After dinner, she tried staying away from Europe. Emphasis on tried. Dahil after nila mag-dinner, they decided to watch a movie, totally random picked, at talaga’ng sinadya silang pagtabihin ng mga kasama nila. The movie was… not entertaining enough to them. Laging kinu-kontra ni Niel at Kian ang mga scenes althroughout the movie. “Bakit pa ba natin kasi pinanuod?” maktol ni Greg. “Lalaitin niyo lang naman pala.” “Constructive criticism ang tawag dun.” depensa ni Kian. “Aling banda doon ang constructive, ha?” “Lahat, duh!” Actually, talaga’ng nilait lang nila ‘yung movie. Minsan tinatama pa nga kasi hindi naman daw ‘yun ang nangyar sa libro. And she completely understand; nabasa na rin niya kasi ‘yung libro, in fact one of her favourites, and they totally ruined the whole story. After watching, since maaga pa sa kanila ang ten o’clock, they moved the table to the side and they formed a circle in the carpet. Niel decided for them to play: truth or dare. They have this rule:

After maka-ikot at makabalik na ulit sa kanya ang tanong, Kian excitedly asked, na mukha’ng kanina pa talaga nito hinihintay. “So, Awa, which entertainment company do you own?”Shaking her head and smiling, she replied, “You take a guess.”There was excitement in Kian’s eyes at the thought. “Imposible’ng Joy kasi hindi mo aura ‘yung ganun. OT?”Still smiling knowingly with her lips slightly pursed, she kept herself quiet. Rafa at the other end was chuckling quietly to herself. Lumipad ang tingin ni Kian sa kaibigan at nanungot ang noo nito.“You know something, don’t you?”Everyone looked over at Rafa who just kept herself quiet. “You do know something, Rafa.”“I might but it’s not my question to answer, Kian.”“WA.” she suddenly blurted out. Agad-agad lumingon si Kian sa kanya, nanlalaki ang mga mata. Kahit si Niel ay nilingon siya, unblinking, shocked, speechless. Mahina siya’ng napatawa dahil sa reaksyon ng mga kasama. “For real?” halos panabay na sigaw ni Kian at

Kanina pa pa-ikot-ikot si Awa sa higaan, samantalang ‘yung tatlo’ng katabi niya ay ang hihimbing na ng tulog. Slowly and carefully, she slipped out of the bed and tiptoed her way out of the room.Naabutan niya si Europe, naka-upo sa high stool sa may kitchen island, may hawak na isang can ng beer. Hindi pa ba lasing ‘tong lalaki’ng ‘to?Tumikhim siya to announce her arrival. Lumingon si Europe sa direksyon niya, nginitian niya muna ito bago siya dumeretso sa fridge, buti nalang at may stock ng gatas sa fridge ni Europe. She grabbed the carton and poured herself some before making her way to the island and sat comfortably at the other stool. There was a moment of silence between them, hindi niya na makayanan ang katahimikan, so Asia decided to break the ice.“Do you think it was my cousin, Raf, that Rafa was talking to earlie—““Did you mean it?”“Mean what?”“What you said earlier,” Europe answered. “Did you mean it?”“I said a lot earlier, Europe, alin sa mga ‘yun ang tinut