Chapter 3

"Have you been here long?" Joy asked when she finally got close to her classmates' table.

Her voice was almost covered by the loud music of the bar. The bass was beating in her chest. The lights were colorful, red, blue, and violet turning around on the ceiling. There was a smell of alcohol, cigarettes, perfume, and sweat mixing in the air.

In one corner of the bar were the people she lived with in the dorm for four years. Four years of crying and laughing, breaking down together and staying up late together.

"Yes, April Joy, we have been here for a while!" they answered together while hitting the table.

There were already bottles of Red Horse on the table. There were some plates of food that were only half full. There were laughs that sounded a bit drunk.

They had been inviting her in the group chat for a while. They said it was a celebration. Finally, it was done. Their graduation was just yesterday. She is a graduate now. They are graduates now so they should be happy. But while looking at her classmates who were laughing hard, something hurt in her chest.

She is a graduate now. It means the student excuse is gone. No more saying "I can still endure this, I am just studying." She needs to face real life now.

But she smiled a little at her own thoughts. Is she not going through real life already? Since her first year of college, she was the one sending herself to school. She pays the tuition. She looks for part-time jobs. She saves money so she has food allowance. She has no parents to drop her off. She has no parents to give her allowance. So what else is this "real world" they call?

"Sorry if we did not wait for you at the dorm earlier," Regine whispered while pulling her to sit. "They were just very eager to drink."

She smiled, but her eyes were still tired.

"By the way," Regine added, her voice going down a bit, "we already packed our things at the dorm earlier. Do you want me to help you pack your things?"

It felt like cold water was poured on her head. The dorm.

She had been avoiding thinking about it for days. When they leave there, where will she go? She has not found a boarding house that fits her budget. And what hurts more is she does not have a budget yet. That is why she sold things earlier to have money for a down payment. But she sold nothing. She was even robbed. She scratched her head, trying to hide the heavy feeling in her chest.

Out of all her dorm mates, she was closest to Regine. She borrowed money from her many times. She was asked many times if she was okay even when Regine knew she was not. She did not know where she would end up if she had not met her.

"What is the problem?" Regine asked, obviously noticing her sudden silence. "How was your trip earlier by the way? Oh wait, do you want to eat anything? Just order, I will pay."

She looked at the menu. Chicken sisig. Nachos. Rice meals. Prices she could look at but not order. She just reached for the plate of peanuts in the middle of the table. She took one piece, threw it in the air, and caught it with her mouth.

Perfect catch.

She smiled. If earlier she was throwing popcorn in the air in the middle of the street, now it is peanuts. Life is amazing. Different settings, but the same feeling. She wished her problems were just peanuts too. So she could throw them and eat them, and it would be done.

"Joy, just order now," Regine said again. "I will pay."

"I am okay with these peanuts," she answered.

But when the cold glass of Red Horse was handed to her, she did not say no. Of course, it was free.

And honestly, she wanted to drink. First gulp. Hot in the throat, but cold when it reached the stomach. Second. The flow was faster. Third. The lights on the ceiling were spinning a bit.

Her glass was not even half empty but she already felt dizzy. She is not used to drinking so she gets hit fast. She took peanuts again, but she did not throw them anymore. She could no longer estimate the distance. She did not want to waste free peanuts.

"Reg, please get the glass," she said while smiling widely at her friend. "The glass is becoming two in my sight."

Her classmates laughed.

"See," Regine scolded. "I told you to eat first before drinking."

"Drinking on an empty stomach," another one added.

"Oh! Basic," she answered, but her look was a bit floating. She stood up to get the shot glass. She held onto the table for a moment because the floor seemed to move, she was really dizzy but she did not show it.

She did not want them to worry. She did not want anyone to take her home. She did not want them to ask where she would move. She took the shot glass and drank what was inside.

The hit was more painful and faster.

"It is actually better to be dizzy," she said while still smiling widely. "So when I go home, I will just go straight to sleep."

But instead of going back to her seat, she walked towards the door of the bar. She was swaying but trying hard to straighten her back. She did not even know where the real door was because it was becoming two in her eyes.

"Joy, where are you going?" shouted Regine, who she knew was now standing up to support her.

"Just going to pee!" she shouted back, too loud for the small bar.

"The restroom is not there!"

She stopped for a moment, turned around, smiling even though her vision was a bit blurry.

"I am not going to use the restroom," she said. "I am going home to the dorm."

Deep inside, she did not know where she was really going home. And for the first time that night, she felt a bit nervous. Where will she end up now that she will be unemployed? What is the next step after graduating?

But what Joy did not know was that the man who had his calling card given to her was looking at her again. Their time and moment matched again. That even destiny was making a way for their paths to meet again.

"Do you see that, Brian?" Alexander asked his companion. "Let us follow her.”