“Told you Megan wouldn’t be down with it,” Logan mumbles under his breath as he pointedly looks at Danica sitting right next to him.Being the very culprit of the reunion in Batangas, she isn’t in the least fazed by his actions. It’s not like she’s been planning it for years. But when Naia mentioned that her mom was planning a big RT reunion a few months ago, it got her thinking. She’s always wanted the people involved in the 2010 incident to reconcile in some sort of way. Granted that she sides more with Megan and the others, she still doesn’t want any bad blood within the group. The RT community is quite small, much less the Filipino RT community. There’s no way they weren’t going to at least bump into each other at some point in time. Prime example would be the Dela Vegas and Villaviejas. Both are close family friends, since Mr. Dela Vega is Megan’s godfather.“I never said it was going to be easy,” Danica claims, raising an eyebrow his way, “Besides, she has every right
Blindingly bright fluorescent lights, full-on blasted air conditioner, and complete silence.This always seems to be the case during her job interviews. If the HR didn’t want to see her right away, they would make her wait awhile before officially coming in and finally interview her. She had no idea whether this was some sort of mind game they played with potential employees, but nonetheless she went with it. But of course, it still doesn’t erase the fact that she’s completely terrified and wishes it would end soon. It doesn’t matter whether she’s gone to one or a hundred job interviews, they still continue to torment her. What, with some of the unexpected questions they ask according to the type of company they run.“Sorry, I hope I didn’t keep you waiting for too long.”Megan snaps out of her breakdown of a trance and looks up at the unfamiliar face before her. “It’s fine.” Different from the pleasant woman from HR minutes ago, a slim and somewhat attractive man stands
Fall, 2004The bursting sound of crashing waves instantly woke Megan up with a jolt. She lifted her head up, allowing her eyes to take in the surroundings once more. Indigo and starry sky paired with the glistening moon above the beautiful beach that always made her feel at home. She looked to her right and caught Jared staring into the dark and seemingly bleak horizon.Right. She’d been taking a nap on his shoulder again. This was becoming a normal occurrence, thanks to the number of times she had done it. Whenever he detected she was feeling sleepy, he’d offer his shoulder as some kind of sacrifice and she would gladly take it.“How long have I been out?” she asked.“A couple of days,” he deadpanned.She made a face at this and stayed silent.“A few minutes. I’m not sure,” he then answered seriously.She stretched and sighed in contentment, slowly starting to feel refreshed from the brief slumber.“You sure you got enough rest?”She yawned, “Yeah, I’m fine.”
Summer, 2016“So, we’ll see you soon,” Jared says, sharing a small smile.He, Jacob, and Megan are standing just outside the restaurant to say their goodbyes. The Ocampo parentals, on the other hand, are busy taking selfies by themselves a few feet away from them.Lunch didn’t go as bad as Megan thought it would. Although there were moments when she and Jared would awkwardly meet eyes and try to start up a conversation of their own. And once in a while, Mrs. Ocampo would swoop in, attempting to salvage the overwrought exchange. Megan had no idea if it was on purpose, but by judging how sharp a Filipino mother’s instincts are, it was definitely deliberate.Jacob could certainly sense the tension between the two. Which he understood, since it’s been forever since they last talked. He knew that they drifted apart before Megan left for the Philippines, but he never got to know why. The only person who was completely clueless was Mr. Ocampo. He would hum in agreement e
“HEEEEEEEYYY!!!” Jacob comes running to the girls standing near the entrance of Greenbelt.The day of the much awaited road trip slash reunion in Batangas finally arrives.Their big group of friends are divided into two teams: team north and team south. As the name of both teams lead, those who are in team north live in or near northern Luzon and vice versa with team south. Team north is usually composed of the Ocampo brothers, Danica, Zoe, and Naia. While team south has Megan, Felicity, Logan, and Odell. And since Batangas is in the south, the two groups decided it would be better for them to go to the resort on separate rides and just meet there.After Jacob, and Jared (from inside the car, since he’s the designated driver), exchange greetings with Danica and Naia, Danica immediately inquires, “Where’s Zoe?” She assumed the older girl would already be with the two brothers since they live really close to each other.“Couldn’t make it, unfortunately. Has some kind of model
Between spring and summer, 2006All she could see, or chose to see, was his incredibly dark pupil. But it’s been several minutes (she assumed), that she’s starting to wonder how the two of them got stuck in this situation. Though several thoughts ran through her mind, she remained still, not wanting to back down. If she was going to lose, she was going to do it gracefully.“Okay. How LONG are we going to be doing this?” Megan finally broke their silence, albeit refusing to break her stare.“Until you lose,” Jared answered in his usually cool tone. Deep down, he was actually close to giving up.Megan frowned at his seemingly solid resilience. “You wish.”Almost immediately, he blew towards her eyes.She instantly squinted and scoffed, “Cheater.”“I never said I planned to win fair and square.” He flashed her an innocent grin.“Har-har.” She made a face and rolled her eyes at his smug expression.“Okay. Can you two, for just one second, stop flirting?” Jacob prot
Summer, 2016“Right…” This is all Megan can muster after they took a little trip down memory lane.She must’ve regressed those last few moments they had together during the past few years. She knows that she suffered a whole lot right after it happened. Not only was she plagued by the difficulties of adjusting to a new country and school, she was also drowned with negative thoughts regarding her first love.And now that she’s remembering every detail like it had happened yesterday, she’s once again filled with regret and guilt. Regret, because she could’ve just straight up asked him what his feelings were despite risking ruining their friendship. And guilt, because in Jared’s perspective, it must’ve been so out of the blue. A surprise attack, like the Trojan horse.“I did have feelings for you, you know.” Jared’s words snap Megan back to reality. “So, I was crushed when you suddenly broke it off like that.”Did I hear that right?? “...what?” she says confused and a
Summer, 2010“So I put my hands up they’re playin’ my song. The butterflies fly awaaaaay!!!” Megan sang—more like shouted—at the top of her lungs.With the top of the car down, she had her arms raised up high under the clear evening sky, feeling more exhilarated by the minute. It was nothing out of the usual. Every summer since 2006, she had been returning to her beloved hometown to meet all of her friends again and have a good time. This was always the case for any returning student. Despite studying in another country, you were welcome to return to Ras Tanura, as long as your parents still worked there. By 2010, almost everyone in the group except Felicity and Lacey were returning students.After spending some time in Ras Tanura, the gang would, more often than not, continue to hang out in the Philippines. There were summers when some people couldn’t make it. Nonetheless, they retained the unspoken rule of seeing each other under any circumstances. Lost in the ha