December 2023 – Bangkok, Then Manila
David woke up without an alarm for the first time in months. No call times. No press briefings. No scheduled workouts or fittings or live-streams meant to maintain a “presence.”
Just birds, quiet sunlight through sheer curtains, and a half-read novel on the nightstand.
He moved slower now — not because he had to, but because he chose to.
After five years of runways, countries, handlers, and pressure, he’d finally drawn a line between movement and progress. Not everything needed to be a race.
He did shoots now if he liked the concept.
He flew out if it didn’t eat him alive.
He posted only if he had something worth sharing.
In this slow, deliberate rhythm, he finally had room for something unfamiliar:
Stillness.
One day in February 2024, he met his cousin in a Manila café during a short trip home.
“You look... peaceful,” his cousin noted, surprised.
David smiled. “Weird, right?”
“And not on five billboards.”
David sipped his tea. “I declined three campaigns this quarter. Passed on a luxury skincare gig in Seoul.”
“Voluntarily?”
He nodded. “Figured I should finally leave room for my own face to breathe.”
They laughed, and for once, it wasn’t forced.
Then his cousin turned his phone around.
“Have you seen this yet?”
A music video. Bright, bold, confident.
BINI — this time not just viral in the Philippines, but globally trending. Pantropiko had exploded. And now Salamin, Salamin was being used in a major K-Beauty brand’s teaser in South Korea.
Front and center: Aiah.
No longer “almost there.” She had arrived.
David watched in quiet awe.
Same eyes. Sharper fire.
She’s not just part of it anymore. She’s leading it.
Meanwhile – Seoul, Los Angeles,
Everywhere Aiah blinked under the flashing lights of yet another meet and greet. She could barely remember which country they’d landed in this morning.
The stylists buzzed around them like bees.
The girls rehearsed sound bites.
The PR director whispered reminders in her ear:
“Remember: emphasize the Filipino pride message, don’t drop spoilers for the collab teaser, and no crying if we win. They want fierce, not fragile.”
Aiah smiled, nodded, and barely felt her feet.
Inside the venue, the energy was volcanic.
Fans waved glowsticks.
International idols are within reach now.
Cameras were everywhere.
“BINI!”
“Aiah, over here!”
“Salamin, Salamin challenge went viral in 10 countries!”
She walked forward, poised and smiling — but her body was running on instinct. Her heart, somewhere else.
Later that night in her hotel room, her phone buzzed with notifications:
New fancams. Headlines. Mentions. Brand deals.
She ignored them.
Instead, she opened YouTube and searched something random - A 2018 Cebu fashion show.
Low resolution. Bad lighting.
There they were — two figures walking a tiny runway.
The girl no one knew yet.
The guy whose name was already on posters.
They barely even looked at each other onstage.
But the moment she glanced his way… she remembered it.
All of it.
I’ve changed so much, she thought. He probably wouldn’t recognize me anymore.
She paused. Closed the tab.
Then stared at her reflection in the hotel mirror.
For a moment, she whispered— the line that always hit too close:
“Masaya ka ba?”
