"Good morning, everyone," Bernie greeted everyone in the table. The four of them were all seated in the dining table inside the beach house.
Eversince they docked, no one had said a word to each other, except maybe for Sasha's gasped in surprise the moment they reached the place. But other than that, no one had said anything and it was starting to worry Bernie.
Did he miss something last night? Why did everyone looked so glum?
Sasha was still thinking about her parents and mastering a plan on how to stop the babymaking process. Although she was clueless on how, she had an eye on her every parents' move. Tonight she will convince her mom to sleep beside her. She was sure her mother would obliged given that the huge mansion had lots of bedrooms. She could fake a fear of being alone in a huge house. A smile finally formed in her lips.
Robbie was staring at Alex. He was still wondering why she was giving him a cold-shoulder. Somehow he was regretting that he even kissed her.
But then, why did she respond and even take full control if she didn't like it? So he should not feel guilty about it, right?
But why is she ignoring him? Was it because of him puking? Did she get turned off?
He wondered what she was thinking and he was still hoping they could talk about it in anyway. The silent treatment was definitely killing him. He could have endured a few minutes of her not uttering a word to him but completely ignoring him, not even sitting beside him on the table was puzzling.
Was it really that bad that she had to act this way to him?
Alex was trying not to look at Robbie who was sitting in the middle of a twelve-seater rectangular dining table. She, however, sat beside Sasha and since then, he had been giving her the look that made her so conscious. She suddenly wondered if Robbie had somehow remembered last night.
Was he embarassed? What was he thinking?
Finally, Bernie couldn't stand the silence and he cleared his throat.
"Can anybody tell me what happened last night?" Bernie asked loudly that made Robbie and Alex looked at each other.
Alex's cheeks flushed as she remembered what happened last night while Robbie's lips parted as if to say something but pursed his lips again, decided not to.
Sasha, on the other hand, was struggling whether to say it or not. She was known for speaking her mind and at this moment she was about to say something she knew she will definitely regret later on.
So she tried her best to keep quiet but looking at Auntie's face, she felt like she was betraying him. She needed to tell him what was on her mind, hoping he could help her.
"Auntie... I needed to tell you something," she whispered from across the table that made Bernie looked at her and leaned in. Alex however had a worried look on her face.
What will her daughter say?
"What is it, honey?" Bernie asked, whispering as if to copy her.
Sasha moistened her lips nervously. She glanced over her parents who was watching her like a hawk.
"I'll tell you later..." she said and avoided her mother's eyes who was beginning to crease her eyebrows.
The scene this morning was still on Sasha's head and she needed to tell someone else on what she could make out of it. She was still confused of how babies were made and she realized maybe Bernie could help her out with it since he was an adult. She also realized that if she had known the process then maybe it would be easier for her to come up with a much better plan to stop it.
"Sasha, what is it you want to tell Aunt Bernie?" Alex couldn't help but asked her daughter. She knew she would probably ask him about what she saw this morning and the last thing she really wanted was for Bernie to get some ideas of what she and Robbie had been doing last night.
Although she knew he would probably be fine with it, she was still feeling uncomfortable of letting others know that something did happen between her and Robbie.
Sasha didn't want to tell her mom about what's on her mind. She needed this to be a secret so she could make up a plan. Then she remembered, her parents were talking about the birds and the bees this morning. She wondered if it was about a garden and she decided to tell everyone on the table.
"Mom, you said you will tell me about the birds and the bees. Are we going to a garden today?" she asked innocently.
Alex was taken aback and she glanced over Robbie who laughed silently.
'Did he really think it was funny?' Alex thought.
Robbie just loved his daughter's curiosity as it gave a lot of different reactions across the table and in the room, too. Two of the maids started chuckling while an older maid smiled at Alex.
Among all the other maids, she had known Alex and Robbie for quite sometime and upon learning that they were engaged, she had never been so happy for them.
The older maid was Manang Emilia, who was in her sixties. She was the youngest sister of the late Manang Gloria, and her smile didn't pass Alex's eyes. Alex smiled faintly to her.
Bernie chuckled. "My dear little Sasha, you are truly an innocent young girl. We should probably start talking about this stuff later after breakfast, okay?"
"About what, Auntie? About the birds and the bees?"
"About everything," and Bernie gave a meaningful look to Alex.
Robbie groaned. Knowing Aunt Bernie, he would surely say it as it was just like when he and Alex were at the age of eleven.
It was a full ear loaves of information that both of them had never recovered from the images that came through their minds at that moment.
"Ummm..." Alex was the first one to clear her throat. "I think it is best for us to explain about IT to Sasha, don't you think, Robbie?"
She intentionally emphasized the word IT so Bernie would not get the idea of passing on the information to Sasha. She felt like her daighter would be horrified upon learning about it.
Alex finally looked at Robbie and he felt relieved. He would take whatever attention she will give him now and was hopeful they could also talk in private later.
He nodded in response to her as her eyes slowly looked away.
"Very well then. You're choice," Bernie conceded and smiled.
"But I want to see the garden, Mom." Sasha who was still not understanding, told her mom. In her mind, she was still thinking that the birds and bees were about the garden. She surely wanted to explore the large mansion and played at the beach but she wanted to know what those were about.
Would they discover a bird's nest somewhere? Maybe a beehive? Did his dad keep bees in the garden and breed them?
"Oh, we will surely go there later, Sasha. But first, we will go to the beach. There was a cave nearby and we could explore it together," Bernie told Sasha.
Bernie had mastered a plan of distracting Sasha so the pair could have time to do some "cave-diving" on their own and maybe come out with another beautiful result like Sasha...
"A cave? Really, Auntie? Wow!" Sasha's eyes lit up and for a moment she forgot all about her plans. Her mind wandered off to the cave, the beach and the garden. She surely knew she would enjoy it.
She suddenly wished Rico was with them so they could enjoy exploring the cave together. Maybe she will call him later while they were outside.
"Alex..." he reached for her hand across the table and she looked up. "We need to talk."
"A-about what?" she still couldn't look at him. She was trying to avoid him all morning and now she was getting nervous of the possible conversation they will have. Having him alone in the room gave her so many thoughts in which she didn't want to have in the first place.
What if they ended up kissing instead?
'You couldn't be thinking that now, Alex!' she scolded herself.
She knew something changed... and it was much more different from the first time they did it...
Whatever changed, she was not very comfortable with it because now she was starting to feel so much desire for Robbie and she hated herself for that.
"About... our engagement. The wedding details..." he lied. He actually wanted to just talk to her in private about what happened last night.
"Okay," and she glanced at Bernie.
"Don't worry about Sasha, dear. I will take care of her. Right, Sasha?"
Sasha smiled. "Yes, Mom. Go have fun with Daddy, too."
'Oh sht!' Alex thought. She knew that was not what her daughter was thinking but she gave a different meaning to the word "fun".
Robbie saw how her cheeks were red as beet and he grinned.
'Was she thinking about it now?' he wondered.
Maybe, just maybe, they could skip all the talk and move on to having "fun" after all.