"Ano?!"
"I've already told you. I'll stay. I will be that demon's plaything. I will be the sacrifice." Sabi nito.
"Ha?! Bakit?! Bakit mo kailangang gawin yan?"
May matinding determinasyon sa mga mata ni Alister at doon nagulat si Dennise. "Dahil kailangan ko'ng makagawa ng paraan para makabalik sila! Kung wala ako'ng gagawin, ano na lang ang silbi ko?!"
"You and your goddamn hero complex." Sagot ni Dennise dito.
"Hindi ito hero complex, Dennise! At bakit ka pa ba naggagaganyan?! Di ba dapat matuwa ka kasi at long last makakaligtas na kayo sa impyernong to?!"
"Tingin mo ba may silbi ka as sacrifice?! Dude, baka nakakalimutan mo. You are not a pure soul! Hindi ka malinis! So don't you think this will make things complicated?!"
Biglang nanlaki ang mga mata ni Alister and sumagot. "I DON'T CARE! Okay?! I don't care about the rules! I don't care what you think of me! Wala ako'ng pakialam kung malinis ba ako sa tingin nyo o hindi! Ang mahalaga sa akin ngayon ay mabuhay sila Jia! I will stay! And you'd do well to make use of it to run away from this god forsaken place!"
That's when Dennise know how serious Alister is. She frowned and then tears came out of her eyes.
"But how about you?"
Alister looked away and then answered. "I don't care. My welfare isn't important now."
"Ano'ng hindi?!"
Ali smirked. "And now you care about me? All of a sudden?"
Hindi nakasagot doon si Dennise.
Then Alister's eyes softened. Just like how he would look at her... Back in the days.
"It doesn't matter." Ali said. "What's important is for Kim to come back. His mother's on medication if I remember correctly. Victon? His siblings are all studying. His mother doesn't care about them ever since that sorry excuse for a man others called his stepfather died. Mela wanted to go back to college so bad. Bang needs to support her aging lolo and lola. And Jia..."
Ali's eyes watered at the thought of his almost little sister. "Jia has a lot of potential. She's young. But she's smart and hardworking. Yes she may have done mistakes in her life but that was because she doesn't have a choice. No one cares about her then and now... She has Nana Pinang and Tata Nestor to worry about her. They need her. Jia is Nana Pinang's world. Nagkaroon ng kulay ang buhay ng matanda nung dumating si Jia sa buhay nya. They love her so much like their own. I can't take that away from them."
Ali's tears began to fall again.
"Jia's finally got her chance. Her opportunity. I didn't let her become the street rat that I am before. She will never be just like me... A street rat. Because after all that pretense Prince Ali did, he was still that street rat Aladdin." Ali then closed his eyes.
Dennise put her hand over her mouth. "Pero paano ka?" Paguulit nito.
"Di na importante yon."
"Ano'ng hindi importante?"
"Unlike them, I have nothing to come back to. Mag-isa ko na lang. Walang maghahanap sa akin. Walang umaasa sa akin. Kaya okay lang ako."
"But what about Nana and Tata?"
Biglang natigilan si Ali at sumimangot.
"They are gone and that's all you have to know."
Sabay alis.
Buti na lang kanina pa din pala nakikinig sina Ella at LA.
Bago pa man makapagsalita ang dalawa, nagsalita na si Ali.
