Something That Will Last

Epilogue

Your coffee is ready

Nangangati talaga ang kamay ko na gawin iyon. Pero... 'di ko sure kung okay lang ba.

Pero gustong gustong gusto ko talaga, I'm sweating!

"Jules, pahiram ako ng phone mo," I said, snatching her mobile from the table while she's unaware.

I'm all up for guessing her password but there's just irresponsibly none. Now I have to call her out. I slammed the table in front of her. "Bakit wala kang password? Baka mag-leak nudes mo kapag nanakaw 'to."

She grunted. "I don't have one."

"Weh? Tingin nga ng photos..."

I went to photos to try and catch her, but all I saw were her pictures in University of Pennsylvania, some of it were with friends and some were with Chris.

In one album, though, were just hundreds of pictures of a whiteboard and powerpoint presentations. Lazy writer, come on use a pen!

"I know you have a secret repository but I'll let you get away with it because I'm thriving now," I proudly said with a hand above my chest.

"Anything you say doesn't make sense, Vie," she said lifelessly, still busy with something on her laptop. Okay, UPenn girl.

Darling, the attack? She should listen to my internal spiel, they're amazing!

I waved dismissively at hinanap ko na ang gusto kong makita. Tapos when I saw it, napangiwi ako. Bored kong pinadulas sa lamesa ang phone ni Jules para ibalik.

I mean... if she didn't do it does not mean I couldn't, right?

And because it's nearing Christmas now, I'll do it as a humble and low-budget gift for myself. I left Jules and went to the restroom of Nostalgic Brew, our coffee house branch here in Makati.

I took out my phone when I entered a cubicle. Then I head on to contacts to edit Jerrick's info. While snickering, I typed to concatenate the letters that spelled ko.

It's long overdue but now it's official on my phone, too. I squealed a lottle—little but, like, a lot—as my feet shuffled erratically for one sec.

I felt really silly because of what I did. There's a tickle in my heart my nerve endings kept on obsessing over.

Kagat ko ang labi ko nang makalabas ako ng cubicle because I'm trying to maintain my imagined composure. I didn't want anyone who knew me to see me smiling because they'd instantly assume something was up!

"Eeep!" A residue of giddiness slipped out my lips after I closed the door behind me.

Nakatungo akong naglakad, nakatago pa sa likod ko ang pareho kong kamay na nakahawak sa phone ko. Iyon tuloy, nabangga ako sa kunsino.

"Sorry—"

"Vie..." Oh, it's him. I looked away and pretended to cough. Like go cough hard, Vie, cough it all.

Ilabas mo na lahat ng kilig mo, Viennica.

"Hmm?" I looked up to him with innocent eyes. "Kadarating mo lang?" I struggled to ask, my hands were nervously clutching my phone from behind.

"Opo, sinusundo na po kita. Unless you still have something to do?" Jerrick asked, his brows shot up. "May tinatago ka?"

"Wala. Duh."

He chuckled. Niyakap niya ako tapos nanghina ako. Okay, self, I know you're supposed to be marupok to just him—but keep it cool! Save some face, gee.