Nanlulumo siya’ng naka-upo sa passenger seat ng kotse ni Drew habang binabaybay nila ang daan papunta sa Acosta compound. Hindi man lang niya nalaman kung sino ang operator ni Liam. Baka si Rence pala ‘yung crush niya, hindi pwede! Rence already has Izza, and Awa knows love when she sees one. Hindi siya pa’ng third party, nor is she a relationship wrecker.            She sighed again, na hindi nakatakas sa pansin ni Drew. Saglit na lumingon ang binata sa kanya bago binalik ang tingin sa daan.            “Are you okay, Awa?” he asked, eyes glued on the road. “Kanina ka pa bumubuntong-hininga diyan.”            “I’m fine,”     &

Carmela Cole: so u finally have an identity now, huh                        Liam Skye: tho to be completely honest                                    I wanted to keep the anonymity going                       Carmela: for all I know, you’ve known me for some time now            May seen sa baba ng message niya pero wala’ng reply. Asia waited for a few minutes pero wala pa rin reply ang magal

She decided to answer the call. Mukha kasi’ng na-i-istorbo na niya ang pahinga ng pinsan. She pulled her AirPods out and connected it to her phone. Hindi siya nagsalila. She waited until he said his hello, which he did. “Hello? Babe?” Babe? They’re not together pero bakit babe pa rin ang tawag nito sa kanya? They’re talking not as Liam and Carmela, but as Jae and Asia, so what gives? “Hmm?” “I wanted to apologize,” Asia felt her breath hitched. Was that a prank? April fools? Was he teasing her? Or a test or somethi— “But not for what I said, I meant that.” Oh. “I wanted to apologize for taking you by surprise with that, I should’ve waited for the right time to say that.” There was a nervous laugh elicited from Jae. “I didn’t mean to scare you or make you think I was some sick psycho stalker or anything, but I really like you. Like… a lot.” “Um

Wednesday afternoon, right after her meeting adjourned, hindi pa nga siya tuluya’ng nakakalabas sa conference room, tumunog ang notification ng phone niya: a message from Rafa. Rafa Migue: hi Asia, they decided na kumain nalang tayo sa labas for tonight tapos we can go to a bar or club or something oks lang ba ‘yun sa’yo? Asia A.: ofc, just text me w/c restaurant & what time I’ll be there may isang meeting nalang ako and I’d be free to go Nang mag-send na ang message niya sa kaibigan, she rose to her heels and marched out of the conference room. Wala si Mia sa may table nito pagdating niya sa harap ng opisina niya, baka ay may inaayos sa ginawang minutes kanina sa meeting. Pumasok siya ng opisina na deretso lang ang tingin, kaya ay

Two and a half hours and three tipsy bodies later, Asia found herself seated at the cushioned couch in the VVIP room prepared by Max. ‘Yung mga kasama niya nasa baba, nag-sasayaw— sila Niel, Kian at Greg at Rafa, specifically. While Rence, Richard, Enzo and Europe were just at the other corner of the couch, talking while drinking on their drinks. Habang si Izza, nasa tabi niya, mabagal na sumisimsim sa beer niya. “Are you not going to join them?” she half shouted at Izza. The thing is, hindi sobrang ingay ng VVIP rooms, given nasa far right side siya ng second floor. “Mukha’ng nag-eenjoy sila Kian sa baba.” Max informed her that every VIP rooms were already taken, at dalawang VVIP rooms nalang ang available for the night. Ang alam niya, VVIP are exclusive only for private parties within the night party, and also to some very close family and friends of Max. Hindi naman sa hindi sila magkaibigan ni Max pero hindi naman sila sobrang close for him to o