Chapter 18

Strawberry Chocolate

We were happy at the outing. Pero pagkatapos noon ay nagkaroon naman kami ni Kalyx ng konting away o hindi pagkakaintindihan dahil sa ex niyang si Sarah...

Noong pauwi na kasi kami galing sa resort after celebrating his birthday, we also saw Sarah and her friends arriving there. At mukhang kasama rin nila ang boyfriend niya.

At nagkasalubong pa kami sa entrance at exit ng resort. Habang kakababa lang nila sa sasakyan nila ay pabalik naman na kami sa mga dala rin naming sasakyan at paalis na ng resort. Natigilan din si Kalyx sa tabi ko. At nakita kong ngumiti naman sa kaniya si Sarah nang magkita kami.

I turned to Kalyx and I saw his reaction. Seryoso lang siyang nakatingin kay Sarah. And he didn't smile back at her. While Sarah just greeted his friends instead. Bumati rin naman pabalik sina Gelo at Patrick.

"Kalyx..." mahina ko namang tawag sa kaniya.

Bumaling naman siya sa akin. "Let's go." He said as he held my hand and was ready to pull me back to his car.

But Sarah also started greeting me as well and my friends. "Hi, Rina." She smiled at me, too.

Bahagya rin naman akong ngumiti sa kaniya at tumango. "Hi,"

But then Kalyx was already pulling me away from there. At sumunod na rin sa amin ang mga kaibigan namin.

At sa loob ng kotse pabalik ng Metro Manila ay pareho lang kaming tahimik ng ilang minuto. Kalyx eyes were just fixed on the road. While I was contemplating if I should ask him about Sarah...

And then I turned to him beside me on the driver seat. Kaming dalawa lang muli ang nandito sa sasakyan niya dahil nasa sasakyan naman ng kaibigan niya ang mga kaibigan ko rin. "Kalyx... have you talked to Sarah before? Uh, after your breakup..." I asked.

Napabaling naman siya sa akin sandali sa tanong ko. And then his eyes were back on the road. "Why are you asking this, Rina?" He asked.

"Uh, I just thought that... maybe you could try and to talk to her, and maybe you can also understand her, Kalyx..." I said.

"What do you mean?" Nakita kong kumunot ang noo niya habang nag-d-drive.

Naisip ko lang kasi that maybe they didn't have a proper closure when they broke up before...

And I can see that Sarah seemed to want to talk to him as well.

Muli niya lang akong sinulyapan galing sa pagmamaneho. "I'm not like you who always understand people around you, Rina..." ito naman ang sinagot niya sa akin...

Umawang naman ang labi ko sa sinabi niya.

Tiningnan ko siya sa tabi ko at pagkatapos ay hindi na lang ako muling nagsalita at ganoon din siya. Kaya tahimik na kaming muli sa loob ng sasakyan hanggang sa makauwi na kami.

But I was thinking that he's probably talking about my relationship with my friends or the people around me. Lalo na at napag-usapan din nila kanina nina Bianca roon sa resort how forgiving I was...

Especially with what happened between me and Janine, and Ethan.

And I realized that, while he probably couldn't accept what happened between him and Sarah... I have already moved on from what happened to me and Ethan...

I watched him as he drove. At muli ko na lang din binalik ang mga mata ko sa daanan...

But after I went home, later after I was done taking a bath and was inside my bedroom when Kalyx also called me. Sinagot ko naman ang tawag niya nang makita ko.

"Kalyx?" I answered his phone call.

Ilang sandali pa naman bago rin siya nagsalita sa kabilang linya pagkatapos niyang marinig ang boses ko. "I'm sorry about earlier, Rina..." He said on the other line.

Unti-unti naman nang kumalma ang puso ko pagkatapos niyang mag-sorry ngayon sa akin dito sa tawag. "It's okay, Kalyx... I'm sorry, too..." sabi ko rin sa kaniya.

"No. It's not your fault. And I only meant that with Sarah, it was just complicated..." He said.

Maybe he just wasn't yet ready to talk to her and I should give him more space. After all I didn't really know yet the entire of what happened to them.

"Okay, Kalyx... Don't worry about it anymore." I said over the phone to him as I tried to reassure him as well.

And then the next day when we saw each other again at the university, niyaya naman niya akong lumabas kami after our classes. And he even treated me with my favorite Strawberry Chocolate smoothie again.

I smiled at him. "Thank you, Kalyx!" I also felt excited with the drink. Simple lang naman ito but I was also craving for this even earlier. Mabuti na lang at binilhan niya ako ngayon.

Napangiti rin naman siya habang tinitingnan ako, who already took a sip from my strawberry chocolate drink. "You're welcome." He said, smiling at me.

And then he also treated me to early dinner after that. Medyo maaga pa naman kasing natapos ang mga classes namin ngayon kaya nag-decide din kami na kumain na lang muna ng dinner na magkasama bago kami umuwi.

"Sorry, uh, ang dami ko yatang in-order..." I apologized to him as soon as I realized that I ordered much food...

Pero nakangiti lang naman sa akin si Kalyx na umiling. "It's all right. If you can't finish it, then I'll eat the rest. So don't worry." He told me.

Unti-unti na lang naman akong tumango sa kaniya. And then we started eating. Sobrang magana nga akong kumain ngayon. Na medyo bihira lang din namang mangyari. And I also asked him to have Filipino food for our dinner. Kasi nag-c-crave din talaga ako. And after eating everything, I even asked for a halo-halo dessert.

Kalyx might be thinking now that I'm pigging out...

I sighed.

And then we already went out of the restaurant after eating. At busog na busog ako!

What's happening to me...

Lumipas pa ang hanggang tatlong araw na at mukhang ganoon pa rin ang appetite ko sa pagkain. And I was already having these weird cravings. I felt like it wasn't anymore normal...

Nagkaroon na ako ng duda... Since I was aware of the things that I'm doing with Kalyx. Nagkaroon lang ako ng kutob na baka nagbunga iyong mga ginawa namin sa nakalipas na mga buwan at linggo...

So at home I tried the pregnancy tests that I bought from the pharmacy before I went home from the university today. Nag-grab lang din ako pauwi ng bahay at hindi na nagpasundo sa driver dahil dumaan ako ng pharmacy at baka magtaka ang driver. Kalyx also had more subjects than me today kaya naman nauna na akong umalis ng university sa kaniya.

And I felt weak the moment I saw the results. Nanghihina akong napaupo na lang doon sa nakasarado nang inidoro. I was holding the P.T. and I can see that it had a positive result.

Nagtagal pa ako sa loob ng banyo. At halos hindi pa ako makalabas. Until I already heard Manang calling out for me from outside. Mas lalo pa akong kinabahan sa tawag nito sa akin.