21

Elise

We were both quiet as Mang Karding drove us up to Tagaytay. Gian got busy on his laptop as soon as the trip started while I listened to an audio book on my iPhone.

But I couldn’t focus. I was thinking, not about that awkward moment I had with Gian in my room. In fact, I was overthinking something else because I didn’t want to talk about that.

I pulled my earphones out and turned my attention to him. “Gian?”

He raised his head from the screen of the laptop and looked at me, his eyes still unfocused as if he was still on the report or whatever he was reading there.

“Can you come with me tonight to the Schultzes?”

“Is it going to be a personal visit or—”

“I wanna break up with him.”

His eyes focused on me.

“If he’s there, then he’s lying to me, and there is no reason to think he’s not doing that for a long time now. He knew I wanted to break up with him but he’s avoiding me.”

He let a few moments pass before he spoke carefully. “I’m sorry to hear that. I had hoped he would be a goo