FEBRUARY 7, 2023・TUESDAY・19:19
Maya is busy studying in her bedroom. The room is a complete mess. Some art supplies are scattered on the floor. Her notes and textbooks almost occupy the whole of her bed, except for the area she's sitting on. She flips the book to another page. She skims through a chapter about the food chain; cross-checking it along with her notes.
Suddenly, her phone beeps.
She stares at it for a bit, thinking whether she should check her it or not.
The phone is strategically placed a few feet away from her, on the bedside table.
She bites her lip and shakes her head. She ignores it and continues to read her textbook.
It beeps again.
She underlines the word 'ecosystem' on her book.
The phone beeps again.
She reads on. She underlines the word 'biosphere' on her textbook and writes it down on her notes. She mouths the word to herself. "Biosphere...biosphere..." she says under her breath over and over again.
Her phone beeps again.
She lets out a frustrated sigh and puts down her pen. She looks at her phone again and contemplates whether she should check it or not. She sighs. "Okay. 5 minutes." She carefully sets her books and notes aside, to avoid getting them crumpled. She reaches for her phone and unlocks it. She checks where the notifications are from.
They're from Instagram.
Before going to the app, she goes to the clock app first and sets a countdown timer for 5 minutes. She presses start and exits the app. She then goes to Instagram.
Sure enough, 5 pink hearts pop up on top of the notification icon. She taps it.
They're all notifications from the yourbfischeatingon_u account liking photos of her Noel.
A wave of annoyance and confusion suddenly rush through her. She goes to yourbfischeatingon_u's profile. She taps on the three dots on top and a menu pops up. She stares at the Block option for a second. But she decides against it and presses Cancel instead.
She goes to messenger and types a message to Noel.
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.
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.
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.
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