Chad De Guzman is a 17-year-old Filipino guy living in the Philippines with his mother. He's the captain of a volleyball team in his school, and is a traveler. Though he's funny, quirky, go-with-the-flow guy, he's pretty emotional when it comes to h...
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Dylan was casually sitting on his favorite seat in his house's porch where he could see the neighborhood. It was just a regular day — there was nothing he could do. He had just graduated two weeks ago together with Isaiah and Chad, who remained a couple. Only a few people knew of their relationship; it wasn't really a big deal for the both of them. Either they didn't want to be judged, or they just didn't care enough to tell everyone.
The weather wasn't too hot, and it wasn't too cold either. The wind brushed past him, but at the same time, he could feel the warmth it brought as it swayed away. His parents had finally divorced, and since he was of legal age, he could choose whether to stay in his mom or dad's house while his mom got custody of his little sister.
Surprisingly, his mom agreed for visitation rights for his dad to visit his little daughter. They ended their marriage in a good way, and though they weren't considering themselves as friends, they got enough respect for each other to be adults.
As a graduation gift, before his parents divorced, he was given enough money to travel out of the country or just simply do a road adventure around America. He had yet to decide. He wanted to bring Chad — it would have been a romantic setup, but unfortunately, he was too late to confess his feelings for him.
There were times he was looking at Chad, loving him silently as someone proudly loved him in front of him. It was heartbreaking. He kept saying to himself that he wished he could have been strong enough to let his feelings be known. Had he done that, Chad would have fallen for him instead of Isaiah. As much as he wanted to hate Isaiah for it, he knew it was wrong. He couldn't simply blame the guy just because Chad fell in love with him. While he couldn't understand why, he wasn't going to seek for any answers. As long as Chad remained happy, he was happy.
"Brother Dy, brother Dy," his little sister called out as she ran towards him. His little sister's nickname for him stuck and Dylan loved it. His little sister was too precious for him, and he was glad this girl became so understanding about their parents' situation. She smiled towards him and handed him a paper. "Someone gave me a love letter."
Dylan chuckled and grabbed the small piece of paper. "Now who would do that?"
"It's from Evan!" she giggled in a cute manner as she studied her brother.
He scooped his sister and placed him on his lap, flicker her forehead and his little sister pouted at him that was way too cute. "Aren't you too young to be having love letters? Who's this Evan guy anyway?"
"He's my classmate, but I don't like him, though."
"Good," he ruffled his little sister's hair and smiled at him. "If boys talk to you, you tell me. They have to get past me before they associate themselves with you, you hear me? If they talk to you, you tell them, Brother Dy is going to be mad and that they have to talk to me first, all right?"
"I'm a big girl, Brother Dy." She murmured as she got lost fiddling her fingers. "And I don't think I will like them."
"Why not?"
His little sister scrunched up her nose up and Dylan laughed. "I just don't. Brother Dy, I do like someone thoooooough. She's pretty. Her name is Annie. She likes to paint. I want to paint, too."
The revelation shocked Dylan, but he learned to keep it to himself. His little sister is too early to figure out her sexuality, but he just smiled. He shook his head. Perhaps, his sister just said that because she wanted to be Annie's friend, and even if his little sister indeed liked her in a romantic way (hopefully, when she got older, she'd realize), he wouldn't be in her way.
"Come on, you need to bathe. Mom's going to get angry."
"Water's too cold,"
"Uh-uh, you have to."
"Brother Dyyyyyyyyyy."
"Come on, dodo head."
After a few minutes of convincing his little sister to take a bath, Dylan immediately went on to make a food for the both of them. His mom was out working, but she casually checked up on them just to make sure they were doing okay. His dad, though, called a twice or thrice a week just to catch up on them.
Dylan wasn't angry at them. In fact, he was happy they got divorced. He would understand if his mom got a new boyfriend, or his dad got a new girlfriend — after all, they both deserved a happy life. Dylan wasn't going to ruin it by not agreeing. He just wanted to live a simple life with a nice person by his side who truly loved him. He let out a sigh as he looked into the mess he was making in the kitchen. Since his mom was out working, he had to be the responsible adult here, and he wasn't about to feed his little sister with a take-out food.
His phone suddenly made a bubble-popping sound — a tone that was set by his sister when he let her use his phone. He went on to check it; it was a notification on Facebook. Dylan switched on to find a friend request. He read the name out loud, thinking it was familiar. He kept thinking about it until he accepted the friend request. He scrolled through the profile of the person who added him and found one of the videos.
It was a dance video cover. The person was dancing to I Got A Boy by Girls' Generation; the person was alone but was killing every move. Dylan found himself watching the video until he forgot that he was supposed to make a food.
A few moments later, a pop-up message appeared on his phone.
Max Dela Cruz: Hey! Do you remember me? Best friend of Chad?
Dylan immediately smiled, finally realizing why Max looked familiar. It was because he was a friend of Chad, and he talked to him before but just couldn't remember. He shook his head, smiling for his idiocy before finally replying.
Dylan: Yeah, I do remember you haha. Nice dancing moves, by the way.
They talked for a few minutes before realizing that he was supposed to make a food for him and his little sister. He dropped the phone on the table and started making but casually glancing at the phone to check for Max's replies, and then he finally smiled to himself, thinking of the graduation gift he received from his parents.
It was decided. He was going to the Philippines for a vacation.
