#Yatiz is a story focusing on the lives of young people in a small seaside municipality called Carmen in the southern part of the Philippines. The name is based on a cuss word here, "Yati/Yatis" that has no English equivalent but is closest to WTF.
...
ANGELO: PRE, YOUR DINNER'S ON ME. IT'S MY BIRTHDAY TODAY.
PRE?
OH RIGHT, YOU'RE AT WORK.
JR composes a reply.
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
JR: YES PRE. I'M AT WORK NOW. IT'S YOUR BIRTHDAY? HAPPY BDAY.
After pressing send, he navigates away from his messages and looks through his notifications again.
There's not a lot.
He scrolls up.
But aside from some app alerts reminding him of their respective special promos and offers, there's only one other notification. It's from Instagram. mica_castillon, a username he does not recognize, has tagged him in a post.
He taps the notification and it redirects him to a carousel which contains some photos and videos from the 8-Inch Crew victory party. He swipes through and sees photos with Hamza and Mariz posing for the camera.
There's also a video of Pamela dancing with the same guy she was talking to at the party.
More photos of the party.
A compilation video of people throwing up.
He swipes next and finally sees the photo he was tagged in. It's him and Noel in the kitchen laughing at Aljun. A smile appears on his face as he likes the photo. He swipes on.
A photo of somebody dancing with their shirt off.
A video of a group of people forming a circle. They're at the front lawn, giggling and chatting amongst each other as the camera focuses on the spinning bottle. The bottle gradually draws to a stop.
JR, uninterested, almost goes to the next slide when the camera pans up to show that the bottle is pointing at Hazel.
"Truth or consequence?" somebody asks.
Hazel smiles as she thinks of a response. She quickly convenes with her friend to the right. They whisper amongst each other and then Hazel nods. She looks at everyone trying to build suspense until finally, she yells, "Consequence!"
Everyone cheers. "I-kiss si Lawrence," somebody says. Everybody suddenly goes quiet. There's a gasp from the person holding the camera.
"KISS LAWRENCE."
Hazel's smile wavers a little. She looks at her friend who just shrugs at her. "Okay," she says begrudgingly.
The video then cuts to her pulling away from kissing him on the lips, to the cheers of everyone around them.
Hazel quickly covers her mouth, her eyes wide as if surprised.
Everyone continues to cheer around them.
The video abruptly cuts off as JR gets a call from his papa.
He looks at the screen, thinking whether he should take the call or whether he should just wait for it to end. He crosses his legs and answers the call. "Hello?" he says.
"Hi nak."
"Unsa man pa? Nag trabaho pa baya ko."
"WHAT IS IT, PA? I'M AT WORK RIGHT NOW."
"Wala nak. Mangumusta lang ko sa imo. Bisita pud diri sa balay."
"NOTHING. I JUST WANTED TO CHECK ON YOU. VISIT HOME SOME TIME."
JR wets his lower lip and clears his throat. "Sige pa. Bisita lang ko dira sunod."
"OKAY PA. SOON, I'LL VISIT YOU."
"Kumusta man ka dira? Kumusta imong trabaho?"
HOW ARE YOU THERE? HOW'S WORK?"
"Okay lang ko pa. Ikaw?"
"I'M FINE PA. YOU?"
"Okay lang pud. Naa pa ka'y kwarta dira para sa imong pagkaon? Ug mga sabon..."
"I'M OKAY TOO. YOU STILL HAVE MONEY THERE FOR FOOD? AND SOAP..."
"Naa pa man."
"YEAH."
"Okay maayo."
"OKAY GOOD."
"Wala ka'y trabaho pa?"
"DON'T YOU HAVE WORK, PA?"
"Naa. Nanigarilyo lang ko kadali."
"I'M AT WORK. I'M JUST HAVING A LITTLE CIGARETTE BREAK."
"Ayaw kaayo palabi pa. Alagai imong kaugalingon."
"DON'T SMOKE TOO MUCH. TAKE CARE OF YOURSELF."
It takes him a while to respond.
"Siyempre, nak."
"OF COURSE, JR."
JR leans his back against the wall.
They both fall silent.
JR can hear the mechanical sounds from his father's workplace in the background.
"Gi-contact ka ni mama, nak?" his papa asks.
"DID MAMA CONTACT YOU, NAK?"
JR closes his eyes and takes a deep breath. He shakes his head, physically reminding himself not to say anything and not make things worse for everyone. He remains silent.
"Kung i-contact ka sa imong inahan ya, ayaw lang siya tubaga ha? Wala na na siya'y karapatan muisturya sa imo sugod atong adlaw nga nihawa siya sa balay."
"IF YOUR MOTHER CONTACTS YOU, JR, DON'T ANSWER HER, OKAY? SHE LOST HER RIGHT TO TALK TO YOU THE DAY SHE LEFT OUR HOUSE."
JR leans further back and looks up at the ceiling.
"Nak ha?"
"OKAY JR?"
JR scratches his nose and covers his mouth.
"JR," his father says. Firm. Cold.
"Lage pa." He adjusts his throat. "Lakaw na ko pa kay mag trabaho pa ko."
"YES PA."
"I HAVE TO GO BACK TO WORK NOW."
"Okay nak. Ingat dira. Love you."
"OKAY NAK. TAKE CARE THERE. LOVE YOU."
"Ingat." JR says as he ends the call.
"TAKE CARE."
The video resumes. It shows Hazel just laughing and showboating to the cheers of everyone around her, as if she'd just won something.
JR clenches his jaw tightly as he locks his phone.
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
