THREAD FIVE: HER PHONOPHOBIA TRIGGERED

RANDALL quickly approached the door and forced it to open.

“Come on, open!” he said annoyed.

Due to the presence of her classmate, he lost his mind about the instructions given to him by his Captain.

“Hey! What’s the problem?” Meredith asked as she approached him.

“T-the door. . . ”

“W-why! W-what’s with the door?” she frowned when she asked.

“W-we’re stuck,” he announced.

Her eyes widened. “What?!” then tried to open the door.

She panicked. “This can’t be happening!” 

She even snatched the key from him when she saw that he was holding it and quickly unlock it. 

“That won’t work!” Randall said causing her to look at him, shocked.

“W-what do you mean?”

He looked down. “C-captain said, the lock on the inside is broken so you have to immediately block the chair behind the door so you don’t get trapped inside. When you are locked inside, only the person outside can open it because the key you are holding now is only for the front lock.”

The girl tapped her forehead. “So, what are we going to do now?”

“D-don’t worry, there’s definitely someone else coming here. They just need to hear us that we’re in here.” And they started to bang on the door to ask for help.

Randall was a little stunned as if he had seen their situation in some of his dream.

“Randall!” Meredith yelled, bringing him back to his senses.

“H-huh?”

“I said, does your phone have a signal? My phone doesn’t even have a signal!” Meredith said annoyed.

He looked at the phone she was holding. “A-actually that’s the reason why I came here.”

“This is yours?” she asked and he nodded.

She showed it to him and his phone was running out of battery.

“Do you have a charger with you or a power bank?”

“I don’t have. How about you?” he asked back.

“I don’t have anything here either.”

He snapped his fingers. “In Captain’s drawer.” Then quickly rummaged through the drawers there but found nothing.

When they couldn’t think of any other way, they just knocked on the door, but it looked like there was no one in the school. And when they both felt tired, they also stopped.

Randall let out a sigh and apologized to Meredith.

“This is all my fault. I didn’t know that I would see you here, so I forgot Captain’s instructions,” he admitted.

Meredith sat at the table. “What happened has happened. We can’t turn back time. I didn’t even know that the door was broken. It’s better this way anyway. That you’re here with me than being alone.”

He took a deep sigh. “I’m just worried about Mom.”

He sat down in one of the chairs there.

“Let’s just wait for the morning to come.” She nodded.

A moment of silence enveloped them when Randall couldn’t stand it anymore.

“I’M HOME!” the boy shouted from the gate of their house.

When he entered, he found his mother making a snack at their table.

“Where’s Aunt Emen?” he asked, referring to the old lady who was with them at home.

“She’s resting.”

He nodded and sat beside her mom. “What are you making for snacks?”

“I‘m baking your dad’s favorite chocolate bread pudding.”

“But, you don’t need to bake it by yourself. You should have just told me to buy a pre-made one at the bakeshop.”

The lady smiled. “Son, this is what I want. The chocolate bread pudding will taste better if I bake it myself.”

He shook his head. “You’re just exhausting yourself.”

“You do know what my secret ingredient is in everything I cook, right?”

He nodded. “You cook with love!”

“You got it, son!”

“And do you know that because of this pudding, your Dad fell in love with me?” the woman added.

“Really?!”

“Yes, son. So if you want that girl you were with at the park the other day, she will definitely fall in love with you too when she tastes this pudding.”

Her eyes widened at what her mother said. “Y-you really saw us?!”

“Of course! What are our eyes for if we can’t use them?” she joked, making him blush.

“W-where is Ditang?” he asked, referring to his five-year-old sister. He didn’t want his mother to talk about him and the girl he was with, so he changed the subject.

“They’re, playing outside. Call her before you go to your room.”

“Okay, Mom.”

_______________________

“W-WHY are you here?” Randall asked Meredith when he couldn’t stand the silence that surrounds them. They are still stuck inside the meeting room.

“I was just going to give something to my cousin, but he didn’t come back.”

He took a deep sigh. “When time like this, the whole team went home already.”

“Now I know,” she said.

A moment of silence enveloped them again when Randall’s stomach suddenly rumbled. Meredith laughed and quickly took the paper bag she had by her side and handed it to him.

He frowned. “W-what is this?” 

“It’s a chocolate pudding. That’s what I’m going to give to my cousin, but we haven’t met so it’s all yours,” she offered.

“B-but it’s for Captain.”

She quickly shook her head. “He doesn’t know that I’m going to give him that, so eat it before the snakes eats the intestines in your stomach.”

He laughed a little at what she said. “You made this yourself?”

She nodded. “Hmm! So you have to finish it up.”

He smiled. “T-thank you.”

“You’re welcome!”

“How about you? Aren’t you going to eat?” Randall asked when he noticed that she was watching him silently.

She declined. “I’m not yet hungry.”

“T-then why are you looking at me like that?”

He saw her cheek blush. “I-i’m just waiting for your reaction. S-so how was it? Was it delicious?” 

“Yeah! It’s so delicious! I feel like I’ve tasted it for a long time even though I just tasted it now.”

“Really? Do you have the same feeling? I also have times when I feel that way too, but not in the food.”

He looked at her confused. “What do you mean?”

She took a deep breath first before she talked. “Sometimes when I’m doing some things or when I see someone, I feel like I’ve done it and I’ve seen it before.”

“Oh, that’s weird!”

“I know!”

“Anyways, that’s my Mom’s specialty. She inherited the ingredients from Grandma.”

“Really?”

“Hmm. According to Mom's story, Grandma used to love making bread pudding because that was what Grandpa liked about her. She used to have a saying that when the person you loves tastes the pudding you made, they will be together forever,” she said with a smile.

Her smile just disappeared when she didn’t hear any words from Randall. “H-hey, is there anything bothering you?”

He felt like he has seen that scenario recently about the bread in his dream.

Meredith taps his shoulder. “Randall!”

“Y-yes?”

“You’re spacing out.”

“Oh! You were saying?”

“I said, my Grandma used to have a saying that when the person you loves tastes the pudding you made, they will be together forever,”

He smirked. “You mean to say that we will be together forever?” he teased.

She blushed. “T-that’s just Grandma’s belief. And you’re not the only one who received it.

“Who are they? Your crush? Yiehh!” he teased again.

She pouted her lips. “Stop teasing me! I gave the rest to my friends and club members.”

“O-okay,” he said.

She looks at him and he looks disappointed. Does he think that her grandmother’s belief will come true?

“Oh my! My grandmother’s belief doesn’t mean anything and that choco pudding was really for my cousin, remember? I made it as a thank-you gift for him,” she explained even though he didn’t ask for it. At that time, she felt that both her cheeks were the same color as a tomato.

She grabbed the pudding due to awkwardness and eat the whole slice.

“Hey! You might choke!”

She grabbed her bag and took out her bottled water. She is stunned when Randall wipes the side of her lips after finishing her food.

“You ate like a kid.”

Her heart skipped a beat when their faces are only inches away. They immediately moved away from each other when they realized it.

“Are you not yet sleepy?” Randall asked Meredith when it was almost eight o‘clock in the evening.

The girl shook her head.

“W-where are you going?” Meredith asked urgently when he suddenly stood up.

“I’m just going to borrow Captain’s guitar,” he said and immediately took the guitar from the side.

“So, you know how to play the guitar also aside from swimming?”

“It’s just my hobby.” He looked at her. “Go ahead and take a nap. I will play a song for you to sleep.”

“How about you?”

“Playing the guitar also makes me sleepy so I will sleep when you fall asleep.” She nodded then placed her arms on the desk of the chair while her forehead rested there.

Randall started to play and sing. His voice was good. It really makes her sleepy, but she screamed and sat on the floor when she heard a rumble of thunder outside. The rain is also heavy and at the same time, there was a power outage.