Awa lazily picked her phone up, nakadapa siyang nakahiga sa king-sized bed sa kwarto niya sa family house nila sa metro; the said family house was what they used to live with her parents and siblings when they were younger.            Wala kasi ang Papa niya rito, he’s overseas for a business trip; the Voltes Five decided to celebrate Ember’s birthday at her family house for a change. At ang mga magagaling, iniwan siya ng mga ito mag-isa, ni hindi man lang nag-abala’ng gisingin man lang siya bago sila umalis.            It was a Sunday morning, and Sundays mean family time, which means she— and the rest of the Acosta’s available and nearby— would be coming home to their ancestral house at the compound to spend the whole day with the whole clan.

Turns out, there wouldn’t be any counselling sesh to happen, naalala niyang this week na pala ang alis niya para sa project nila ni Troy na ishu-shoot sa Luzon, Visayas at Mindanao. Kung alam niya lang, sana nung nasa mansion si Drew ay nag-demand na siya ng sesh.            “I’m really sorry, Drew,” she told him over the phone, “Maybe after this project.”            “It’s really okay, Awa.” Drew chuckled from the other line. “I understand but if anything, you can call me any time, okay?”            “Okay, Doc. Copy that.” napabuntong-hininga siya’t ngumiti kahit hindi naman nakikita ng kausap. “I must be holding you from work, I gotta hang up.”     &nb

After that little pep talk they had a couple nights ago, Troy had went back to being his usual self: loud and, dare she say it, annoying. He was messing around her majority of the day, especially during breaks. He would annoy the hell out of her until they’d both end up running around, with Awa chasing after him, hoping to get a chance to smack him at least once.            Nagtatakbo ang binata palayo sa kanila, hinayaan niya na dahil pagod na siya kakahabol. And although she has the height, Awa just couldn’t catch up to him for reasons that 1) he’s six foot tall, mas mahaba ang legs nun kesa sa kanya; and 2) he was on the track and field back in high school and college, so of course he could run run.            She went back to the tent panting, na-upo siya sa katabing upuan ni Paul— who was looking at her funny.&nbs

Pina-una na niya’ng pumasok sa conference room sila Myra at Mia, because she made a quick detour to her office to meet up with her cousins. Awa received a message from them, informing her that they were in her office. And as much as she trust them with some errands, she couldn’t trust them enough when it comes to staying at her office, alone.             They were busy arguing when she opened the door, tumigil lang nang makita siya. She made her way to the couch opposite theirs and sat. “You got it?”             Ini-abot agad ni Blue, White’s younger brother, ang isang brown envelope sa kanya. She muttered a thank you bago mabilis na binuksan ang envelope para ma-check ang laman nito. Awa was eager to finally find out the truth and was ready to make the one responsible pay.         &nb

The long wait is over, the day of the comeback has finally arrived. The whole HD team was busy, so are the social medias, because fans had been so excited for it na umaga palang ay nagpapa-trend na ang mga ito. The music video would drop at twelve noon, the same time they’d be guesting at a noontime show to perform their title track; and later at seven, they would then start their anniversary concert special.            Everything was going smoothly and as planned, she made sure that nothing would go wrong today or she would definitely going to fvcking riot. Awa doubled the security: stricter, tighter. Ayaw niya’ng masalisihan at mauli na naman ang panibago’ng inside job. Although, she would have to apologize to all the employees after this.            She didn’t want to risk this, so better safe than sorry.