The Girl in the End

V

V.

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Kanina pa palihim na pinagmamasdan ni Stanley ang babaeng nakaupo sa harapan nila. Mula sa paglalagay nito ng asukal at cream sa kanyang brewed coffee hanggang sa pagpapakita nito kay Larissa ng screen ng kanyang laptop kung saan sya bumuo ng mood board para sa concept ng kasal nila.

'Traditional ba? Sa simbahan? Or you want it to be beach wedding, garden wedding or under the sea wedding?'

'You do under the sea weddings?' Larissa asks, amazed.

'Yes. Not very convenient though. So dun tayo sa true, let's scrap out that idea.' Zoey smiles.

She put one side of her hair on the other side of her neck, at tila muling nabalisa si Stanley sa nakita. There were some red marks, he thought he must have sucked that part too hard.

'You've got.' Turo ni Larissa sa leeg nya.

'Yeah.' Ngiting muli ni Zoey. 'Allergies.'

Kinuha ni Zoey ang kanyang file folder from under her bag and flicked it open for the couple to see.

'These are our packages. You can check this out, I'll just go to the toilet.' She excuses herself before she stood up.

'Sure.' Kinuha ni Larissa ang file folder na iniabot kay Zoey saka ito ipinakita sa nobyo. How much ba ang budget natin para sa wedding, babe?' She asks him sweetly.

'It's up to you.' He answers, seems to be spacing out.

'Oh this is nice.' Larissa exclaims excitedly as she flicks through the pages. 'Ah this one too.'

Natigilan naman sya matapos makitang papatayo ang kasintahan.

'CR lang babe. Be right back.' He excuses himself before planting a quick kiss on the top of her head.

Sumakto sa plano niya ang ginawa nito. Kasalukuyang papalabas na ng toilet ang kanilang kinita. Tumingin muna sya sa paligid bago nya hinila papasok sa men's toilet ang nakasalubong. Pumasok sila sa isang cubicle at ini-lock nya ito.

'Isang pares lang ba ng hikaw ang meron ka?' He hisses to her ear.

'I've got loads. Favorite ko lang 'tong suot ko. It was given by my mom. Why?' Casual na sagot naman ni Zoey.

'You left the other earring in my unit.'

'Ah, thank God! I thought I'll lost it na entirely.'

'I'll give it back to you pero please, please, can you take that one off?'

'Are you blackmailing me?' She looks at him like he just grew out four eyes.

'Hindi.' Iling ni Stanley. It's just, Larissa saw the earring sa condo ko kanina. I don't want her to get paranoid.'

'You brought a random girl to your condo then fuck the hell out of her tapos sasabihin mong ayaw mong ma-paranoid ang fiancée mo? How hypocrite are you?' Now it was her who was hissing angrily through his ear. 'You could've avoided me.'

'You smiled at me.'

'Ang hina mo naman, ser.'

'At ginusto mo rin naman yung nangyari.'

'Oh yeah, the bestest fuck I ever had.' She spat at him sardonically. 'Halos di ako makalakad pabalik sa unit ko kaninang umaga, I had to soak in warm bath for 2 hours.'

'Pabalik sa unit?'

'We're neighbors, Mr. Groom To Be. Same condo, same shit floor. And would you believe, nagkasabay kami sa elevator ng mapapangasawa mo kaninang umaga?'