Diana was busy recording the outputs of her students when her phone suddenly chimed in. She checked her phone. She received a text. She frowned. Who could be texting her at this time of night? It’s already thirty minutes past midnight! She opened the message and her heart immediately thumped loudly on her chest. It was from Arjay. She hadn’t received a text from him since this morning so she was surprised. She read the message.
HI DIANA! SORRY FOR TEXTING SO LATE. I HAD A VERY BUSY DAY SO I HAVEN’T HAD THE CHANCE TO TEXT YOU. ANYWAY, HOW’S YOUR DAY? I HOPE YOU HAD A VERY NICE DAY.
She smiled and couldn’t hide her thrills. She stopped what she was doing and replied back to Arjay.
IT’S FINE, SIR. MY DAY’S GREAT, THANKS FOR ASKING. BUT MAY I ASK WHY YOU ARE STILL UP?
While waiting for his reply, Diana fixed her things on the table and went to lay down on the bed. ‘I’ll continue recording tomorrow. Anyway, it’s already Saturday and I don’t have any plans…’ she remembered Albert’s invitation.
Albert has been a very good friend to her, and she wasn’t the same for him. She felt guilty. Maybe she should accept his invitation just this once. Just to give back to his kindness to her. Yes, she should really accept the invitation. She will just call him tomorrow to surprise him.
She was taken back to reality when her phone chimed again. She checked it, it’s Arjay. She sit up on the bed and rested her back on the head rest. She read the message.
SORRY, JC CALLED. I WAS STILL UP BECAUSE HE SAID HE WOULD CALL ME, I JUST DIDN’T EXPECT HIM CALLING ME THIS LATE. BUT HEY, DID I WAKE YOU UP? WHY ARE YOU STILL UP?
She replied immediately.
NO, I WAS RECORDING MY STUDENTS’ OUTPUT WHEN YOU TEXTED ME, SIR, THAT’S WHY I AM STILL AWAKE. WAS HE STILL IN THE SEMINARY, SIR?
She needed to ask to keep the conversation going. He replied and she read it.
YES. WE WENT TO THE SAME THEOLOGY SCHOOL BUT I LEFT HIM.
HOW IS HE THEN, BROTHER? I HAVEN’T TALKED TO HIM SINCE YOU GRADUATED PHILOSOPHY. AND HOW ABOUT YOUR OTHER BROTHERS? DID THEY CONTINUED THEOLOGY, TOO?
She waited for a reply. After a few minutes, her phone rang. She looked at the caller ID.
Arjay calling… Accept… Reject…
Her eyes widened. She grabbed her pillow and screamed on it. She inhaled and exhaled exaggeratedly. She picked her phone up and answered.
“Hi… I hope I’m not disturbing you.” Arjay began on the other line.
Diana bit her lip to stop herself from squealing. She cleared her throat.
“No, sir, I am just recording some outputs.” She stated.
“This late? It’s Saturday already. You should have slept early to rest.” He said. She can hear sincerity in his voice.
“I have plans tomorrow so I am recording now. By the way, sir. You didn’t answer my question.” She reminded him.
“Oh, yeah right. Sorry about that. Jc’s fine. He actually told me to say hi to you the last time we talked, it just slipped through my mind and forgot to tell you.” He said.
“Say hi for me, too, when you have the chance to talk again. So, how about the other brothers? Did they continue their theology too?” she asked again.
“Sherlon and Heinrich continued their Theology at Ilocos. Jc’s in Manila, and Marcus didn’t pursue priesthood. After Philosophy, he was done.”
“So if he did not continue, then he’s teaching?” she curiously asked.
“No… he uhh… he trained for the Philippine National Police, he’s a cop now in Manila. You didn’t know?” he asked as if he was not convinced.
“I really don’t… I mean, how should I know?” she asked frowning even though he couldn’t see it.
“I thought you knew because your friend is his future sister-in-law.” He said.
“You mean Justine?”
“Yeah, her sister, Jace, and Marcus are together.”
“I thought… hmn, never mind. Justine never talks about them.” she remarked.
“Yeah… uhm… quick question about your friend, is she really that scary?” he asked.
Diana burst into laughter but stopped immediately as she remembered it was already two in the morning.
“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to burst into laughter, but, where did that question come from?” she asked.
“Well, I remembered you two were closed with Jc before but then it’s like she just cut her ties with him. And Marcus said I should stay away from her affairs. But don’t tell her Marcus said that.”
She laughed a bit. People who doesn’t know Justine really misunderstood her. She sighed.
“She’s not scary when you get to know her. As for brother Jc, he did something foul and Justine wasn’t impressed with that. If she finds you toxic based on her standards then she will just cut you off. No questions asked. But she’s actually a very good friend, especially to me. And as for what brother Marcus had said, I will definitely not tell her that because first of all, that was judgy, second, I don’t want to ruin any good relationship they have, and lastly, I don’t want to hurt my close friend’s feelings.” she explained.
Arjay fell silent. He knew it was a bad idea asking that to Diana. That was a dumb move.
“I’m sorry for saying that.” He said apologetically.
“No, it’s okay. It’s actually good that you asked that, sir, because I think a lot of people got intimidated by her. But I hope you get to meet her and know her for real.”
“I think that’s a good idea.” He said.
Diana yawned on the other line. Arjay smiled.
“I think we should call it a good night now.” He remarked.
“Yeah, I guessed that, too, sir.” She yawned again. “I’m sorry, sir I am really sleepy now. Have a good night.”
“Yeah, have a good night’s sleep. Sweet dreams.” He said but there was no reply.
Arjay smiled and cut the call. She probably slept on him. He sighed and lay down on his own bed. He called her because he missed her voice. It’s been a week since he last saw her and heard her voice. They just talked for five minutes and though that was too short, at least he got to hear her.
He had been turning from side to side but sleep doesn’t seem to visit him yet. He thought of going out of his room and staying on the terrace but he remembered how hurt his eyes were the last time he fell asleep on the terrace.
He finally decided to pick his phone from the bedside table and browse his sns. He went to Diana’s profile. She wasn’t that active anymore. Most on her wall was tagged posts and pictures, but not much of her own posts. Well social media is a very chaotic place to be when you wanted a peace of mind.
While browsing, he saw a throwback picture of Diana with her circle of friends on the burger stall where they frequented when he was still an AB Philo student. It was also the place where Diana and her friends used to stand by to lapse the time.
***FLASHBACK***
Arjay and his brothers were sitting on the eating benches in front of the burger stall waiting for their order when Diana and her best friend went past them.
“Hey, brother, it’s Diana.” Heinrich whispered to him.
He and Jc had their backs on the alley so he couldn’t see her, but he stiffened. Jc turned around to look, while Heinrich, Sherlon, and Marcus followed them with their gazes. He just followed them through their reflections on the small mirror plastered on the wall.
“Why don’t you look at them instead of just staring at reflections? It won’t hurt to look.” Jc remarked.
“Because I don’t want to. Besides, I am good with just seeing their reflections, so why bother?” he asked back.
“Why bother? You’re joking right? Meanwhile, when they are not looking, you’re actually staring! Does Hanney even know you had a crush on someone besides her?” Sherlon asked him.
“She doesn’t know. Besides, if she knew, she will just make Diana’s life miserable. I won’t be happy to see that.” He answered.
“He’s right, Sherlon. Besides, it’s just a simple crush. Let Arjay enjoy his ‘staring’.” Marcus said.
They all laughed except for Arjay.
“Just laughed at me. At least she doesn’t know I’m looking at her.” he sneered at them.
“Correction, brother, STARING. You’re not just LOOKING, you’re STARING.” Heinrich corrected him.
They laughed again. He rolled his eyes and sighed.
“Fine, then. But could you please lower your voices down or could you just keep quiet? They could still be around!” he said to them.
“Okay…” the four of them said in chorus.
“Thank you.” he said.
Their order came and they started eating. They diverge their topic to academics.
***END OF FLASHBACK***