My husband, who had been away on a business trip for a week, knocked on my door in the middle of the night in his thin shorts…

The night was deep, the darkness like a velvet curtain covering the small house perched precariously on the hillside in Tagaytay. The wind whistled through the cracks in the door, carrying the chill of late autumn. I lay on the bed, the blanket pulled up to my chin, trying to coax myself to sleep but my mind was drifting, hazy like the mist outside.

My husband, Miguel, had been away on a business trip for more than a week, leaving me alone in this house, where every little noise was enough to make my heart pound.

That night, I heard a knock on the door. It wasn’t a gentle knock, but a loud, urgent knock, as if the person standing outside was being pressed by something that couldn’t wait. I sat up, my eyes scanning the dark room, with only the faint moonlight filtering through the curtains. The clock on the table read two in the morning. Who could be coming at this hour? I clutched the edge of the blanket, trying to calm myself. The knocking came again, louder, accompanied by a low, familiar voice that startled me.

“Isabel, buksan mo! Ako ito.”

It was Miguel’s brother, Ramon. I hesitated. Ramon and his wife, Marites, lived in the house across the street. What was he doing here in the middle of the night? I put on my coat and got out of bed, my bare feet cold on the tile floor. When I opened the door, I almost froze. Ramon was standing there, shirtless, wearing only a pair of thin shorts, his hair disheveled, his eyes filled with worry. In the dim light from the porch light, I could see beads of sweat on his forehead, despite the cold night.

“Isabel, kailangan ko ng tulong mo…” His voice was urgent, almost a whisper. “Mayroon ka bang sanitary napkin? Si Marites kasi… pero wala nang mabibilhan ngayong oras.”

I blinked, my mind blank. It was a normal question, even a bit awkward, but it left me stunned. I had never seen Ramon in this state: flustered, almost helpless. He, a man who was always calm and strong, was now standing at my door, in the middle of the night, looking like a lost child. I nodded, trying to hide my embarrassment, then turned back to my room to get a pack of sanitary napkins from the closet. My hands were shaking as I handed it to him. Ramon thanked me quickly, then turned and walked away, his figure disappearing into the night.

I closed the door, but I couldn’t go back to sleep. A strange feeling crept into me: why didn’t Ramon call first? Why did he have to come all the way here, in the middle of the night, for that reason?

The next morning, I went to Ramon’s house. Marites was hanging clothes outside, wearing a thin sweater, her face calm. I greeted her, then deliberately brought up last night in a half-joking tone:

“Marites, kagabi muntik akong himatayin. Ramon knocked on my door in the middle of the night asking for sanitary napkins for you.”

Marites paused, her hand holding the shirt stopping in mid-air. She turned to me, her eyes slightly surprised. “Sanitary napkins? Ramon asked for them at your house? Pero… hindi ko naman kailangan.”

My heart skipped a beat. “Ano? He told me I was on my period…”

Marites shook her head. “Hindi, Isabel. Hindi ako dinatnan. Kagabi maaga akong natulog, tapos sabi niya may lakad lang saglit.”

Her words were like a cold knife cutting through my thoughts. If it wasn’t for Marites, why would Ramon lie?…

The second night, I decided to stay up all night. Around one in the morning, I saw Ramon come out of the window. Not in shorts anymore, but in a white shirt and trousers – dressed neatly as if he were going to a party. Driven by a strange feeling, I put on my coat and followed.

He walked down the small road leading towards the town of Silang. The road was dark and quiet. I kept my distance, my heart pounding. Ramon stopped in front of an old house, hidden behind a row of coconut trees. The window was lit with yellow light. He knocked on the door. A woman opened it, slim, with long, flowing hair. They said something quickly, then Ramon stepped inside, the door closing.

I stood there in the dark, my heart pounding. Who was that woman? Why was Ramon here?

A few days later, I received a call from an unknown number. A woman’s voice said:

“Are you Isabel? I know about Ramon. If you want to know the truth, come to the old house under the coconut trees.”

That night, I knocked on the door of that house. The person who opened the door was none other than Helena, Marites’s old best friend. Helena invited me in, her eyes sharp but not hostile.

“Ramon is not having an affair, Isabel. But he is hiding a big secret.”

Helena told me that Marites had a rare blood-related disease that made her often weak, sleepless, and even depressed. Ramon was afraid that people would pity his wife, so he kept it a secret, only Helena knew and secretly helped. The night Ramon came to my house to ask for sanitary napkins, it was actually because Marites had abnormal bleeding, but he did not want to say it clearly.

“But I’m leaving soon, Isabel,” Helena sighed. “I can’t carry the burden with Ramon forever. He needs someone to share it with. And that person… is you.”

The next evening, I decided to go to Ramon and Marites’ house. It was Marites who opened the door. She looked at me, her eyes sad as if she wanted to say something. I held her hand:

“Marites, alam ko na. I will be here, with you.”

Marites burst into tears, hugging me. Ramon stood behind me, his eyes red. That night, we sat together, saying things we had never dared to say.

The most surprising thing, I only found out when Miguel returned. It was Miguel who had secretly arranged for Helena to contact me, because he knew I would not abandon his family in difficult times.

Lying next to Miguel at night, listening to the wind blowing through the cracks in the door, I realized: the knocks on the door in the middle of the night not only bring fear… but sometimes are a reminder of truth, love and compassion – the things that keep us together in the storms of life.