All Chapters of I Drunkenly Married the Rival's Heir: Chapter 1 - Chapter 9

By the time I landed in Honolulu, twenty-six hours na akong gising and had eaten two sad airplane meals. I couldn’t sleep, my brain simply won't rest so I continued crocheting a very small bear that I started weeks ago. Isa lang ang mata niya kasi naubusan ako ng butones somewhere over the Pacific.The strangest part was the date. Thanks to the International Date Line, I left Manila on Monday night and arrived in Hawaii on Monday afternoon, I feel I cheated time. My body, unfortunately, was not fooled. It insisted it was Tuesday morning and that I should be unconscious.The air outside the airport was warm, soft and smelled faintly of flowers and jet fuel. Hinaplos ng trade winds ang mukha ko, and for one moment, nakalimutan kong maging miserable.My driver was a round, cheerful man in a faded aloha shirt who told me to call him Uncle Dale. "First time in Hawaii?" he asked, loading my luggage into the van."First time in America, actually.""Whoa. Welcome! You here for vacation?""Wor

My alarm went off at 5:30 a.m., and for one confused second nakalimutan ko kung nasaan ako.Then the sofa bed groaned beneath me, the ceiling swam into focus, and reality returned with all the subtlety of a dropped brick. Hawaii. The summit. Alexander Legaspi, one wall away.I got up and tiptoed toward the bathroom, kung saan may gumagamit na ng six a.m. shower na buong yabang kong idineklara.The water was running. Someone was humming, sintunado."Rule three," I whispered furiously. "Rule three."The humming stopped. A pause. Then, through the door, in a voice thick with sleep and unmistakable amusement: "Luna? Is that you?”"You're in my shower.""It's six in the morning. You said six.""It's 5:52.""I couldn't sleep. Jet lag. My body thinks it's midnight tomorrow." He cleared his throat. "I'll be out in two minutes. Please don't wage war on me.""I'm not waging anything.""You're standing there glaring at the door, aren't you?"I was. I stopped. "No.”Namatay ang tubig. Lumayo ako

Hindi kami nag-usap sa elevator.Twenty floors down, and neither of us said a word. Lex stood on one side with his hands in his pockets, as if they might get ideas. I stood on the other and stared at the floor numbers like they were counting down to something scary. Every ding sounded louder than it should have.That was when I touched my left ear and found it bare."Oh no! I lost an earring. One of my moons." I patted my hair, shoulder and scanned the elevator floor. "Nahulog siguro kanina.""We can go back and look.""It's fine. Sinulid lang 'yon." It wasn't just thread. It had taken me an entire night over the Pacific. Pero hindi ako iiyak over a crocheted crescent in front of Lex Legaspi.He didn't say anything, but his hand slid into his jacket pocket and stayed there."At least the lights are back on," he said finally, to the elevator door."Yes. Very nice lights.""Great lights. Excellent lights."Pinigilan ko ang sarili kong tumawa. He must have seen it in the reflection of th

My hand was on the doorknob, and I had about four seconds to decide who I wanted to be.Option one: the sensible woman who said goodnight through the door and went back to her lumpy sofa bed. Option two: the woman who had cried on a beach tonight and badly wanted to be held without anyone asking why.Bahala na. I opened the door.Lex stood in the dark living room in a gray T-shirt and pajama, one hand on the doorframe, the other closed in a fist. He looked like he had been standing there a long time, arguing with himself and losing."I couldn't sleep," he said."Neither could I.""I know. I could hear you turn over every eleven seconds.""Hindi yun reason to knock on my door at one in the morning.""No. But this is."He opened his fist and on his palm lay a tiny, slightly crushed, cream-colored crocheted moon.My breath left me. "You found it.""Under the sofa, after the lights came back." Pag-amin niya. "I should have told you in the elevator. I'm sorry.""Bakit hindi mo sinabi?"He