Chapter 4

"WHY DID YOU say that?! I'm not on my period!" I immediately threw words the moment Rhyme stopped the car in front of their house.

He calmly looked at me. "You don't have to act like an actual masochist. Don't be stupid," he said while smiling.

"Come on! I have nothing against Meter's relationship. I'm happy for them—"

"That's not what I saw when we greeted them earlier." he cut me off.

I couldn't respond to what he said so I bobbed my head then I decided to go out of the car.

But my long face turned into a friendly one when I saw two familiar figures at the gate.

"Hello, Havoc! What's up?"

I smiled and approached them as I walked further to their position. I hugged them both as I properly greet them.

"How are you, Hija?" Tito Migs asked.

"I'm good. I thought you wanted to talk to me, Tita?"

Aunt Doms suddenly remembered. "Oh right! Yes, let's go inside first." She winked at me and slightly covered her mouth from Tito. "Girls' talk," she added.

I bobbed my head and let them follow the lead inside their humble abode. I didn't wait for Rhyme since he parked the car in their garage on the other side of the street. He might take long because he cared too much for his car, even he could never fix his bed.

Tita Doms handed me some cookies while waiting at their receiving area. When Rhyme finally came in, he immediately pulled me even if I was still eating.

"I'm not yet done here. Tita is still asking me if the cookie is good," I stated.

"Cookie what?" Rhyme was stopped as if he heard something hilarious. I creased my forehead and didn't respond to what he reacted. With that, he just uttered something to close the subject before he pulled me out of the kitchen.

We passed through their dining area and altar. Then we reached the room he shared with Rhyme.

"Woah!" The huge mess inside the room welcomed me. His used clothes and scratch papers were scattered on the bed. The aquarium beside his opened cupboards was chaotic.

Then I took a gaze on the other side where Meter resides. Not as organized as to how I fix my things but it was so clean. Even the books on the side desk seemed dusted.

I rolled my eyes. Look at the difference. And this guy Rhyme kept on telling me that I would never figure out who's Rhyme and who's Meter if ever they'll trick me? I even grew up seeing their differences so how would not I know?

"Stop spotting the diffs, Havoc. Sit on my bed," he commanded.

Even if I didn't want to, I obeyed him. I waited for minutes but he seemed busy on his laptop. Something seemed urgent when the beep of his phone continuously rang almost as if it spammed his notifications.

"Rhy—"

"Just sit there," he cut me off. Earlier he was standing beside me but he decided to put his laptop on the bed and sat in front of me even his eyes were on the screen.

I sighed. "Did you pull me here to just stare at you the whole time?"

He was stopped. His gazes held up to my face, then he smirked. "Isn’t it worthy to stare? This perfect face," he replied.

I was about to disagree but Rhyme’s phone rang once again. I saw the registered name, it's Thunder. He answered the call. “What?!” he immediately reacted seconds after he got the call. Isla has been texting me because he has to do some irresponsible boomer’s work which happened to be our friend—huh? What the? Then where is Boston? We have work but he still drank last night… Personal issue? Why can’t he be professional? I lost someone the other day—shit. Okay. I understand. I will just send the files when I finish this. Tell him I will talk to him and please don’t ever use my car to fetch a drunk weakling. Bye.” He was panting. His brows curled with so many frustrations. As he blinked several times, he became relaxed.

So I patted his leg as I reached for him. "Can I do something to help you?"

"Just a hug, Havoc. It would be fine." He moved closer to him which made me moved backward quickly. Out of panic about what he will do, I pushed him hard with his face.

"Hey! It may ruin my good-looking face."

I shook my head in disgust. Suddenly, he became quiet which made me think that he remembered something. “Wait, just stay still. Eat dinner here. I will tell Mom to cook for us. She knows how to cook your favorite.”

He was about to stand when I stopped him. "You don’t have to. I can eat whatever you have here for dinner—"

"No. Don’t act like a stranger who wants to please someone else’s family. I know you, picky eater." He laughed. "So stay. Suit yourself. You can do anything here just don’t go to the other side and sit on that bed." Then he pointed to Meter’s area.

I just nodded and stayed in my place not until he went out of their room. I stood up as I couldn’t stand the mess in this place.

I grabbed all the decent papers and organized them based on my assessment. The crumpled and trashed papers were separated. I earnestly shook off the dust and fixed his bed. I folded and hang his clothes before bringing them back on the closets and racks. I knew Rhyme would know where is where because he knew how I arrange things. Finding clothes wouldn’t be difficult for him now.

After I swept all the dirt, including paper cuts, wrappers, webs, clouds of dust, and other unnecessary things, I collected all those trash and sneaked them to the maids’ room. I sneaked out carefully and passed through the altar where the sliding door that would directly give a pass to the kitchen where Rhyme and Tita Doms were probably in and laughing their asses off. They talked longer than expected so I wondered why.

But before that, I needed to finish this stuff.

"Yaya Myrna." I knocked at their door where maids reside.

The door immediately opened and a familiar face of one of the maids here. Nana Pasencia, the personal nanny of Rhyme and Meter since we’re kids.

"Abok, why are you here?"

I pointed to the sack of trashes I got from Rhyme's place. "Are Ester and Donna there po? I need help from them because I need to dispose of this stuff."

"What are those garbages?"

"Rhyme’s belongings."

"Abok!” she exclaimed out of shock. “Are you guys playing or these are really garbages? Those are too many!”

"I actually fixed and arranged his bed space. You know your kid so well, right?"

Nana Pas just shook her head and called both Ester and Donna. I just apologized for disturbing their break and promised to bring food or a gift when I get back here soon.

However, I didn’t wait for Ester and Donna to come back from the backdoor. I thanked them earlier than they did it and immediately went back to the twin's room. I sat on Rhyme’s bed which was a mess earlier. Now that it’s clean, I comfortably laid down until I didn’t know that I took a nap already. When I woke up from a shallow sleep to check the time, I noticed that Rhyme was already beside me.

Yes, he was also lying on the bed. He was facing sidewards so he could have full access to my view. He was lying on his hand while flashing his smirk directly to my face. “Are you done, wife?”

"What?!" I hysterically sat on the bed.

"Aren’t you practicing to be my wife? Easy. You might get exhausted with what you’re doing. I won’t allow that to happen." His smirk seemed pasted on his face, still teasing.

"Rhyme Okideo De Leon." I gave him a warning tone.

"Havoc Alexana Javier," he mocked me.

"Stop," I just said. I don't know. I just felt like I was tired enough of his stuff and it's making me feel uncomfortable.

"Why?" I couldn't read him. His eyes got no emotions, his lips didn't even move.

I gulped. I knew I didn't have to say it because it was obvious since then but to clarify things were still the same...

"I'm Meter's."

He pursed his lips and bobbed his head. "You don’t have to tell me something obvious. I know that." His eyes were relaxed and his lips drew a short smile.

I subconsciously nodded.

He stood and sashayed towards the aquarium. When I gazed upon the aquarium where he kept on whispering to the fishes, I noticed that they were only two fishes inside. I was looking for that goldfish that has more orange parts on its lower body.

"When you were talking about losing someone over the call, you mean—"

"Yup," he cut me off. "Orangey died three days before your birthday. So I wasn't able to prepare for my gift because I moved in the condominium and not because I am planning to pull a prank against you," he corrected my assumption. His voice was forcing me to convince him that he's annoyed but I heard sadness.

"B-but why? How did you lose Orangey?"

He sighed. "My great twin cleaned the room. He thought the wet tube on the floor was just a litter of mine. He grabbed it and removed the connection in the aquarium. When in fact, it was for the oxygen. I was actually cleaning the aquarium that day and I just ran some errands so I went outside. When I got back, Tugdug and Chuwi are dying, while Orangey was floating dead in the water,” he narrated casually.

"So you can't take your twin anymore?" I asked him.

"Who can stand a neat freak, nearly an OCD person?" he rebutted.

I raised a brow because he hit a spot. He suddenly realized what he said. So he scratched the edge of his right brow and turned to me with hesitant eyes. "Apart from you," he clarified.