"Any questions regarding sa affiliation? Anyone?"
Kate blinked, the monotone voice of their clinical coordinator dragging her out of her thoughts. She sat up straighter in her seat, eyes scanning the classroom. No one raised their hands. Everyone looked exhausted or mentally checked out.
No one asked anything.
"Okay, dismissed. Good luck next week, Section D."
The rustling of bags and chairs followed.
Kate stood up slowly, gathering her things. The orientation was short, mostly a rundown of what to expect once they reported to the orthopedic hospital. Section A, B, and C had already left this morning. Their vans departed to Manila at dawn. She heard the buzz about how chaotic the dorms were.
Section D, her section, would be leaving this Sunday.
Today was Wednesday.
She had a few more days to prepare, and thank God, half her things were already packed.
Just a few more errands and she'd be ready.
As she slung her bag over her shoulder and stepped out of the classroom, Riz fell in step beside her, munching on chicharon.
"Buti ka pa ready ka na," Riz grumbled. "Ako bibili palang ng mga gamit. Like, hindi ko pa nga alam kung anong dadalhin ko."
Kate chuckled softly, adjusting her sling bag. But she didn't say much.
Her mind was elsewhere.
It had been four days.
Four days since Frooze started staying at his own unit.
He told her it was because of work—he had reports to finish, plans to revise, meetings to attend. He needed his table, he said. His space.
She understood. She really did.
But something felt wrong.
He was still sweet. Still affectionate. Still replied to her messages. She brought him food almost every night. And he'd thank her with a soft kiss on the cheek, a tired smile. But his eyes...
His eyes held something she couldn't name.
And her heart wouldn't stop whispering that maybe, just maybe...
Something was changing.
She wanted to ask. To confront. To demand clarity.
But what right did she have?
They weren't official.
She didn't want to look stupid demanding something that was never even promised.
Her chest tightened.
"Frenny?" Riz nudged her side.
Kate looked up.
Riz's lips were pursed, her gaze fixed ahead, then pointed subtly with her chin.
"Si bebe mo yun, 'di ba?"
Kate followed her line of sight.
Her heart dropped.
Across the campus walkway, Frooze was walking. His expression relaxed. Soft smile on his face. His usual black polo tucked in neatly. He looked good. So painfully good.
And beside him...
A woman. Late twenties maybe. Dressed in a crisp cream blouse and black slacks. Her faculty ID dangled from her neck. The blue lanyard marked her as part of the Arts and Sciences Department.
They were walking side by side. Too close. Laughing at something. She reached out and lightly touched his arm.
Kate's world narrowed.
Her feet froze. Her mouth went dry.
Riz glanced at her. "Kilala mo ba?"
Kate didn't answer.
She couldn't.
But her mind screamed.
She remembered that night.
That one night when Frooze opened up.
.
.
.
"I've already moved on…but it was the memories and plans that we had that stayed with me. It haunted me. I can't let them go easily. They're part of me. But slowly... I'm letting them go. For myself. For us."
"May balita ka pa sa kaniya?"
"From what I've heard... she's now a teacher. Teacher II. At a university."
.
.
.
Her breath caught.
A teacher.
A university.
No. No, it couldn't be.
It couldn't be her, right?
Kate looked again. Looked at how Frooze smiled. How he leaned a little closer when the woman laughed.
She remembered what he told her before. That he barely entertains women. That he's avoidant, cold.
So why was this different?
Unless...
Unless it was her.
His first love.
The one who left.
Kate's fingers curled tightly around her bag strap.
She tried to breathe.
Maybe she was overthinking. Maybe she was jumping to conclusions. Maybe she was letting the fear poison her.
Impossible... the world, the Philippines—it's so big, and yet that girl just happens to be working here?
No…it can't be.
But her gut had never failed her before.
And right now?
It felt like something inside her was cracking.
"Come on," Riz said quietly, slipping her arm through Kate's. "Let's get out of here. Mall tayo. I know that face. You're about to spiral."
Kate let herself be pulled.
Because she couldn't stand there a second longer.
Riz didn't ask more questions. She didn't force her to talk.
---
"I-DND mo muna ang phone mo, frenny. Let's refresh your mind for a bit," Riz said gently, reaching for Kate's hand like she was handling something fragile.
Kate stared blankly at her screen. Frooze's name was right there—unread messages piling in one after the other. The red dots haunted her.
A heavy breath left her lungs as her thumb hovered over the Do Not Disturb button.
Click.
Silence.
It was deafening.
She just… needed space. From the noise, from the pressure, from the constant pull of a man she couldn't figure out—but couldn't stop feeling.
Not from the world—but from him.
Her head was a battlefield, and Frooze's voice, presence, and unanswered questions were bullets ricocheting inside it. One more ping, one more message, one more "Where are you?" and she knew she would fall apart.
So she silenced him.
Not out of cruelty. Not out of anger.
But because it was the only way to keep her heart from cracking wide open in the middle of a mall.
Just for today… just a little peace.
.
.
.
.
.
.
She got home at exactly 8:30 PM.
The moment she stepped through the door, her breath hitched.
She froze.
Frooze was there.
In her apartment.
Pacing like a storm trapped in a glass bottle. His jaw was tight, eyes wild with frustration and worry, hands flexing open and closed at his sides. His chest was rising and falling in short, sharp bursts. He looked like he hadn't breathed properly all day.
His eyes snapped to hers the second the door opened.
"Where the hell have you been?" he demanded, storming toward her with heavy, angry steps—like he was trying to keep himself from shaking.
His voice was low. Sharp…and furious—but underneath the fire, there was fear. "You weren't answering your damn phone, Kate. No replies. No updates. Nothing."
His eyes were glassy with emotion. "Do you have any idea what that did to me? I thought something happened to you."
She didn't flinch. She didn't meet his gaze.
"I was with Riz," she said quietly. Flat. Detached. "Sorry."
She didn't wait for his reaction. She stepped around him like he wasn't even there and disappeared into her bedroom.
Frooze blinked, stunned.
It wasn't just the words—it was the way she said them. Like she was too tired to fight. Like she'd given up trying to explain things he couldn't see.
After a moment, he followed her.
She had just placed her bag on the bed. Her back was to him again, shoulders rigid, posture closed off like a locked door. She wasn't moving.
And that terrified him.
"Baby…" his voice dropped, gentle now, worried. "What's really going on? Are you okay?"
Kate didn't turn around.
Not right away.
And then—like something inside her finally gave out—she moved.
Slowly.
She turned to face him.
"I saw you."
Frooze frowned. "What?"
"Earlier," she said, voice barely above a whisper, but sharp as a blade. "I saw you with someone."
Frooze's mouth parted, but no sound came out.
"She looked like a teacher," Kate continued. "You didn't see me. But I saw you. I saw the way you looked at her. I saw the way your body changed when you spoke to her—how your face softened. And in that moment, I felt like I had lost something I never even fully had."
The silence that followed was suffocating.
Frooze just stood there—stunned, speechless.
Kate took a shaky breath, eyes beginning to brim with tears. "I've been watching you the past few days. And you know what? You've been different. Kahit anong kiss mo pa at tawag sakin ng baby? Ramdam na ramdam ko…Distant. Cold. Like you're here, but your heart's somewhere else."
She let out a bitter laugh, broken. "And I didn't say a damn word. Because I was afraid. Afraid that if I opened this up… if I asked, if I demanded answers... something between us would snap. Na baka kapag nagsalita ako about sa thoughts ko ay mag-iba ang tingin mo sa akin. Baka tingin mo nag dedemand na ako ng label. Okay lang naman sakin na wala tayong label since hindi pa tayo ready eh. Hindi pa rin naman ako ready…"
Her voice cracked.
"I kept it all in. Every observation. Every second of overthinking. Because I wanted this—us—to work. I wanted so badly for this situationship to be enough. I am willing to wait for you…for us."
Tears streamed down her face now, her hands trembling at her sides.
"But I didn't want to lose you. Even if I'm not even sure I ever really had you."
Frooze looked devastated. "Baby…"
He took a breath, then finally spoke. His voice was quiet. Guilt-ridden.
"Her name is Claire," he said. "She's… my first love."
Kate's heart squeezed.
He took a small step forward. "You remember the night I told you I'd work from my place? That day—I ran into her. It wasn't planned. I hadn't seen her in two years. And when I did… something in me stirred. I don't know why god made our path cross once again…Hindi rin ako makapaniwala at first when I saw her at your school."
His eyes dropped to the floor.
"I've been confused. And I didn't want to bring that into whatever this is between us. I didn't want to make you feel like a second choice. So I kept it in. I distanced myself because I didn't know what I was feeling."
Kate stood there, tears falling freely now.
"I didn't avoid her," Frooze continued. "Whenever I bumped into her again… I didn't walk away. I spoke to her. Like an old friend. I just… I needed to understand what was happening inside me."
She wiped her tears angrily. "So you were figuring yourself out with her… while I was breaking down in silence."
"I wasn't trying to hurt you," he whispered.
"But you did." Her voice was raw now. "And the worst part is, you didn't even realize it. I was screaming inside and you didn't hear a thing."
He looked at her, like he wanted to reach out—but didn't dare.
"I was never going to leave you," Frooze said, pain in every word. "But I also didn't want to stay half-hearted. I didn't want to be unfair. So I tried to protect you from my mess… by keeping it from you. But maybe that just made it worse."
They stared at each other.
Two people who wanted to love.
Two people who were hurting too much to do it right.
Kate spoke first, her voice barely more than a whisper. "I think… we need space. To think. To cool off. For real this time."
She didn't say it to hurt him. She said it because it was the only thing left to say. The only thing she could manage without breaking even more than she already had.
Frooze nodded slowly, the tension in his jaw twitching as if he was holding something back—words, maybe. Or regret.
"Yeah," he murmured, almost to himself. "Maybe we do."
He didn't move for a few seconds. Just stood there, looking at her—memorizing the pain on her face, the way her shoulders shook slightly, how she wouldn't meet his eyes again. As if she couldn't bear to.
He turned away.
Walked back toward the door of her room, his steps unnaturally slow, like he was dragging the weight of a thousand unsaid things behind him. At the threshold, he paused. His fingers curled into a fist against the doorframe.
But he didn't look back.
Didn't say goodbye.
The door clicked shut behind him a few seconds later, echoing through the silent apartment like a final punctuation mark.
Kate stood still in the middle of her room, the atmosphere heavy with everything they left unsaid. Her knees buckled slightly as she sat on the edge of the bed, staring blankly at the floor.
She didn't move for a long time.
Then slowly, quietly, she slipped off her shoes, placed her bag on the floor, and pulled her blanket over herself—not because she was cold, but because she needed to feel something around her. Something that wasn't him.
And that's when it broke.
Tears came like a silent flood.
No sobs. No screams. Just wave after wave of quiet devastation. Her chest rose and fell rapidly, her face pressed into her pillow, her lips trembling with the effort to stay quiet even as her soul begged to be loud.
She had loved in silence. And now, she was grieving in it too.
Meanwhile…
Frooze stepped into his own apartment like a ghost—his body there, but his mind somewhere else entirely.
He kicked his shoes off without caring where they landed and slumped onto the couch, elbows on his knees, hands clutching his head.
Everything replayed in his mind on a loop—Kate's tears, her voice, the moment she said they needed space. The way he made her cry. The way he didn't even try to hold her when she broke down. What the hell was he doing?
He leaned back, resting his head against the wall, eyes closed—but his chest was pounding, restless, tortured. He wanted to punch something. Yell. Curse at himself. But instead, he sat there in silence, the weight of guilt pressing down on him like concrete.
And for the first time in a long time… he didn't feel like the strong one.
He felt like the boy who didn't know what he wanted.
And the man who had just broken the one girl who never deserved it.
He wasn't sure what the hell he was feeling anymore.
All he knew was this:
He missed her already.
And he didn't know if he still deserved her.