Kate didn't know how long she had been crying on the dorm bed before Riz arrived.
The knock was soft at first, then urgent.
"Kate?" Riz called from outside, her voice full of concern. "Buksan mo, Frenny. Andiyan ka ba?"
Kate couldn't answer. Her throat was too raw from sobbing, her chest rising and falling in uneven gasps.
She didn't need to answer.
The door clicked open. Riz had Kate's key card—she always did. Kate gave it to her weeks ago "just in case," and Riz, being Riz, kept it in her wallet like a lifeline.
Riz stepped in, bags still slung over her shoulder, hair a bit messy from rushing up the stairs. "Frenny, I—"
She froze.
There on the bed was Kate.
Curled up like a child, knees pulled to her chest, face buried in a tear-soaked pillow. Her eyes were red, lips trembling. The room was dimly lit, curtains drawn shut, the only illumination coming from her untouched bedside lamp and the faint glow of her phone screen.
The phone lay next to her, still unlocked—open to a contact.
Froozie <3
Riz didn't need to guess.
She dropped everything. Bag. Jacket. Snacks she brought for their bus ride tomorrow. All of it.
And rushed to her best friend.
"Oh my God, anong nangyari?" she gasped, climbing onto the bed beside her. "Bakit ka umiiyak? Frenny… talk to me."
She reached out, touched Kate's arm gently, then more firmly when she didn't respond.
Kate hiccupped. Her voice cracked as she tried to speak but failed.
Riz sat behind her, pulled her up into her arms. "Ssshhh, okay lang… nandito na ako. I'm here. I'm here, okay?"
Kate's hands clung to her shirt like a child holding onto something before drowning.
"Saktan kita kung kailangan," Riz whispered, half-joking but fully serious. "Sabihin mo lang sino ulit ang dahilan nito."
Kate pulled back slightly, eyes glossy, her voice hoarse. "Si… si Frooze."
And just like that, Riz's jaw clenched. Her arms tightened protectively around her friend.
"Anong ginawa niya ngayon?"
Kate shook her head, wiping her tears with the sleeve of her oversized hoodie. "Hindi ko pa nasasabi sa'yo…"
"Then tell me," Riz said, brushing strands of hair away from Kate's damp cheek. "Wala na akong pasensya para sa kupal na 'yon, so please—simulan mo na bago ko siya mahanap sa Manila at sagasaan ng feelings mo."
Kate let out a weak, broken chuckle—but it faded fast. She inhaled shakily.
Between sniffles, hiccups, and breathless pauses—she told her everything. Starting with that day in the mental hospital… to the visitor's room… to the way Frooze introduced someone else as his girlfriend. And finally, the phone call tonight.
Riz listened. And listened. Until her fists clenched.
"Putangina naman oh…" she muttered under her breath, seething.
Kate wiped her nose, still trembling. "Sorry… hindi ko agad nasabi. Ayokong maging pabigat."
"Pabigat?" Riz snapped, eyes flashing. "Pabigat ka? Kate, ikaw na nga 'yung iniwan, ikaw pa 'yung nagso-sorry?"
Kate's voice was a whisper. "Akala ko okay na ako, Riz… pero nung nakita ko siya… with her… parang binaril ulit 'yung puso ko."
Riz stood up, pacing now. "So ganun na lang? After one fucking week may girlfriend na siya? After all those months na pinaghintay ka niya, bigla na lang siyang ready? Sa iba?!"
Kate stared at her blanket. "He said he wasn't ready. Yun daw 'yung reason kaya niya ako iniwan. Pero bakit kay Red, ready siya agad?"
"Because he's a coward," Riz hissed. "He took the easy route. Alam niya na ikaw, mahal mo siya. You were patient, you were kind, you were fucking loyal. Pero nung naramdaman niyang hindi niya kayang pantayan 'yon, he ran."
Kate shook her head. "Pero mahal ko siya, Riz… kahit hindi niya ako pinili. Mahal ko pa rin siya."
"And that's okay," Riz said gently, sitting beside her again. "But don't confuse love with worth. Just because you loved him doesn't mean you deserved to be treated like an option."
Kate let out another sob. "Tapos kanina… I called him. Hindi ko na kinaya 'yung bigat. Sinabi ko lahat. Lahat."
Riz's jaw tensed. "Ano sinabi niya?"
Kate repeated it—his apology. His words. His reasons.
Riz scoffed. "'I never meant to leave you with all these questions…'" she mocked. "Putangina, ang dali naman palang magsorry kapag tapos na lahat, no? Bakit hindi niya sinabi 'yon nung kailangan mo ng sagot? Nung umiiyak ka sa kama? Nung nagtataka ka kung saan ka nagkulang?"
Kate was quiet.
Then Riz said, her voice breaking, "Frenny… I saw you. I saw how much you gave him. I saw how you stayed, kahit wala kayong label. I saw how you defended him when people said you were wasting your time. I saw how you chose him… every day. Alam mo kung anong hindi ko nakita? Siya. Pinipili ka."
That broke Kate.
She cried again—loud, messy, painful.
Riz held her. "I'm so angry, Kate. For you. For what he did. For how he made you feel replaceable."
"I feel like shit…" Kate whispered.
"You're not shit," Riz said firmly. "You are everything he will never find again. And someday, he will realize that."
Kate shook her head. "Pero late na. May iba na siya…"
"Let him have her," Riz said coldly. "Let him live with the choice he made. Kasi ikaw? You'll rise from this. Masakit ngayon, oo. Pero babangon ka, frenny. And one day, you'll look back and thank yourself for walking away."
Kate clutched Riz tighter. "Thank you…"
Riz kissed the top of her head. "I got you. Always."
And in that room, with tears drying and rage fading, Kate knew—
Even if she was broken right now…
She wasn't alone.
Not with Riz beside her.
---
They didn't know how it happened.
One moment, Kate and Riz were curled up on the bed, still wiping the last of Kate's tears; the next, they were sitting cross-legged on the carpeted floor of their dorm room—with three of their classmates, a half-empty bottle of Alfonso, and mismatched hotel mugs in front of them.
"Bawal 'to dito," someone whispered with a giggle, already flushed.
"Edi wag maingay," another said, pouring a shot like it was water.
"Walang magsusumbong ah."
Kate and Riz exchanged glances.
Then, Riz rolled her eyes, grabbed the cup, and drank.
Kate followed.
Maybe it was the exhaustion. Or the heartbreak. Or the simple need to feel something else—anything else. But she drank too.
And they laughed.
Laughed until it felt like their pain could be something distant. Something past tense.
But the past always finds a way to catch up.
.
.
.
.
.
The next morning was cruel.
Kate woke up with a pounding in her head, the kind of ache that echoed behind her eyes.
She dragged herself out of bed took a shower and got dressed, grabbed her ID, tied her hair in a low bun, and looked at herself in the mirror.
"Hangovered ka, girl," she muttered to her reflection.
Today was their section's final tour—an educational walk-through around the Mandaluyong Mental Hospital before their return to Pangasinan.
Final stretch.
She could do this.
Even if her head was spinning, even if her stomach turned with every step, she forced herself to walk straight. To blend in with the other students as they listened to the tour guide's soft, formal voice.
They visited common rooms. Therapy areas. Hallways filled with fading posters about medication reminders and mental wellness campaigns.
Last stop—Pavilion 3.
Kate's throat tightened at the name. Pavilion 3 was where Mercy was. Her patient. The one who, unknowingly, shattered everything.
The group paused at the threshold. The tour guide said something about long-term patients and family visits. Kate didn't really hear. Her ears rang from the hangover. Or the nerves. Or both.
She stood still. Just watching the familiar corridors. Listening to her classmates' shoes squeak against the floor.
And then—
"Kate…"
Her name.
Low.
Uncertain.
Behind her.
She turned.
There he was.
Ceath.
Frooze.
Just a few feet away, standing near the glass exit doors. His hand still hovering over the handle, as if he'd paused mid-step. As if fate had decided—once again—to play one last cruel joke.
Their eyes met.
And in that moment, it felt like everything went quiet.
No more laughter. No more tour. No more noise.
Just the echo of the words she said to him three nights ago:
"Then let me hate you, Ceath. Let me move on that way."
His face was unreadable. Eyes tired. He opened his mouth slightly, as if to speak.
But she didn't give him the chance.
Kate blinked once.
Then turned.
Without a word.
Without a look back.
She walked past her classmates, back toward the sunlight outside, where the bus was already waiting to take them home.
It was over.
This time, truly over.
And she wouldn't look back again.
Not even once.
---
He didn't mean to stay long.
He just wanted to drop off some clothes for Tita Mercy. A few things she'd asked for the last time—blankets, fruit, a soft cardigan.
Quick visit. In and out.
No attachments. No disasters.
But when he walked through the glass doors of Pavilion 3, the air felt… different.
And then he saw her.
Kate.
At the end of the hallway.
Dressed in her clinical uniform, ID swinging gently on her chest, notebook in hand.
Still her.
Still heartbreakingly her.
His heart stopped before his steps did.
What were the odds?
Maybe it was karma. Maybe it was fate taking one last jab. Or maybe the world just liked reminding him of what he ruined.
She turned.
He didn't speak at first. He couldn't.
And when he finally said her name—soft, almost pleading—he saw it in her eyes.
That look.
That dead look.
The look of someone who used to look at him like he was the safest place in the world.
Now, she looked through him.
No warmth.
No fire.
Just cold, silent grief in human form.
"Kate…" he repeated, but it was already too late.
She turned her back on him.
Walked away.
Not fast, not slow—just steady. Final.
He didn't call her again.
He didn't follow.
He didn't have the right.
Because what would he say?
Sorry for being a coward? Sorry for not choosing you when you made it so easy to be chosen? Sorry for calling someone else my girlfriend while still hearing your name in my sleep?
No words could fix it now.
He stood there for a moment longer, watching her silhouette disappear into the daylight.
His chest ached with every step she took away.
And for the first time in weeks, he admitted it to himself.
She didn't walk away because she stopped loving him.
She walked away because he did.
He let her walk into his life. He let her stay. Let her love him fully.
And then—
He let her go.
Like she was temporary.
And now?
Now, she was gone.
And he finally understood what it meant to lose someone who would've stayed—had he just asked her to.
Frooze turned back to the hallway, one hand gripping the bag for Mercy tighter.
The exit door swung open.
And he walked out, too.
But this time…
He didn't just leave a hospital.
He left behind the last sliver of a future that could've been hers and his.
Together.