Perfect For You

Pugoyaki

And it was exactly because of him that she drove all the way to this place.

But now he was here.

"What are you doing here, Esquivel?" she demanded.

He put a hand on his violin case. "I'm playing for a birthday party later tonight," he said. "In one of the establishments upstairs. And you? What are you doing here?" His eyes narrowed. "I distinctly remember you saying you weren't feeling well so you didn't join everyone else for lunch."

"I'm feeling better now," she said airily. "Anyway, this is not important." She pointed at the table. "What's important here is that you're in my table."

"Your table?" He crossed his arms. "Why? Are you part owner of this establishment?"

"That's not what I mean, and stop being so snarky, Esquivel. I got to this table first."

"No you didn't. We got here at the same time." He looked pointedly at the two chairs. "Besides, we can just sit together."

Sure we can, but I don't want to, NJ thought as she pursed her lips and glared at his tray.

Her eyes suddenly widened, then narrowed.

"Oh my God," she exclaimed. "It was you."

She glared at the food on his tray. It was a lettuce wrap from Wraps and Roll, fruit bubble tea from Earl and Grey, and-her eyes widened-pugoyaki.

He raised an eyebrow. "What?"

"You-you-" She stared back up at him, then at the pugoyaki. She pulled a chair back and sat down with a huff. "That's it. I'm definitely not giving up this table."

After a beat he sat down on the other chair, right across her, his eyes never leaving hers. "Well, neither am I, Narcisa." He placed his violin case on his lap.

She continued to glare at him, and he only met her gaze with his usual impassive expression.

They continued staring down at each other for a few moments.

He looked away first.

Ha. You lost that one, Esquivel. It was petty, she knew, but she counted this as a win, anyway. But he still didn't get up from his seat. He took a fork from his tray, and began to eat.

She gritted her teeth. Great. Just great. She went all the way to this place to get away from him, but he was here too. And now she had to share a table with him.

It really was one of those days.

***

"Hey, guys. I have an idea."

That was how this started, actually, how everything started: with Madeleine Adajar, lead singer of the Catholic worship band Manalig and one of NJ's best friends, having an Idea.

Five years ago, the youth ministry of their parish, which NJ was a member of along with Mads, was organizing an event for Valentine's Day. Unfortunately, three bands they had invited for the event were all unavailable and they were beginning to run out of contacts. Mads said, "Well, why don't we just play for the event?" she said one day to NJ and two of their other friends in the ministry, Vincent Gallardo and Lisa Dizon. "I mean, Galli has already written a couple of original songs and he can play lead guitar. Then Lisa on bass, NJ on drums, me on vocals. Right?"

She was laughing, then, and as she claimed later she wasn't really serious about the idea, but Galli had taken it seriously. And whenever Galli set out to do something, he will make it happen, so they soon found themselves actually forming the band. Thus Manalig was born.