The answer to that was to be expected, but of course, hindi pa rin nila mapigilan hintayin ang magiging sagot ni Izza sa tanong na iyon. So when Izza finally replied, “Of course, Rence, I will.” with such glee, they all cheered for them, umulan bigla ng throw pillows. “Wow,” Richard muttered under his breath, a little shocked. “Holy shit!” natatawa’ng sabi nalang ni Greg. For a few moments, the whole living area was filled with clapping and cheering, of Congratulations and Thank you’s. “Gagi, hindi kami ready sa proposal mo, Rence!” na-iiling na bulalas ni Kian. “Pero, potek na ‘yan, bakit ang romantic pa rin?!” “Girl, inggit ka lang, iinom mo muna ‘yan.” tukso ni Niel. “Congratulations ulit sa inyo’ng dalawa,” bati ni Awa sa dalawa. To which they both replied in unison with, ‘thank you.’ “Siya, we’ll celebrate it again later, for now…” nakangiti’ng anunsiyo ni Niel at tumingin sa dereksyon niya. “it’s finally Awa’s turn to ask.”Since si Rence ang huling nagtanong, ito na
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
The game went on for a few rounds, the questions and dares got a little harder than she expected. Questions such as: ilan na ang naging boyfriend niya, to which she answered three, na hindi sila gaano’ng convinced so she drank two shots of alcohol. Also questions like: who was her first love and how she moved on from her exes, and with whom was her longest relationship with and if she ever had sex before. “The longest relationship…” she mumbled. “I’d say… Troy? Probably Troy, yea.” “Troy? As in, Troy Cruz?” gulat na gulat ulit na tanong ni Kian sa kanya. “Mm-hmm.” “You were exes?!” “Yep.” sinamahan niya pa ng tango. “But he’s married now so… and wer’e still friends, too, so everything’s well.” “Diba you did a project together just recently?” “We did, yea, special request kasi ng photographer friend ko from New York, di ko matanggihan. He was basically the reason why I survived living independently abroad.” “You lived abroad?” “Yep, my whole career as a CEO basically start
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
Asia Winnessa Acosta, or most commonly known as Awa, is close to losing her nubility feeling left out. Lahat ng mga taong nakapalibot sa kanya ay ipina-paalala lang na isa siyang dakilang single. Even her cousin, who’s a few years younger than her, has had more… experience on this field beyond what her mind could imagine. Samantalang siya? Bokya pa rin hanggang ngayon. Her last attempt at flirting had been a total fiasco, she flirted with a freaking poser. Awa’s first shot at online dating and she failed miserably. Dati pa siyang may apprehension pagdating sa online dating na iyan, mas tumindi lang tuloy ang pagkamuhi niya ―for lack of better term― sa ideya ng online dating. Ngayon, sinusumpa na niya ito. And she swore never to date anyone she meets online. That poser fiasco made her ask herself: gaano ba siya kamalas pagdating sa dating at love, n
“Let’s drink?” Napa-angat ng tingin ang sekretarya sa kanya mula sa phone nito. Nagtataka. Nagdududa. “Raincheck muna, Awa.” “Why?” “I have a date tonight.” Sana all. She wanted to say, but she bit her tongue before she could utter a word. “Parang lagi kang may date, ah?” she asked instead, pinagkrus niya ang mga braso at isinandal ang pwetan sa edge ng mesa.
If not getting hangovers the day after swigging heavily is a superpower, then Awa wanted to have one. To say they got wasted was only putting things mildly. They were wasted beyond comprehension. Sa kalasingan nilang lima, hindi na nila nagamit ‘yung higaan na pinagpaguran niyang ayusin. She knew they would end up like that, dahil kailan nga ba hindi? They do have high alcohol tolerance, except for Ember, but they all drank past that and got themselves shitfaced drunk. It’s a good thing they were inside the confines of her unit, otherwise she wouldn’t live to see and remember the mortification of doing shit things while drunk, if ever the
“Here’s the final draft for HD’s concept.” Barely looking up from what she was doing, she replied, “Pakilapag nalang diyan sa tabi. Thanks, M.” “Anything else?” “Coffee,” she pleaded, groaning, as if caffeine was her lifeline. “Coming right up.” Asia’s week had mostly revolved around her paperworks, and, well, her work in general: phone calls with sponsors, meetings with the whole HD team, signing papers. The only break she had was that day they met Jed’s girlfriend: Venus McGraw.&nb