CHAPTER 30: SMALL TALKS IN THE MORNING

THE GIRL WHO CAN’T DATE

By Eleventh

CHAPTER 30: SMALL TALKS IN THE MORNING

“3 dates? This kid is definitely crazy!” – Ira P.

2017 JOURNAL

Arf! Arf! Arf!

“Mmm… Sabrina, what is it?” Ira groaned. Her eyes were heavy.

Sabrina has been barking for a little while now and pulling the sheets to wake up Ira. Getting up, Ira stretched her arms and yawned. The very first thing she checked was the person next to her, only to find the other side of the bed deserted. Ira stood up to open the curtains and to check the weather out from the window.

Looks like the sun’s still hiding behind the gray clouds.

Sabrina barked again.

“I guess your master forgot to open the door for you, huh?” she said, looking at the dog who was wagging her tail.

Ira opened the door for her and Sabrina excitedly dashed through it. After she washed her face and brushed her teeth, she went down to the kitchen. Maggie was at the table drinking a glass of milk when Sabrina pounced and sat on her master’s lap.

“Good morning.” Maggie greeted with a smile.

“I’m happy to see you smiling,” Ira replied.

“I love the milk your dad prepared for me.”

Ira sniggered. While Maggie was enjoying the milk, she was surprised to see Eros cooking breakfast, so she went close to him with crossed arms and a deadpan face.

Then she whispered, “I thought you hate cooking breakfast.”

“I never said that,” Eros answered, ignoring his sister while seasoning the sunny-side-up with salt and pepper.

Ira leaned on the counter, still not done grilling his brother.

“So why did you suddenly cook for breakfast today, huh?”

“Because your ass was still in bed when I checked on you and thought that maybe you’re too tired to get up. So I decided to prepare for breakfast since I woke up early.”

Ira squinted her eyes, unconvinced. “You could just have waited for me, you know.”

“Just in case you forgot, we have guests. And Ares and Seah are coming home from night shift.” Eros replied, transferring the eggs on a plate and serving it on the table. “Why don’t you make yourself useful? Go and get the plates, will you?”

"Pssss..." Ira replied, rolling her eyes as she left him to get the plates and set in on the table. Then she went back to get some utensils.

“Good morning!” a sweet voice greeted everyone in the kitchen.

Ira rattled knowing that the voice doesn’t belong to any of her brothers. She suddenly dropped the utensils she was holding and caught everyone’s attention.

“Sorry ‘bout that!” she said with apologetic eyebrows and kneeled to pick up the utensils.

She suddenly met the charming face of Adrielle and stiffened. She was stunned at how good-looking he was. His face glowed like an angel in the morning.

[Oh, crap! How can a guy be this… beautiful!]

“Let me help you!” bent down, eye to eye with Ira, he muttered with a pressed smile.

While Ira picks up the set of spoons and forks that were scattered on the floor, she could feel him staring that she couldn’t dare to look up.

“Here!” Adrielle uttered, handing her the utensils.

“Thanks!” Ira quickly snatched them from his hands without even looking at him and rushed to wash the utensils in the sink.

Her obvious anxious face made Adrielle amused. He decided to leave her alone, for now and sat next to Orion who just entered the dining area.

“Wow! This is a miracle!” Orion said with so much energy in the morning.

“What miracle?” Maggie asked in curiosity.

“Eros cooking breakfast. That’s the miracle!” he answered.

“How about you zip your mouth at least once and eat your breakfast quietly.” Eros butted in, placing the garlic rice and hotdogs on the table.

“Ira, look! The chihuahua looks like you.” Orion remarked noticing Sabrina and completely ignoring his brother.

Ira sighed as Skye’s face flashed before her, and recalled what he said last night. She closed her eyes and gritted her teeth.

[Curse that twerp!] she muttered under her breath.

After washing the utensils, she joined everyone at the table, sitting beside Maggie. Just then the couple arrived with some pancakes from McDonald's.

“I see we have guests. Good morning!” Seah greeted.

“This is Adrielle, a friend of mine.” Orion introduced.

“This is Maggie, my colleague!” Ira added. Then she turned to Maggie and said, “Our eldest, Ares, and his wife, Seah.”

“Welcome to our humble abode!” Ares flashed a shy smile as he placed the pancakes on the table.

“Breakfast looks promising…” Seah noticed with a sparkle in her eyes.

“You won’t believe it. Eros prepared it!” Orion declared.

Surprised, the couple quickly shifted their gazes to Eros.

“DON’T – SAY – A – WORD! Please…” Eros warned, his eyes fixed on cutting the hotdogs into smaller pieces

The couple scoffed.

“Can we join for breakfast? I’d like to taste your cooking.” Ares teased.

“Serve yourself!”

Amused at Eros’ riled face, Ares and Seah seated at the table sniggering and helped themselves with some breakfast. Everyone at that table had a hearty meal though the food wasn’t that unique. For the Pardillas, it’s always about the company. They love having people around and they always make sure that they feel at home.

While everyone was sharing stories and a little laughter over breakfast, the head of the family, with the little one munching a cookie, came in from the backdoor.

“Looks like everyone woke up great today.” He uttered making his presence known.

“Good morning, Pops!” greeted his children.

“Good morning, Mr. Pardilla.” echoed the guests.

“Breakfast?” Maggie cutely offered.

“I had my coffee already. Thank you.” Mageneo replied. From Maggie, he then shifted his attention to Orion who was talking to his friend about Mobile Legends. “Since everyone is gathered here, why don’t we talk about Orion’s birthday.”

Orion’s face lit up with excitement.

“Great idea, Pops. Where do you want us to go this year, Rion?” Ares asked.

“Last year, we had a camping trip,” Ira recalled.

“And we all agreed to never do it again! Argh! I remember suffering from body pain for a week. Hiking will never be my thing!” Eros complained as he recalled what a nightmare he had from hiking a mountain just to celebrate Orion’s birthday. It was his request that they watch the sunrise up from a mountain on the morning of his birthday.

“Oh come on! That was fun!” Orion remarked which all his siblings altogether refuted with grunts and groans. “Seriously? You didn’t like that?”

They all shook their heads.

“Why don’t we go to a beach resort?” Seah suggested. I know a great place to go.

“Oooh!. That’s a great idea. I’ll vote for Seah’s suggestion.” Ira excitedly raised her hand.

“I second the motion,” Eros spoke up.

“Sounds nice and relaxing.” Ares agreed.

“Well, Rion?” Mageneo asked the celebrator.

“Well, that’s fine with me. To the beach resort then. Hey…” after agreeing to the suggestion, he excitedly turned to Adrielle and Maggie. “My birthday is on the semestral break. No class and no work. Why don’t you guys come along? I’m personally inviting you.”

“Is it okay? It seems like it’s a family thing or something.” Maggie shyly replied.

“No, it’s fine! The more people, the more fun.” Ira answered.

“Besides, you’re still staying with us since your parents are not home yet,” Eros added.

“Wait, what? I’m staying here?” she was surprised. Staying at the Pardillas while her parents are away was not planned nor discussed.

“Don’t you want to? I mean it’s safer to stay here than at your house. And besides, your parents are not coming home in a month.” Ira enlightened.

"I agree, Maggie," Mageneo added. "Stay here as long as you need to. Don't feel burdened. You're very welcome here."

“Thank you, Mr. Pardilla! I feel grateful.” This is the first time that Maggie met the Pardillas and each member made her feel warm and welcome in their home.

“How about you, bro? You coming?” Orion asked Adrielle.

“Yeah, sure. I’m in.” Adrielle answered.

“Cool!”

“Alright! I'll let you guys do the planning. I need to go back to the bakeshop. Have fun with your breakfast.” And Mageneo quietly left the kitchen.

Everyone continued with their lovely conversation and planned for Orion's birthday until all stomachs were filled in and all plates were slate clean. Just when everyone stood up to leave the table, Adrielle volunteered to wash the dishes.

“Are you sure? But you’re a guest here.” Seah remarked.

“Nah! Let him do it. He does love washing the dishes.” Orion shouted from the door as he was leaving to stay in the living room.

“Okay, if you say so. But Ira must help!” Ares ordered which Ira quickly objected to.

“But why me? Why not Rion?” she complained.

“Because he’ll wash the plates later at lunch. No more complaints please.”Ares assured that household chores are distributed fairly among siblings.

“Argh!” she grumbled as she gathered all the dirty dishes in the sink. Then she turned to Adrielle and said, “I’ll wash it with soap. You rinse it.”

“Alright!” Adrielle waited for everyone to desert the kitchen before he began a conversation with the lady next to him, feeling pleased with the chance that he had. “I’m happy that we met again-”

“AND I AM NOT HAPPY AT ALL. AND THIS IS THE FIRST TIME WE MET.” Ira has to stop whatever she was doing and faced Adrielle with a serious, sullen face.

But Adrielle wasn’t intimidated by her piercing glares. Not at all. But her face made him snigger that Ira became more pissed than she already is because of his smiling face.

“I am serious here.”

“Why so serious?”

“Look! I don’t want my brothers to know that I went to speed dating. Got that? So don’t you ever say a word about it!”

Adrielle giggled, showing his perfect white teeth. “Why are you trying to hide from your brothers that you actually tried dating? It’s not a bad thing. I’m pretty sure they tried it once or twice in their life.”

“I just don’t want to give them an idea that I was desperate to be in a relationship.” Ira sighed as she washes the plates with soap.

“Aren’t you?”

“I am not!” she snapped again. “I told you didn’t I that I was only dragged. It wasn’t my choice to be in that stupid dating game. It only wasted my time. Not to mention, that put my friend in danger.”

“But that night meant a lot to me…” he whispered.

“Then good for you!”

Adrielle became quiet for a second while rinsing the plates and utensils that Ira was handing him. It was silent for a moment all they can hear was the water running from the faucet. The young man then broke the silence and said,

“It meant a lot to me because it was the night I met you.”

Ira dropped the utensils on the sink and faced Adrielle with an exasperated face.

“Oh, gawd! Will you cut the crap, kid? It's so cringy. Do you really think I’d fall for that?”

But Adrielle’s face was serious.

“Will you stop treating me like a kid? I’m only two years younger than you. That’s not a big gap.”

“K, fine! I won’t but you gotta stop saying flowery words, dude!”

“Flowery? But I mean those words."

Ira breathed in deep and closed her eyes. She was holding herself not blowing up. Then she faced him again with a glowering look hoping that Adrielle would drop his stunts.

"Seriously-"

"Listen, Ira! I’ve always wanted to keep in touch with you. I tried to get your real name and your number but you didn’t write it in the registration. I had zero ideas about you and I don’t know where to find you.”

“You’re crazy. You’re just saying that because…”

“You don’t believe me because you don’t really think someone will like you. Am I right?”

Ira gulped. He was damn right about it.

Adrielle finished rinsing the dishes and left them to dry. He dried his hands with a towel and held Ira's hands to dry them too. Then he straightened up his stance and with a serious face he said to Ira,

“Go on three dates with me. Get to know me. I’ll get to know you. And let’s see if it’ll work.”

Ira dropped her jaw.

[This kid is definitely crazy!]

Would she say yes? Or would she say no to it?