on the loose

I woke up today at 4 in the morning hearing. I think I heard my phone beep. I wondered who would be sending me a message at this time. One of the reasons I love being jobless is I don't get calls and messages when I am sleeping. So who is this?!

I picked up my phone and looked at the screen. It's the 3rd Mate. Now me and 3rd Mate hadn't been really close. I tend to gravitate more towards my sisters than him. It's not that I don't like him. I do. I love him to bits and pieces but 3rd Mate... well, he's more like me. He gets into this moods which most people don't understand but I do and I know that I have to respect that space. So I become standoffish around him but he knows that I care about him alot. He knows that if he feels like eating anything I'd cook it for him and bake some too. So that's how we are. If he wants to talk to me, he would ask me to cook something for him and he would talk and I'll just listen.

So going back to this message. We don't send SMS to each other, I mean I used not to initiate sending him messages but the past weeks since he has been back to the country he has been sending me messages asking me how I am and stuff like that. I could sense that he's in trouble but I don't prod, if he wants to say something sooner or later he would. Now in this message, he's asking me to spend time with him in Manila and spend a few weeks there. This is so not 3rd Mate, so I find this message strange. It's like he's looking up to me to protect him from someone or something.

I called my sister and asked what has been happening. My sister said his ex is stalking him. The girl even went to another city where he was teaching a few days back to look for him. The girl went to each hotel and inquired if he was checked in there and didn't stop until she found him. She has been following him persistently refusing the break-up. Ahhh. I get it now. Like Old Faithful the sense of trying to protect my brother from this woman surges inside me.

I gotta pack and travel again.