Chapter 1 part 3 The offer and the Packing
953 Words
*Chapter 1, Part 3: The Offer and The Packing*
Week 5 started normal.
Monday: Mara at the office, Elias on a shoot in BGC.
Tuesday: Dinner at her place. Sinigang. Her lola asked if Elias was "serious" and Elias said "yes ma" without thinking.
Wednesday: Their day. They went to a bookstore and didn’t buy anything.
Thursday morning, Elias’s phone buzzed at 8:12am.
Subject: EUROPE ASSIGNMENT - CONFIRMATION NEEDED
From: daniela@globaldocs.org
He read it standing in his kitchen, coffee in one hand.
_Elias,_
_We’d like to offer you the 6-month documentation position. Lisbon, Madrid, Athens. Starts next Monday. Rate attached. Please confirm by Friday 5pm._
He read it three times. Then he sat down on the floor.
Six months. Real documentary work. The kind he’d put on his vision board in college and then forgot about because rent existed.
The pay was more than he’d made in the last year. Combined.
He didn’t text Mara. Not yet.
*Thursday night: He doesn’t say anything*
They were at her place. She was making adobo. He was chopping garlic badly.
"Long day?" she asked.
"Yeah. Got an email."
"Good email?"
"Maybe."
He didn’t say more. He told himself he was waiting for the right moment. He told himself he didn’t want to ruin dinner.
After, they watched a show. He fell asleep with his head on her shoulder.
*Friday: The deadline*
The email needed an answer by 5pm.
Elias paced his apartment all day. He took photos of the wall. He took photos of his shoes. He took photos of the key on his counter. Mara’s key.
At 3pm he called Marco.
"I got the Europe job."
"Dude. That’s huge. Take it."
"I have a girlfriend."
"Do you? Because last week you said you were bad at staying."
"That was before her."
"So what are you gonna do?"
"I don’t know."
At 4:55pm he hit reply. _Confirming. Thank you._
Then he threw his phone on the bed and went for a walk.
*Saturday: He still doesn’t say anything*
Mara noticed.
"You’re quiet," she said while they were at the market.
"Just tired."
"You’re lying."
"Am not."
"Your left eyebrow does that when you lie."
He laughed. "Fine. Work stuff. I’ll tell you later."
He didn’t.
*Sunday: The night before*
They were in his kitchen. She was making adobo again because it was her comfort food and she could tell something was wrong.
The smell filled the room. Soy. Vinegar. Garlic. Home.
"I got the Europe job," Elias said.
The spoon stopped.
"That’s amazing," Mara said. Too fast. "When?"
"Next week."
"How long?"
"Six months."
She turned the stove off. "Sit."
He did. She didn’t.
"Lisbon, Madrid, Athens," he said. "Documentary work. The thing I’ve wanted."
She nodded. "Did you already say yes?"
"Friday."
"Before you told me."
"Yeah."
The silence was loud. Even the rain outside had stopped.
"Why didn’t you tell me sooner?" she asked. Quiet.
"I was scared. Of your face. Of what you’d say."
"What would I have said?"
"I don’t know."
She looked at the adobo. Then at him. "Okay."
They ate anyway. It tasted like nothing.
After dinner she washed. He dried. Their hands didn’t touch.
When she left, she put the key on his counter. She didn’t slam it. She placed it.
"I need a few days," she said at the door.
"Take them."
*Monday: Packing*
Elias started packing.
Two suitcases. One camera bag. One backpack.
He opened his closet and saw her hoodie. He held it for a second, then put it in a separate bag. Not for Europe. For later.
He found the photo he’d taken of her asleep on his couch. Laptop open. Mouth slightly open. Hair everywhere. He almost packed it. He put it in his drawer instead.
Marco came over to help.
"You look like s**t," Marco said.
"Thanks."
"You gonna tell her goodbye properly?"
"I tried. It came out wrong."
"Then try again."
Elias drafted a text. _Can we talk before I go?_ He deleted it. He wrote it again. He sent it.
She replied in ten minutes: _KapeTayo. 6pm._
*Monday 6pm: The Last Talk*
The power was on. The candles were gone. It felt wrong.
Mara looked smaller. Or maybe he was just seeing her clearly.
"I’m not going to ask you not to go," she said.
"Okay."
"And I’m not going to promise to wait."
"Okay."
"I just need to know if this was real. Or if I was something to do while you were in Manila."
Elias looked at her. Really looked. At the dark under her eyes. At the way she held her cup with both hands like it was the only thing keeping her steady.
"It’s real," he said. "It’s the most real thing I’ve had."
She nodded. Once. "Then go. Do it. Come back and tell me who you are after."
He wanted to say "come with me." He didn’t.
She wanted to say "stay." She didn’t.
They walked to her place. At her door they hugged. It lasted too long and not long enough.
"Text me when you land," she said.
"I will."
*Tuesday 4am: The Airport*
Two suitcases. One camera bag. One heart that felt too heavy.
He bought coffee he didn’t drink. He wrote a draft email: _Mara, I’m scared. Come with me._ He deleted it.
His flight boarded. He turned his phone off.
*Tuesday 7am: Her Apartment*
Mara woke up to an empty inbox. No "landed safe."
She went to work. She filed two stories. She didn’t check her phone.
In Elias’s empty apartment in Cubao, the key sat on the counter.
Outside, Manila was clear. No rain. No typhoon. Just heat and traffic and the normal noise of a city that kept moving.
- Writer
