it's his first time to be late. Winalang-bahala ko 'yun.

Nasundan pa ng ilang ulit, minsan ay ako naman ang mahuhuli pero kadalasan siya. Everytime it happens, we really don't talk about it. Wala na nga kaming masyadong oras, aaksayahin pa ba namin sa pag-aaway? Little did I know that the suppressed emotion bottled up.