"You don't walk into love... you fall in. That's why it's so hard to get out."
Few weeks later...
“What was that again?” Alex asked Matty who was standing beside him, while he glanced at the menu inside Happy Lemon in Bonifacio High Street.
He didn’t know anything about milk teas and either did Matty because Jamba Juice was all they knew. And now they’ve been staring far too long at the menu. Him and Matty, brows furrowed and hands on their hips, scanning deep in the recesses of their minds for that drink Drei asked them to get for her pronto! He could’ve called her but yeah, he forgot his phone at home as soon as they left the house. And out of all the drinks in the world, she wanted something from Happy Lemon! Alex grumbled in frustration. How could he forget that one drink she asked for?
“Ummm basta may cocoa, dad,” Matty responded, because like Alex, he forgot too! The petite lady behind the counter smiled at them.
“Baka po yung best seller namin, Sir…” she intruded as her last customer left the shop.
“Ano ba yung best seller niyo, Miss?” Alex knew he badly needed help and will make do of everything that he could especially after allowing all the other customers get ahead of them. Besides, they still needed to buy a chocolate cake in Banapple.
“Cocoa with Rock Salt and Cheese po, sir… yun po ba yung gusto ni Ma’am?” she asked them.
“That’s the one!” Matty exclaimed. “Yun nga yun, Dad! Cocoa with Rock Salt and Cheese!”
“Are you sure?” he asked the boy. “Baka magkamali tayo lagot pa tayong dalawa!”
Matty just nodded frantically. “Yup yup.”
“Okay, Miss, Cocoa with Rock Salt and Cheese…make it three please…” he told the girl.
“Naku sir, masarap po talaga yan, I am sure magugustohan niyo din po yan…” she smiled at them.
“It’s not for us po,” Matty snickered. “It’s for my Mom, lahat yan for her!”
“So that’s three large Cocoa with Rock Salt and Cheese please.” Alex added. The thought of Drei finishing up all the three large cups of Happy Lemon made him sigh.
***
The whole fiasco of demands started Friday morning. It was already 6:30 and they were all at the dinner table for breakfast except for Drei. He got up to check on her, only to find out that their bedroom door was locked.
“Bubba? Are you okay?” he asked while he knocked on the door.
“Go away!”
“Anong problema?”
“I said go away! I don’t want to see you!”
“What?”
“And I don’t want to talk to you!”
She was inside the bedroom the whole day, refusing to talk to him. She didn’t want to him to be near her or see his face. Alex did what he was told and stayed away from her as much as he could. But what he didn’t expect slapped his face come bedtime. Drei didn’t want to sleep with him inside their bedroom.
“Why?” his voice raised in frustration.
“Because I don’t want to!” her face was a deadpan.
“Ano ba ginawa ko?”
“I don’t want you to sleep in here tonight… kaya umalis ka!” then she handed him his pillow. “Dun ka sa kabilang kwarto.”
He was literally clueless as he stood in front of her. He didn’t know why she was throwing him out in the cold. The night before this they went out for dinner, watched a movie and they even made love. Everything was just great. And now this was happening. He didn’t know what was wrong. What could possibly be wrong, he wondered to himself. The thought made him restless and unable to sleep.
The next day was a little better. Drei wasn’t back to her normal self but the ‘keep-your-distance’ caution was already lifted. The first thing Alex did was to wrap himself around her like his human pillow the moment he got inside the room. She screamed which caused Manang Pilar and Matty to rush inside the room. Unfortunately she didn’t want to be touched. No sir! No touch! And just like that they were back to how they were yesterday. For the rest of the day, Drei confined herself inside the room. She’d snuggle with the kids but wouldn’t let Alex come near her.
"Can you please talk to me now?" He asked while she sat on their bed, enveloped by the sheets and with a big cup of ice cream on her hands. She shrugged. "Baby what's wrong? Did I do something?"
She slowly licked off the remains of the ice cream on her spoon and erotic visions reeled in his mind. How could that one act make her look as sexy as hell? Alex groaned in frustration. He missed her. He missed holding her. He missed kissing her. Dammit!
"Huhummmm" she shrugged again as if she didn't hear what he just said. "Nothing's wrong."
"Fuck! What the hell is the matter with you?" He whined. Again she shrugged. "You've been keeping me out... baby naman!" He ran his fingers through his hair out of frustration. "And why the hell are you wearing sunglasses inside the house?"
"Because I don’t want to look at you!" She tilted her chin up smugly.
"Why? Bakit ayaw mo akong tingnan?"
"Eh ayaw ko eh!" Then she stuck her tongue out on him.
"Baby ano ba ginawa ko? Okay naman tayo nung isang gabi ah... panget ba yung movie? Panget ba yung food? Ayaw mo ba dun sa Sumosam? Di ba you liked that place?" Drei just shook her head. "Did I... nabitin ba kita?" He blurted out because he didn’t know what else to say. "Kasi I did everything that you wanted me to do when we... made love... hindi mo ba nagustohan?"
He couldn't believe he was saying this! Dammit!
"No… no… no… no!" she chanted. “No and nooooo!”
"Then what? What do I gotta do para mayakap na kita? Naiinis na ako eh..."
"Hmmm okay..." she finally said. “Gusto ng… Go buy me ice cream... and then chocolate crinkles... and then..."
She went on telling him what she wanted and he took a note of it. At this point Alex swore he'd do anything because a day being not able to do hold her or be close to her was already killing him. He was determined to know and heck, he was desperate.
"Yun lang?" She nodded excitedly, grinning at him. "Okay I'll be right back!"
And he was off in a flash.
***
"Baby..." Drei said. "Ikaw nga... say it for mommy... bey...bi..."
"Beeee," Zooey echoed. "Touch mo yung baby dali!" Then he heard Zooey giggle.
Hearing Drei and Zooey talk, Alex paused and glanced at the takeout package that he was transferring unto the plate for Drei. They just got home after they bought Drei's stash of goodies. Three large drinks from Happy Lemon, two slices of chocolate cake from Banapple and Chicken Inasal from Mang Inasal that she asked for the last minute.
"Ayan, see the baby? You touched Mommy's baby?"
"Beeee," their nine month old little girl said again. "Beee... mamaaah... beeee?"
In his mind, he was putting the pieces of the puzzle together. The mood swings and the glutton fest… Was there something that Drei isn't telling him? The last time she asked for a specific kind of food was when she was still having Zooey. Again he glanced at the chicken inasal and swallowed an imaginary lump on his throat. He never forgot that day and he never forgot how her pregnancy turned him upside down. Could she? Was she? Is she?
“Oh no, it can’t be,” he muttered. Panic was surging through him as he darted into their room. “She’s on the pill! She’s on the pill!” he kept repeating like a madman.
And there he found them. Drei wearing a new set of Hello Kitty printed pajamas while Zooey was already wearing her sleep suit. Mother and daughter were both sitting on the bed, facing each other.
"Where's Mommy's baby?" Drei asked and Zooey touched the stuffed animal that was with her. "Yey! Good job, pumpkin pie!"
Relief swept over Alex when he finally saw what it was all about. Thank God it wasn’t what he was assuming, he thought to himself. Yet again, that scared the hell out of him alright. He couldn’t blame himself though for entertaining the thought and the possibility of her being pregnant. How could he not think of it when she’s been eating like a horse since Friday morning? He wasn’t ready for another kid. It’s not that he didn’t want to have kids again, he does, and maybe a little boy but now isn’t the right time.
He placed Drei’s meal on the bedside table and she met his gaze. She smiled at him. His heart skipped a beat. The first smile she ever gave him after two horrible days of being grumpy.
“Oh, Daddy’s here,” she said and the little girl glanced at his direction. Zooey smiled. “Okay, show Daddy dali… where’s Zooey’s baby?” Then she touched her stuffed animal, Cookie. “Where’s Mommy’s baby?” She touched the stuffed animal that was with Drei.
“Wow!” he praised. “Galing galing naman ng pumpkin pie!”
Drei never left the room. While she ate her dinner over at the study table in one corner, Alex watched over Zooey. By the time she was done, their little girl was already fast asleep on Alex’s chest and beside him was Matty. The boys were watching the NBA Finals. It was Miami Heat versus Oklahoma City Thunders and Alex was rooting for Heat.
“Okay, enough basketball,” she announced when she got back from the kitchen bringing the three Happy Lemon drinks with her.
The boys were still obviously glued on the screen. Then she grabbed the remote from Alex’s bedside table and switched it to HBO. The two gave her the ‘what-the-hell’ look.
“It’s nine and I’m scheduled to watch!”
“But Ma!” Matty complained.
“Bubba naman!” Alex said. “Last quarter na eh!”
“No!” she told them while she walked on her side of the bed to settle in. “It’s my time already! So sit back and watch this movie with me…”
The boys just grunted, after all, they have no choice. They both didn’t want to upset her even more.
“What is it?” Alex wondered, as he stood up and placed Zooey inside her crib. “Baka panget na naman yan!”
“Ke panget man yan or whatever, wag kang kumontra!” she warned him. Then she handed them their milk teas.
“Fine,” he surrendered, settling back in bed. “So ano nga yan?”
She grinned deviously at him. “The Notebook!”
He momentarily closed his eyes and hissed. Great, he thought to himself. Another chick flick and another Ryan Gosling film. The movie was bearable even if he had to put up with her sighs and crooning over how hot Ryan Gosling was. And yeah, James Marsden was there too. So it’s Gosling and Marsden. Then came Drei’s crying fest.
“Oh my god, he wrote her every day…” she sobbed. She was referring to the first confrontation scene in the rain where Allie asked Noah about the letters. “He wrote her every day but she didn’t get it!”
Stunned, he and Matty looked at her. They didn't know why she was acting the way she does right now.
“Ummm I’m sleeping na,” Matty retreated, obviously annoyed with his Mom. He kissed them both good night and headed out of their bedroom just right before the love scene started.
“Baby, what’s wrong?” he asked, inching closer to her. "Bakit ka umiiyak?"
“It’s just…” she sniffed but before she could even finish her sentence, she cried even more. “Oh god! Oh my god!”
“Bakit ba?”
“Shhh…watch...”
The scene in front of them was the highlight of the movie. The morning after where Allie thought that making love to Noah was a mistake. But Noah doesn’t give up because he believed that Allie still loves him. Drei braced herself for the final blow and out came the famous Ryan Gosling line.
“So it's not gonna be easy. It's gonna be really hard, and we're gonna have to work at this every day. But I wanna do that because I want you. I want all of you, forever, you and me, every day. Will you do something for me? Please? Will you just picture your life for me? Thirty years from now? Forty years from now? What's it look like? If it's with that guy, go. Go! I lost you once. I think I can do it again if I thought it's what you really wanted. But don't you take the easy way out.”
“Ohhh my god!” she cried even more now.
Her sobs became louder. She was wailing like somebody died. And he has never seen her crying out like this over a movie. Instinctively he cuddled her close and she surrendered herself on his chest. By the time the movie ended, she sobbed again.
“May Alzheimer’s pala siya,” her voice quivered.
“Tama na ang iyak, bubba,” Alex smiled as he wiped the tears from her eyes using his thumbs.
“And he… he reads to her every day so that she could remember… Grabe…”
“Well, that’s what love can do, I guess…” he told her.
“I guess so too.” And a bitter sweet smile appeared on her face. “Especially when you find your one true love!” Drei sighed.
Another movie came right after and Drei eventually fell asleep. Her arms wrapped around him while snuggled on his chest. Alex gazed at her. This woman whose face he never forgot ever since they met… this strong, independent woman he’s been drawn to like a moth to the flame… this woman who’s always been an exception to his rules… He’s been keeping up with her tantrums for two days in a row and frankly he should be pissed at her. But he couldn’t. He just couldn’t… No matter how much she drove him crazy. Because she was worth it.
He traced the outline of her face and planted a brief kiss on her lips. And just like Sleeping Beauty, Drei’s eyes flew open.
“Wag mo ko yakapin…” she frowned, her lips pouting at him. “Ang baho baho ko kaya!”
“I don’t give a shit kahit mabaho ka!” he told her then he nuzzled her hair and pulled her closer to him. He missed her. He missed holding her. He missed kissing her. “I love the way you smell!”
“Talaga? Kahit mabantot ako?"
He took a whiff of her scent.
“Oo naman!” He brushed his nose at hers. “You know, you scared the shit out of me today… I was worried cos I thought you were… you know… akala ko masusundan na natin si Zooey…”
“You thought I was pregnant?”
“Fuck, yeah!” he blurted out. She chuckled. “Could you blame me? Ang sungit sungit mo and you won’t let me come near you…”
“Sorry… sorry na!”
“Don’t you ever scare me like that again, please, bubba… nakakapraning eh! Di ko alam what’s wrong with you tapos you won’t tell me…”
“Sorry na… Well, dumating yung period ko nung Friday and my dysmenorrhea was so bad kaya I locked myself up, I wanted to sleep all day… Sorry, bubba…”
“Oo na,” He sighed. “Pero next time, gimme a heads up, baby, please? Don’t make me worry too much. Okay?”
“Yes, baby… I won’t do it again, promise!” Drei pinched his nose. “I missed you, bubba!”
He smiled and kissed her nose. “I missed you too!”
Their lips met for a kiss unlike the others. It was gentle. It wasn’t insistent or intense. It was just simply passionate and tender.
And the innocence of it made Alex realize one solid fact. He wasn't afraid anymore. He was falling into deep and there was no going back. He was taking everything with him now... hook, line and sinker and yeah... his heart.
This was it.
Music: You Know Me by Air Traffic Controller
Thank soo much to Ate Jessie, Ate Jane, Liz, Madam, Ate Chi, Ate Connie, Pao, Emi, Pau, Shei, Eli, and to everyone who's been giving their love and support to this story... =)
At sa lahat ng nag enjoy sa kwento kwentong ito... =)
HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY!