Because of the heavy rain and the unspoken concern that he cannot possibly leave Mia (Anne Curtis) outside on her own, Patrick (Joshua Garcia) finds himself compelled to let her stay in his place until the downpour subsides. Coincidentally, his brother Matmat (Carlo Aquino) is not there, having decided to stay at Nanay Li (Rio Locsin)’s house after sulking over an earlier spat with him, which to Patrick also means he gets to keep his brother away from Mia.
Once inside, their familiar bickering sets in as Patrick takes offense at Mia’s pointed comments about how his life resembles that of a caged animal, which exists without vitality and merely enduring each day. Mia also tells him not to bring Matmat home, prompting him to reply that he indeed has no intention of doing so because he does not want Matmat to be around her, a remark that Mia teasingly frames as jealousy, which Patrick quickly denies before steering the exchange toward a lecture on the importance of expressing emotions. Patrick shows Mia the “chart of emotions” Matmat studies to understand the subtleties of human feeling.
Mia insists she has no need for such a thing and then challenges Patrick’s belief that all people possess emotions by bringing up the child in her book “Ang Batang Tiyanak,” whom she maintains has none. But Patrick counters that the child does, citing a moment in the book where the ‘tiyanak’ describes his mother’s hug as feeling nice, which to him reveals the demon child’s longing for warmth.
To prove his point, Patrick places his hand against her cheek. Sensing that Mia is affected by the heat of his touch, he continues explaining that what the ‘batang tiyanak’ lacks is not sustenance but the comfort of human warmth, prompting Mia to brusquely lower his hand and reject the notion, insisting that the child wants nothing more than food even if it means eating his own mother before ending the argument with a cutting remark that only hopeless, sentimental people searching for meaning in their own lives would interpret the story the way Patrick did.
Catch “It’s Okay To Not Be Okay” on Kapamilya Channel, Kapamilya Online Live (KOL), A2Z, and TV5, weeknights at 8:45 PM. Watch it in advance on Netflix and iWant.