Encounter
After taking a shower, I went out of my room to eat since nag-aya na silang kumain. Habang naglalakad ako pababa ng hagdan, naririnig ko ang munting tawanan na habang papalapit ako'y nagiging malakas.
Nang tuluyan na akong nakababa, tinawag ako ni Dennise. "Dito ka muna, Dim. May kausap na bisita sila Abuela kaya mamaya pa kakain.", sabi niya at inaya ako sa kanilang grupo. Tumango na lamang ako at dumiretso sakanila.
Umupo ako sa bakanteng single sofa at kinuha ang librong nakapatong sa katabi nitong small table. Binuklat ko ito at binasa ang unang page.
"Ayan ka nanaman eh, may sarili ka nanamang mundo.", Dennise said.
Umiling na lamang ako sakanya. "Don't mind me here, I'm just reading."
"Aren't you bored?", Marcus asked me.
I just shrugged.
"Fine, gan'to nalang. Ikaw naman Taishi!", magiliw na sabi ni Dennise.
Napatigil ako sa pagbabasa saglit.
"Hmm?", he said.
"Who do you think is the most attractive saming tatlo?"
What?
Napaangat ako ng tingin at ang unang bumungad sa aking mata ay ang isang pares ng mata ng lalaking kaharap ko.
Hindi ko pinakitang nagulat ako, and just swiftly looked at my sister like there's no eye contact that had happened.
"Hmm.. I don't know. You guys looked the same.", he answered.
"Kung sabagay...", patango-tango pang sabi ng aking kapatid. "Pero tingin mo, sino'ng mas bet mo?"
I looked at the man in front of me. Don't tell me, you're gonna answer that stupid question.
He looked at me and just smirked. "Ang babata niyo pa para sa mga ganyan."
Dahil sa sinabi niya ay tila napahiya pa ang kapatid ko. Nagtawanan ang aming mga kasama, kasali na roon si Demser. I looked at her sharply and she immediately stopped herself from laughing.
"Hmm, but isn't that what most men like?"
Natahimik sila sa sinabi ko. Ang malakas na tawanan ay unti-unting humupa. I looked at all of them, one by one, until my sight reached the person who just said that ang babata pa namin.
"Don't get me wrong but... most men ends up with girls younger than their age.", natawa pa ako saglit doon. "Which means, girls who looked younger are more cuter, and given the fact that they act matured are more attractive."
"Isn't that called trying hard to grow up?", natatawang tanong ng hindi ko kilalang lalaki.
"Hmm, there's a psychological preference for that though. Girls who tries to act matured are more likely to have feelings towards such person. In other case, some young miss just prefer to act matured because they know how to differentiate childish acts and how a proper lady behave...which is also a sign of growing up on their own."
"And in our case, I don't think my sister would ask you that mister just because she's into you, but because she wanted to know what kind of girls you're into. And given the fact that we're from a Gomez Family, we're more than that. We know how to behave properly...", tiningnan ko ang dalawa kong kapatid, tila namamangha sa mga sinasabi ko, "..if we have to...And we don't beg for men...they beg for us."
I said that as a matter of fact. Natahimik ang lahat, kahit ang mga pinsan ko. Naputol lamang ang katahimikan ng tinawag na kami ng isang kasambahay.
"Let's go.", I said coldly and stood up. I went to the dining leaving all of them, naramdaman ko naman ang pagsunod sakin ng aking mga kapatid.
