“Okay, so now you’d have to ilipat this little guy over here. You see?” Marlene smiled as she repositioned one of the pieces on the chess board.

Rico, who sat on the opposite side of the board that rested on a small boulder, rubbed his head in confusion. He wasn’t quite getting the hang of this new game. He had witnessed Kowalski and Skipper playing it many times before, but never did he make an attempt to participate.

“Okay, so it’s my turn, and…I think I’ll move…” she paused as her hand hovered over the board, searching for the perfect piece to use, “…this one!” Marlene moved her bishop across the board, resulting in the downfall of one of Rico’s knights.

“Uh-oh, Rico!” she giggled with a wide grin, “I killed your horse!”

The ibong dagat rolled his eyes and shook his head with folded flippers. Marlene had been practically playing the game for him. He released a sigh of annoyance and looked towards the cave entrance. It appeared to be raining, that night. Rico had spent his entire araw with Marlene, helping her clean the cave and play games. It really didn’t interest him at all. He wanted to go on a mission with his friends.

Instead, he was stuck with an hayop ng oter in a completely different habitat. At this point, Rico was beginning to feel as though he had a babysitter. There were many times when Marlene would treat him like a child. He didn’t know if it was in her nature, or if his speech deficiency had something to do with it.

He didn’t know why Kowalski lied about all of this. At first, Rico felt sorry for him, but now the intellectual’s mistakes were starting to affect those around him. He didn’t know how long he could withstand this torture before he did something he knew he would soon regret. After all, what was stopping him? Why couldn’t he simply walk over to his true tahanan and just try to straighten things out? Nothing could go wrong!

“Oh, Private! I didn’t see ya there…” Marlene exclaimed as she hopped out of her upuan from behind the chess board.

Sure enough, there Private was; standing at the entrance of the cave. He appeared to be holding a blue bowl that contained several fish.

“So, whatcha got there?” Marlene asked while she approached the drenched guest. Rico’s attention was only fixated on the pagkain that occupied Private's bowl.

“Just some isda that I brought for Rico is all. Eh, sorry if they’re a bit soggy.” Private slowly made his way towards Rico and placed the bowl on the chess board, regardless of the pieces that were forced away in order to make room.

Rico’s eyes grew wide at the sight and immediately grinned, licking his beak in hunger.

“They’re just fine…” Marlene crossed her arms and smiled as she studied Rico’s behavior. She had nearly forgotten about the penguin’s natural diet. All this time, the hayop ng oter had been feeding him other things; things he probably shouldn’t have eaten. But, that wasn’t exactly a big problem for Rico.

Private wore a worried expression on his face as his eyes darted from Rico to Marlene, and vice-versa. At this point, Rico began to devour the isda in a maniacal manner, which sickened Marlene to no end after she observed for a few seconds. Private noticed this. In order to avert her attention from the horrific sight, the small ibong dagat decided to speak up.

“So, Marlene…how’ve you been, lately?”

The hayop ng oter blinked and turned her head to look down a bit, “Oh, I’ve been great…you know…” she forced a chuckle as he scratched the back of her head, “How’s Skipper? Is he…doing fine?” Marlene rested her hands on her hips and tilted her head to the side.

Private was surprised that she suddenly asked about his leader. He must have been very special in her eyes.

This reminded Private…

“Skippa seems normal, I guess. But, I wanted to ask you.” He stopped and looked to Rico in hopes that he wasn’t paying attention.

“Okay, shoot!” Marlene smiled, eager to hear what this tanong would be.

“Um…has Skippa ever told you…that he…well…that he loves you?”

Marlene’s eyes grew in surprise.

“Oh, whoa! Um, well…” she paused and looked to Rico as well before turning back, “No. Why, does he?” she instantly smiled once again, “He does, doesn’t he!” she asked, almost in a declarative manner.

“I’m not so sure, Marlene. Maybe you should ask him!” he suggested unintentionally.

“Skipper made you do this, didn’t he?” the hayop ng oter narrowed her eyes with a smirk. She thought that she was now catching on.

“No! I was just curious! Honest!”

“Oh, alright…I’ll let it go for now.” she giggled at the sight of Private’s trembling.

An awkward silence…

“Well, I guess I should go, then. I’ll tell Skippa you sinabi hi!” he finished, turning to waddle towards the cave entrance. He wasn’t looking pasulong to the paliguan that nature would soon deliver once again.

“So soon? Well, okay, then! See ya!” he heard Marlene call out from behind.

Private suddenly felt a pair of flippers balutin around his body in an embrace; along with a large form that his body was being pressed against from behind. He quickly squirmed and struggled to break free as though he were fighting for his life.

“No, no, no, no!! Get off! Leave me alone!” Private screamed loudly as he kicked the figure that was behind him.

“Gah!!” Rico released Private and coughed wildly from the blow that he received in the stomach. The kick resulted in the regurgitation of the grey crowbar that Rico had found, the other day. The crowbar made quite a loud noise as it forcefully hit the ground, covering it in a green slime.

Private turned after he realized who had embraced him and gasped.

“Oh, I’m so sorry, Rico! You really gave me a fright, that’s all!” he pleaded as he took a few steps to see if he was all right.

“Are you okay, Rico?” Marlene asked after she witnessed the scene.

Rico shook his head to regain his composure and sighed, giving the hayop ng oter a reluctant nod of confirmation.

“I’m sorry, Rico. I’ll miss you, too.” He nodded, understanding, now, that Rico was simply giving a farewell hug.

After that, Private left…

Later, Rico retrieved his crowbar and swallowed it once again for ligtas keeping.

How long was this going to last?

Private was most likely going to tell Skipper of what happened; and that only meant madami time with Marlene.

Why did everyone have to accuse Rico of something else whenever he simply hugged someone?

Why was he taking the blame for what someone else tried to do with him?

Did Skipper even care?

“Hey, Rico, wanna have another go at chess?”

Damn that otter…