Chapter 6: The Lie She Wasn't Supposed To Find

By Friday morning, Mark had convinced himself that Mika owed him an apology.

He couldn't have explained why. Every time he replayed their argument in his head, he remembered only the parts that made him look like the victim. He remembered her telling him to act like an adult. He remembered the disappointment in her eyes. He remembered the way she had walked away without giving him the satisfaction of another argument.

What he conveniently forgot was what he had said to her.

Maybe you're asking the wrong person.

It was easier to hate her than to admit he had meant it.

When he woke up, Mika was already gone. Her pillow was cold, and the coffee she usually prepared for him wasn't on the table. There was a note beside the rice cooker.

I left some food for you. Please remember to turn off the rice cooker after eating.

No greeting. No heart. No ingat ka.

Mark read it twice, irritated by how ordinary it looked.

“So dramatic,” he muttered.

He ate the leftover rice and eggs, then opened his phone. His salary was due the following week, but the money he had borrowed from Paolo was already gone. The betting app showed another loss. His gaming account had made some progress overnight, though, and that was something.

At least there was one part of his life where he could still win.

He opened his messages and scrolled through his contacts. There were people he could ask for money, but most of them had become difficult. Paolo wanted repayment. His father had refused him. Jethro was almost as broke as he was.

Then he remembered Dennis from work.

Dennis had once mentioned that he had some savings set aside. He was also the kind of man who rarely asked personal questions. Mark considered that a sign of intelligence. People who minded their own business were easier to deal with.

He typed a message.

Bro, may I ask a favor? Short-term lang. I just need to cover something until payday.

Dennis replied after a few minutes.

How much?

Mark stared at the screen.

He had planned to ask for ₱2,000, but now that someone was willing to listen, he wondered if he could ask for more.

₱5k sana. May unexpected expense lang. I'll pay you back when my salary comes in.

He added a thumbs-up emoji, as though the little symbol could make the promise more convincing.

Dennis called him.

“Anong expense?” Dennis asked.

“Family matter.”

“Everything okay?”

“Yeah, yeah. Nothing serious.”

There was a pause.

“Sure ka sa payday? I need the money for my own bills after that.”

“Of course, bro. One week lang. Promise.”

Mark said it with such confidence that, for a moment, even he almost believed it.

Dennis agreed to lend him ₱3,000.

Mark thanked him several times, then sent him his GCash number. When the notification arrived, he felt a rush of relief. The problem had been solved—or at least moved far enough away that he no longer had to look at it.

He didn't immediately think about the internet bill or Paolo's message.

Instead, he opened the betting app.

He had a system now. He would not make the same mistakes as before. He would start small, choose carefully, and stop once he recovered his previous losses. He had watched enough videos to understand that successful bettors needed discipline.

The irony escaped him.

He placed his first bet.

It won.

Mark sat upright, a grin spreading across his face. The amount wasn't much, but it was proof. He had been right to trust his instincts. He placed another bet, slightly larger this time.

It lost.

His grin disappeared.

He studied the odds and convinced himself the result had been unlucky. One bad outcome meant nothing. He could recover it with a better decision.

The next bet lost, too.

By the time he finally put his phone down, he had burned through a substantial portion of Dennis's money.

Mark stared at his balance.

For several seconds, he felt something close to panic. Then he began negotiating with himself.

He would win it back later. He would use part of his salary to repay Dennis. He would ask Mika to wait another week for the bills. Nobody needed to know what had happened.

Especially Mika.

He hated the idea of her finding out. Not because he had deceived her, but because she would look at him with that expression again.

He would rather lie than see that look.

---

That evening, Mika came home earlier than usual.

Mark was in the middle of a game when he heard her place her bag on the table. He expected her to greet him, but she went straight to the kitchen and started preparing dinner.

He watched her from the corner of his eye.

She was quieter than usual.

He should have been relieved. Instead, he felt annoyed. Her silence seemed deliberate, a punishment designed to make him uncomfortable.

“May problema?” he asked.

“Wala.”

“Then why are you acting like that?”

Mika turned off the stove. “Like what?”

“Parang may kasalanan ako.”

She looked at him for a long moment.

“Do you want me to list them?”

Mark's jaw tightened.

“See? This is exactly what I'm talking about. You can't let anything go.”

“I'm trying to let things go, Mark. That's the problem.”

He looked back at his screen, pretending he had lost interest in the conversation.

After dinner, Mika opened the banking app on her phone. She had been checking their expenses, trying to determine how much she could set aside for rent and the remaining bills.

“Mark, did you borrow money from Dennis?”

His hands stopped moving.

He turned slowly. “Why?”

“He messaged me.”

Mark's stomach dropped.

Mika showed him the message. Dennis had asked her whether Mark would be able to repay the ₱3,000 on payday. He had apparently discovered that the money was needed sooner than he expected and wanted reassurance.

Mark felt exposed, as if Dennis had walked into their home and announced his private business to the world.

“Why is he messaging you about my money?”

“Because he asked me if you could pay him back.”

“And what did you tell him?”

“That I didn't know you had borrowed money from him.”

Mark stood up.

“Wow. So now you're making me look bad to my coworkers?”

“I didn't tell him anything. He asked me.”

“You could have just said yes.”

“How could I say yes when I don't know where the money went?”

The question hung between them.

Mark looked away.

Mika's face changed as the answer became clear to her. She glanced at his phone, then back at him.

“Mark. What did you do with the money?”

“Nothing.”

“Then why can't you look at me?”

“Because you're interrogating me!”

“I'm asking you a question.”

“And I'm telling you it's none of your business!”

Mika flinched.

He saw it and immediately felt powerful again. If he could make her angry, then the conversation could become about her temper instead of his choices. If she raised her voice, he could accuse her of disrespecting him. If she cried, he could say she was manipulating him.

It was a familiar escape route.

“Fine,” Mika said. Her voice had become frighteningly calm. “Keep your secrets. But don't ask me to cover your bills again.”

Mark scoffed. “I never asked you to.”

She looked at him.

He knew that was a lie. He had asked her to cover the electricity bill. He had watched her pay for groceries with money she had been saving for herself. He had accepted every sacrifice as though it were a natural part of loving him.

But he refused to acknowledge any of it.

“Whatever,” he said.

Mika put her phone away and returned to the kitchen.

Mark sat down, his heart beating hard. He wanted to follow her and continue the argument. He wanted to tell her that she had no right to embarrass him, that she was supposed to be on his side, that a real girlfriend would trust him.

Instead, he opened his game again.

---

The next morning, Mark woke to a message from Dennis.

Bro, I really need that money on payday. Please don't forget.

Mark typed, Of course.

Then he muted the conversation.

A second message arrived, this time from Paolo.

Kahit partial lang sa payday. Kailangan ko rin.

Mark muted that one, too.

He told himself that people were selfish. Everyone wanted something from him. Nobody cared whether he was struggling. They only cared about the money they had lent him.

Mika was the same, he thought. She wanted a man who could pay bills, contribute to the household, and behave responsibly. She wanted someone who never made mistakes.

She wanted someone better than him.

That was how he framed it, because the alternative was admitting that she had asked for nothing extraordinary.

He walked into the kitchen. Mika was getting ready for work, fixing her hair in the small mirror near the door.

“Are you still mad?” he asked.

She didn't turn around. “I'm getting ready for work.”

“I'm asking you a question.”

“And I'm answering you.”

Mark leaned against the wall.

“You know, sometimes I think you enjoy making me feel like crap.”

Mika put down her comb.

“Do you know what I think?” she asked. “I think you want me to feel guilty every time I ask you to take responsibility.”

He laughed bitterly. “There you go again.”

“No, Mark. Listen to me. I don't need you to be rich. I don't need you to buy me expensive things. I need to know that when you promise me something, I can believe you.”

For the first time that morning, he had no immediate answer.

She picked up her bag.

“I can't keep building a life with someone who treats every promise like it's optional.”

Then she left.

The door clicked shut.

Mark stood in the quiet apartment, feeling a strange mixture of anger and fear. He wanted to call her back, but he refused to be the first one to give in. She would come around. She always did.

He opened his phone and checked his betting account.

There was still a little money left.

Enough for one more bet, he thought.

Just one.

Because if he could win, he could repay Dennis. He could give Paolo something. He could pay the bills and prove Mika wrong.

He could fix everything before she had time to decide she was finished with him.

Mark placed the bet.

And while he waited for the result, he began composing the message he would send Mika when he won—not an apology, not an explanation, but a simple announcement that he had handled everything.

He wanted her to be impressed.

He wanted her to regret doubting him.

More than anything, he wanted her to need him again.

He had no idea that the next person to confront him would not be Mika.

It would be Dennis, standing outside his workplace on Monday morning, holding a message Mark had sent him the night before.

A message that proved Mark had lied about far more than money.