Chapter 82
By Thursday, parang hindi na nila namalayan kung kailan naging routine ang lahat.
Tuesday ended with Gianna going over another section of Kairi's thesis sa same café kung saan sila nag-coffee after the library.
What was supposed to be a quick review turned into almost two hours dahil somehow, every paragraph led to another conversation.
Gianna helped her fix awkward sentences, questioned a few of her arguments, and a couple of times, nahuli pa niya ang sarili niya slipping into lecture mode before giving Kairi a sheepish smile.
Which, of course, made Kairi laugh.
Wednesday wasn't much different.
Pagkatapos ng afternoon classes ni Kairi, nakita niyang naghihintay na si Gianna nearby. Neither of them had to ask where they were going. They simply started walking toward the same café.
By then, kilala na sila ng barista enough to greet them with an amused smile even before they reached the counter.
"Same order po, Ma'am?"
Gianna glanced at Kairi out of habit before looking at the barista. "Unless she changed her mind."
"I haven't," Kairi said, already smiling. "You're starting to know me too well."
"I've known your coffee order for years."
"Fair point."
The barista chuckled before turning toward the espresso machine, leaving the two of them exchanging the same amused look.
By the end of the second afternoon, ilang pages na rin ang nadagdag sa thesis ni Kairi.
More importantly, the space between them had changed in ways na hindi na nila napansin. Hindi na umiikot ang conversations nila sa three years na nawala, sa mga tanong na hindi pa nila kayang sagutin nang buo, o sa sakit na matagal nilang parehong iniwasan.
Instead, napupunta sila sa university life, sa mga art exhibits na gustong puntahan ni Gianna someday, sa mga professors na gusto at ayaw ni Kairi, sa mga increasingly dramatic stories ni Ella sa work, at sa friends ni Kairi na convinced na somehow,
pagkain ang solution sa lahat ng problema sa buhay.
None of those conversations erased what had happened between them.
They simply reminded both of them that there was still a life beyond it.
By a little past one on Thursday afternoon, sunlight streamed through the windows of Kairi's apartment, warming the living room floor.
She only had morning classes that day and sometime before lunch she'd suggested something different.
"We could just go to the apartment."
The invitation had slipped out before she could overthink it. Instead of hesitating, Gianna had simply accepted with the same careful smile she'd been giving her throughout the week.
Now, two takeaway coffees sat forgotten on the coffee table beside empty paper containers that had once held pasta from the café.
Mabilis na naubos ang lunch.
The thesis, unfortunately, had not.
Kairi lounged against one end of the sofa with phone in hand, pretending to scroll through social media. In reality, wala naman siyang binabasa o pinapanood. She hadn't paid attention to anything on the screen for several minutes.
Every few seconds, napapatingin siya kay Gianna.
Gianna sat comfortably at the other end of the same sofa, with one leg crossed over the other and Kairi's laptop balanced across her lap.
She hadn't spoken in almost ten minutes.
Nakatutok lang siya sa document, slowly going through each page, highlighting a sentence here, pausing over a paragraph there, then leaning back before rereading something that had caught her attention.
The more serious Gianna looked, the harder it became for Kairi to pretend she was busy.
Another sentence turned yellow.
Kairi sighed dramatically.
A minute passed.
Kairi sighed again, louder this time.
Without lifting her eyes from the laptop, Gianna smiled.
"If you keep staring at me," she said. "Your thesis isn't going to improve by itself."
Kairi lowered her phone. "I wasn't staring."
"You've looked over here at least five times."
"You've been counting?"
"No," Gianna replied, finally glancing up with an amused smile. "You're just not very subtle."
Kairi let her phone drop onto the cushion beside her. "Miss, masyado ka kasing seryoso."
"I'm reading."
"I know, pero you look like you're about to fail me.
Gianna laughed softly. "I can't fail you."
"You say that now, pero kilala ko 'yang mukha mo."
"What face?"
"Your face whenever somebody submits an essay na kailangan ng significant help."
Gianna immediately shook her head. "I never looked at students like that."
"You absolutely did."
"I evaluated their work."
"That's just a nicer way of saying na you were judging."
"I did not judge it."
"You absolutely judged it."
Gianna laughed, surrendering before the argument could go any further. "Relax."
"Easy for you to say, Miss."
"You've already written the this chapter."
"Exactly," Kairi replied, folding her arms dramatically. ""So ngayon, hinihintay ko na lang ang verdict."
"There isn't a verdict."
"I don't believe you, Miss. I've seen that expression before."
Gianna looked back down at the screen, still smiling to herself. "I promise I'm not preparing a lecture."
"We'll see."
A few seconds passed.
Then Gianna spoke again, her eyes still on the document.
"Although..."
Kairi immediately sat up straighter. "There it is."
Gianna looked up. "There what is?"
"The teacher."
Gianna tried—and failed—not to smile.
"You've been here for thirty minutes, highlighting things, and now you're starting sentences with 'although.' Definitely a teacher."
Gianna laughed, closing the laptop just enough to meet Kairi's eyes.
"Guilty."
Another few minutes passed in comfortable silence.
Tahimik lang ang apartment except for the occasional tapping of laptop keys, the low hum of the air conditioner, and the faint traffic outside the windows.
Kairi had stopped pretending to scroll through her phone.
Instead, she found herself watching Gianna work, her attention drifting toward her every few seconds.
Gianna seemed completely absorbed in the thesis until after another stretch of silence, she finally lowered the laptop a little and looked at her.
"Kairi, come here for a second."
Napatingin agad si Kairi. "Hm?"
When Gianna gestured toward the space beside her, Kairi moved closer.
Halos magdikit ang mga balikat nila and for a second, Kairi became too aware of the warmth beside her. But she quickly shifted her attention to the laptop as Gianna adjusted the screen so they could both see it.
"I highlighted a few sections," Gianna explained as she opened the document again.
Napatingin si Kairi sa screen.
Colored lines were scattered across the pages—some yellow, some blue, others green.
She stared for a moment before slowly turning toward Gianna.
"A few? Miss, parang buong chapter na ang may highlight."
Gianna smiled, clearly amused. "It looks worse than it is. I color-coded them para alam mo kung alin ang kailangan ng major changes and which ones are just suggestions."
"That's a lot to take in."
"It makes things easier."
"That's what people say when they've made something complicated."
Gianna laughed quietly before pointing toward the first paragraph. "This part is actually strong. Clear ang main idea mo and the example supports what you're trying to establish. The problem is that you introduced another argument here, but then you don't return to it until three pages later."
Her finger moved down the screen as she explained, following the structure of the chapter instead of simply pointing out mistakes.
"If you move this paragraph closer to the section where you actually develop the idea, mas magiging natural ang flow. Otherwise, the reader might wonder why you introduced it here in the first place."
Kairi leaned closer as Gianna moved the paragraph farther down the page.
Binasa niyang muli ang surrounding paragraphs, then she nodded reluctantly.
"Oh. That actually makes more sense."
"I thought so."
They continued through several more pages, but the process felt nothing like how Kairi remembered being corrected inside a classroom.
Gianna didn't simply mark kung ano ang mali at hindi rin sinasabihan kung ano ang dapat ipalit.
Instead, she kept asking questions that made Kairi think through her own argument.
"What are you trying to say here?"
"Why did you choose this example?"
"What if you switch these two paragraphs?"
Mas madali tuloy tanggapin para kay Kairi ang criticism without immediately feeling defensive. It felt less like being graded and more like the two of them were figuring out a problem together.
Then Kairi noticed a tiny yellow mark farther down the page.
She leaned closer, squinting at it.
"Miss," she said, pointing at the screen. "What's this?"
Gianna followed her finger and immediately understood. "Oh. That's a missing comma."
Kairi stared at the screen, then slowly turned toward Gianna. "That's it? You highlighted a letter because I'm missing one comma?"
"It isn't just a comma," Gianna replied, trying not to laugh. "It changes the structure of the sentence."
"I know," Kairi said, looking back at the screen, then at Gianna, her expression becoming increasingly offended on principle. "Hindi lang ako makapaniwala na you highlighted that. Isang comma lang, Miss. You could've just added it."
"I could have," Gianna admitted, still smiling. "But I wanted you to notice it yourself."
Kairi groaned before dramatically dropping her head onto Gianna's shoulder. "Miss, one comma lang and I'm starting to regret asking you for help."
Gianna laughed, the sound warm and unrestrained. "No, you're not."
Kairi stayed where she was for another second before lifting her head.
"No," she admitted with a reluctant smile. "I'm really not."
Gianna's smile lingered for another moment, but slowly, her expression softened. She closed the laptop slightly and turned toward Kairi, as if may matagal na siyang gustong sabihin habang ginagawa nila ang thesis.
"Actually, there's something I think we should talk about."
Bahagyang umayos ng upo si Kairi. "That sounds serious."
"It isn't."