Flipped Justice: A KENTIN AU (COMPLETED)

FJ 1

In a local coffee shop by the seaside, Justice was invited to have a coffee by his childhood crush, Isaac. Isaac is his childhood friend's best buddy.

Their ostensibly first friendly date turned awkward because neither of them could carry on a conversation, despite the fact that they are both at the same university, grew up in the same hometown, and have one mutual friend.

Justice was consumed by Ice's attractiveness as they sipped their coffees. Meanwhile, Ice was engrossed in his phone, chuckling over his convo with someone else.

"Hmm, Ice?" he even hesitated. He saw how Isaac's emotions immediately shifted as he glanced back at him. There are so many words running through his mind, but he can't even utter any. Justice sighed heavily and shook his head at him.

With a chilly gaze, Isaac addressed Justice, saying, "Just, there are things you should know about."

That's when Justice's heart suddenly becomes more erratic; he shivers at hearing Isaac's words. His own being is a living embodiment of his nickname. Cold. But refreshing. "About?" he inquired.

He was listening the whole time without uttering a word; his knees felt a lot weaker following their talk. After telling Justice what he needed to know, Ice said, "We should get going. I'll drop you home."

He grinned sadly and chuckled a little, masking his weak legs and broken heart with, "You don't have to drop me home."

"And for the record, I don't let anyone dump me on the first date."

Isaac heard him and immediately a frown appeared on his face. Shrugging, he turned away.

Being a little obsessed with Ice, Justice posted their photo to his social media account, captioning it, "A date to remember. Thanks for the coffee, Ice!"

His friend, Javier, saw his post and commented, "Salamat sa akin! Remember, I dared him to take you out on a date."

After reading it, he rolled his eyes, and Samuel, a friend from college, noticed. Sam questioned, "What now?"

In an agitated tone, he responded, "Jav Lee isn't helping at all. He revealed that it was all just a dare. How dare him?"

Samuel invited him over for an ice cream to ease Justice's hot temper. He has known Just for their entire college life—three years to be exact. They're already in their last year of being pharmacy students. Also, their last year being on each other's side, literally since Well has to go back to his hometown.

Whether at Just's house or Well's condo, getting together on the weekends became their routine. Well asked Just, "Jav's not coming over again?"

"Nah, he told me he's busy looking for male models. He even asked me to join him," Justice replied, licking his ice cream.

"You declined again?" Well said, raising his eyebrows, to which Justice nodded in response. "Is this still because you don't like attention? Or is it about Isaac?"

Justice was caught off guard. He stared at the ceiling for quite a while before answering, "Can you imagine how I could face Isaac after how I acted earlier?" Justice covered his face with his palms, squeaking softly.

His impulsiveness started to hit him at that moment, realizing his wrong decisions. Justice attempted calling Javier after he had calmed down. "He's not responding," he said, and Well tried to call him as well.

"Not responding din, but he posted something." Well went to Just's side and showed him a post of Javier just minutes ago.

"He must be really busy. I should head home na. Thanks, Well, for the ice cream. Next week, my treat," Just said and left the condo unit.

Psyche! "Manong, can we go back? Let's head to this cafe, please," Justice said to the taxi driver.

He made his way to a large pot and hurriedly hid behind it. He spotted his friend Jav and his crush, Isaac, right away.

Numerous notifications caused his phone to buzz continuously. The attention he was receiving on social media surprised him. He opened his account, and to his surprise, he was mentioned on Jav's posts as someone else.

[Bro cartj, come quickly! Pinaghihintay mo pa kami!]

And the one who was supposedly being mentioned also quoted the post, making it reach more people.

[You mentioned a wrong account, dumbass! Mukha ba akong paa sayo? Haha!]

The account's owner was confident enough to say those, as he didn't know that the mentioned account was Javier's friend as well.

Justice's blood began to boil over this person right away. "Who are you calling paa? Kulugo ka!" he retorted.

Unfortunately, Javier noticed him hiding behind the pot because of his ill-tempered outburst. He received a message from Javier stating, "Justice! Alam kong anino mo 'yan! What the hell are you doing here? Go home!"

Simply ignoring his messages, he went back to hiding. He witnessed the Kulugo Man approach Jav and Ice upon his arrival at the same cafe. He was quite aback to see how close Ice is to him. And that's how he remembered the kulugo man's profile picture; it was the same person Ice was chatting with earlier at the seaside.

If he said he was unaffected by what he was seeing at the time, he would be lying. He even saw that the kulugo man was deliberately provoking his jealousy. Justice silently muttered, "Isang lapit pa, and you're dead!"

The man moved closer to Isaac and put his arms around his shoulders, displaying a lack of fear in the face of threats from a stranger.

Javier and Isaac were talking about the modeling job offered to them, and they were there to convince their other friend, Philip, to join them. However, the next thing they knew, Justice was already with them, strangling Philip.

"Justice!" an icy, stern voice of Isaac interrupted. He stepped back. This made way for Philip to avenge himself. He reached mockingly for Just's neck, but fortunately Samuel came to save his friend before things became serious.

"I already felt something wrong the moment you left the condo. I even messaged Jav. Come on! I know you knew better, Just. Apologize now," Samuel said to Justice.

"Sorry, Ice," Justice said, lowering his head; apologizing only to his crush.

"Tsk! I really can't deal with kids," Isaac remarked. Philip kept on nodding. "That includes you, Flip," Isaac added.

After letting out a deep sigh, Flip said, "Let's get this done. I accept the offer. See you later, mga ungas" and walked out of the cafe.

Javier tried reaching him, but Flip quickly drove off. "Damn!" he exclaimed, turning his head back to Justice. "You don't know how to behave, don't you?" Jav said angrily to Justice, who is now hiding behind Well.

"Enough, Diab," Isaac said, holding Jav's shoulder. Jav nodded, trying to calm himself.

"I apologize on Just's behalf. Jav, we'll talk later when everyone's on their right minds already," Samuel said and started to step away with Justice.

With a smile that made his eyes vanish, Samuel turned back and uttered, "You know how I value friendship. Let's not make this incident the reason for all of our friendships to fail."

Isaac was surprised to hear those from someone. An evident smile on his face showed. Surprisingly, he felt something he thought he would never feel. Warmth, in his heart.

Javier said, "I saw that," pointing out that their icy friend had warmed up to a stranger. "Is ice beginning to thaw? How about my Justice? Kahit sino wag lang siya?" Jav inquired.

With a serious tone, Isaac answered, "You know, I only see him as a younger brother, Diab." In addition, he said, "I like girls."

"Oh, really?" Jav asked with a mischievous smile, making Isaac leave him, eyes rolling.