Pierre woke up with a small headache. He slept in his room instead of the living room. Everything was confusing in his mind and it doesn't seem like he came from a drunken state that evening, finding it very unusual.
He went outside and took a look at the living room. It was already spotless and was neat. The floor was swept and the table had no leftovers from the celebration. It suggests that he was dreaming last night. But he won't believe. He still think he cleaned everything up before sleeping.
Pierre went back to his room and tried to recall everything, then thought of checking on the girl next door if she was already outside her room. Maybe she can help. The young man peeked. It was dead silent. After some time, he peeked again.
No sight of Maricar after a few minutes. It seems to him that the lady was sleeping like she always do. It was still seven o'clock though, he understands she won't be awake as early as that.
Dismissing the thought, Pierre was about to go back and rest again. He wanted to recover his sleep from the constant work he had in the past weeks before granted with a break after the project was at its completion.
As he opened the door, the other room coincidentally opened as well. Maricar who was surprisingly early saw Pierre, stopped as he was about to go back when she opened the door.
The young woman's mood suddenly became bad. Her smug face shows it all. However, the other party seemed to be ignorant and doesn't know anything that happened.
“Oh, you're quite early today,” he greeted, then a small smile formed on his lips.
Maricar scoffed and rolled her eyes on him. She didn't reply nor gave him another look. From her actions, everything Pierre disclosed when he was drunk became a turning point of Maricar's view of him.
From a righteous and amenable guy to a cunning and manipulative one. She even crossed on putting the blame on his status.
It was quite stereotypical for her to think about the likes of Pierre but she still thought of it. Now, she wanted to tell him about being a freeloader in the house. However she didn't have the guts to say in in his face.
The young man noticed her actions pretty quickly. It was far from the two of them yesterday, and that's quite alarming for him, which is why he tried to stop her from going outside.
“Maricar, I have a word.”
The lady quickly replied, “I'm getting late.”
Her class is starting three hours from now. She's nowhere of getting late. She just want to avoid talking with him. It won't be good for her being forced to solve problems with a messy mind.
But it seems the guy is pushy.
“I know your class schedule today. You're way too early.” he was so sure of it.
Maricar was getting on the edge of her patience as she don't want to talk about it today. She have to think before confronting him, “Please. Don't talk before I scold you.”
The young man's eyes looked dismissive, asking in a worried tone, “Why are you avoiding me?”
However, he couldn't take her advice. It was a warning for him yet he still asked. Maricar turned around, with angry eyes and yelled, “I said don't talk! You liar!”
Pierre was astonished on the spot. He froze as a response to Maricar's attitude, which changed after he slept. ‘Did something happened before I passed out?’
His mind suddenly thought of the possible things he may have done but everything he thought were too irrelevant for him. None of them are the things he would do.
All he can recall is that he passed out and sobered up to clean the living room. But the latter was the thing he dreamed of. Now it seems to be true.
“I don't understand you…” he lowly talked.
Maricar don't want to burst out but her last string of patience has broken. She slammed the door shut and went near to the man.
“Huh, you don't understand?! Or are you just going to play dumb? Okay, I'll let you remember everything. Last month, you've been living here by deceiving me. I get it you wanted to save money. But how dare you extort me and my father with your crap kindness you have!?”
“D-Deceiving? What–”
“Shut up! Pierre, answer me! You're such a jerk, you know that?! I thought I had an independent life after having my own place! Then I just knew I had a housemate who is a great opportunist enough to rob me! You even tried to pry in my life and befriended me! For what? Tell me!”
The whole house went into a deafening silence. Pierre couldn't respond nor move. They were both looking onto each other's eyes. Maricar was glaring yet he tried not to show any emotions from his eyes. He took all insults the young lady threw at him at this point. Each word she said felt like a step on his ego. A knife to his heart. But he tried to swallow it all, in his mind, it was his fault to keep things from her.
Maricar slowly calmed down. After fixing her hair, she wanted to end everything with him. She couldn't bear to live in the same house with the man she hates. It would be a battlefield if she knows she's living with him.
“You know what? I don't ask you to pay, I just want to move out. As soon as possible. Get out of my sight after I come back in this house!” she turned around, leaving. But Pierre hold the door. He won't let her go. Maricar glanced at him.
Pierre sighed and looked at Maricar in her eyes dearly, which she broke. He had to apologize, even if it was not his intention to scare her. However, she just have to listen to him.
“I'm sorry… I don't intend to frame you and your father, Maricar. Believe me, I'm not a bad person. I don't have the guts to trick your dad.” Pierre took out his phone and hastily transferred her money equivalent of a month's rent.
Maricar's phone vibrated. She saw seven thousand in her e-wallet on the screen before glancing back at Pierre.
“I don't blame you for everything you said today, since this is the agreement between me and your father. I never intended in the first place to take advantage of his kindness. But I have to. I don't want to let him think that even guys would avoid her daughter because of his perception of you. It's a tough choice for me, Maricar.”
He took his hand of the door and stood straight. “I'm apologizing for everything but I don't want to leave this house.” Pierre said in a bitter tone. He have to swallow some of his pride.
Though slightly convinced, Maricar still want nothing from the man in front of her, “Okay, I know you won't leave this house. If you won't leave, then I'll leave for you. Since you're so respectful to my father… and I'm just a very bad daughter. I'll defy my father for you!”
“Maricar, please don't. I never treated you like a bad person. Don't leave.”
She walked back to her room, however Pierre tried to get her attention. She didn't stop and continued walking. The young man wanted to say something but he don't know what to do, until he was left with no choice.
“Maricar Ysabella!”
Finally, she stopped. He went up to her.
“There's no houses left to rent at this time. It's been three months after the start of the semester, every house in this neighborhood must be occupied by now.”
She turned around, giving him a glare, and walked towards him. “It's all your fault!” Maricar expressed as she pushed Pierre, on every word she shouted, with her index finger. “And don't call me like that!”
The young woman left the house instead of scolding him more. She swiftly called her father, which was also surprised to see his daughter called early in the morning.
(Why did you call this early?) She didn't bother to reply his greeting and proceeded to rant everything she knew.
Her father went on to listen yet laughed at the end. She didn't like it.
“Why are you laughing? It's all you and that guy's fault!”
(It's true that I told him that you will pay. It's a punishment, right? I asked him to look after you. I'm worried that you don't know how to cook or even clean the house regularly. That guy is very pure for you to think of him like he's doing bad business. You're not holding onto your promise, my daughter.)
Maricar recalled everything the guy cooked for her. He was also regularly cleaning the house but sometimes she cleans it after asking help from Pierre.
“I did everything, Dad. It's just that this is so unfair for me.” she wanted to reason out her thoughts.
(Don't say it's unfair when it is your punishment. Remember, you will do everything without complaining.)
She was defeated. At last, it was clear to her now.
“Fine! I'm not complaining anymore.”
Mr. Geron sighed and added something, (Also, I'm asking you to apologize to him. You shouldn't say hurtful things to that kid. He's working hard for himself and to build a good relationship with you as housemates. I knew his situation better than you. And I respect him doing this in order to survive. Think of this question. If he wasn't there to check up on you, how many parties will you held there in a month? I don't want you to be in a vulnerable position because you can do the things you wanted to do before. You should be at least grateful he's not the same as you. What a wasteful and attitude girl!) Mr. Geron lectured his daughter in a soft voice. He knew Maricar is ignorant of the things about the life of a struggling kid. He have to guide his daughter properly instead of letting her be a bad and arrogant person.
When the call ended, Maricar suddenly realized her mistakes. She closed her eyes and let out a big exhale. What should I do now? I insulted him. Am I even worthy of his acceptance? It was all in her mind.
Now she don't know how to face Pierre.
***
Pierre called Mr. Geron after preparing and eating the breakfast he did for himself. Before he even said a word, Mr. Geron said the first words.
(Don't mind my daughter, Pierre. She's not worthy to dwell on.)
Pierre was shocked to hear it from him, “Did Maricar called you, Mr. Geron?”
Mr. Geron did a small grunt on the other line. He reassured Pierre to make him feel better after the insults of his daughter.
“Thank you, Mr. Geron. I'm glad you understand us both.”
(Why don't you call me Dad also? You know I always wanted a son but Maricar's mom don't want another child.)
Pierre was hesitant. “Mr. Geron, I don't think Maricar will like the idea.”
(Oh, she will. By the way, did you two got close before?)
The young man didn't expect the question.
“We… are doing okay.”
Mr. Geron asked a question out of the sudden, (Did you two fell for each other?)
There was a longer silence between the lines. Pierre couldn't speak. He was also in a confused position about his affection towards Maricar.
“I… I don't know, Mr. Geron.”
(Either way, you must call me Dad. Don't think about that girl. Just make her angry!)
Pierre thought that Mr. Geron was expecting so much, he must've wished to have a male child. Out of respect, he would just let this pass.
“Okay… Dad.”
(That's more I like it. Anyway, you have to stay there. Don't get swallowed by your fear. She's not hard to deal with. I'm hanging up. Take care of her and yourself.)
Pierre wanted to ponder on how to apologize again to the lady across the room, however his team leader suddenly called him to work on a bug in the software they're creating. He didn't waste any time and went onto his laptop to debug.
He can still work his way on Maricar later.
The whole day, he worked on debugging. He told his professor to mark him absent for today's sole class. Although he wanted to attend, he knows it takes time to completely free the software from bugs and stop them from coming back in further updates.
Pierre wanted to focus on his job to rush and finish everything in the fastest time. But he's stuck on the last piece of the puzzle in his debugging work.
He has been thinking of it for minutes yet he still can't place the correct lines.
Deciding to ask help from the senior programmer, he texted him to finish the last lines of the code.
‘Sure! Just email me the code, I'll finish it.’
‘Thanks, bro!’
After emailing everything, he closed his laptop and rested for half an hour. His head was was aching and his eyes were sore from staring at the computer for a long time.
A week has passed. Still without advancements from the issue. They were also both avoiding each other. They still don't know how to ask for forgiveness.
It was three o'clock in the afternoon. Pierre just got home earlier than her. He knew that she would get home by quarter from three in her schedule today.
He fixed and cleaned up the study area once he finished thinking on what to cook before going back to his room. Then he took a shower and decided to go to the market to buy ingredients for today's dinner. He hoped that Maricar would soften up with food.
When he was about to go out of the house, there was a loud thunder from the sky, followed by a rain. He never expected to change this early. The weather report says it will fall later. Pierre didn't think much of it and took his umbrella before going out.
It was a ten-minute walk from the house to the terminal, he tried to peek and see if Maricar was there and stuck but there were only a few people there standing. He took a deep breath and went ahead to the market.
As he turned around, a bus stopped and sure enough, Maricar bursted out of the vehicle and went to the terminal to prevent herself from being drenched in the rain. They just missed each other.
After 20 minutes of buying, Pierre was successful and completed all ingredients for his arrozcaldo before walking his way back to the house. Yet once again, he walked by the bus stop.
He looked over the area and, finally, he saw Maricar sitting on the bench, shivering from the cold as her dress exposed much of her body. It was her fashion choice that she was just wearing little. A miso-colored short skirt paired with a white croptop and a thin cardigan of the same color with the skirt. She had no thick jacket or umbrella as she never checked on the weather today.
Pierre slowly went to Maricar and stopped by at her front. The lady's vision was blocked by her purse so he had to call her.
“Maricar,” his voice was not too loud but it was enough to hear despite of the rain.
She looked up and saw Pierre in his plain black shirt, brown shorts, and slippers. Maricar knew from his clothes that he got home earlier. But her mind went back quickly to their problem. It was the right time for her to see him. She was avoiding the guy yet missing him on the same time. She need not to fool herself by now.
“Pierre…”
The young man knew his umbrella is big enough for two people. He gave a light smile then said, “Let's go home.”
Too bad, he didn't bring a jacket.