She touched her lips again, for the nth time since she clocked off shift and went home. Then she looked in her mirror to check them out. Again. Absentmindedly, she traced a finger around her mouth. Trying to figure out why it felt so different when it looked exactly the same.
"Ay ewan ko sayo, Nicomaine Dei Capili Mendoza. It was just a kiss. Pull yourself together. It's not as if he proposed. You've been kissed before. O sige granted, you were just seven at the time pero counted pa rin yun! Snap out of it. Hindi mo type si Betty. Pa-mysterious, mayabang, masungit, kulay bond paper, maganda yung katawan, mabango, makalaglag--- teka what am I even saying? My god. Itutulog ko na lang to."
She went about her pre-bedtime ritual consciously trying to avoid thinking of his lips on hers. As a result, she almost brushed her teeth with her hand cream and yelped out loud when she realized she put toothpaste on her face.
She stopped dead in her tracks when she found herself in her small kitchen, fridge door open but unable to remember why she was there or how she even got there.
"Malala ka na. Repeat after me, it was just a kiss. Nothing special. He kissed you out of annoyance and not because he likes you. Ogres like him do not have human emotions. Bato yun si Betty, bato. Move on na, okay? Focus on the work."
Satisfied that she'd talked herself straight, she stripped down to her underthings, turned on her AC and snuggled under her duvet. She only just closed her eyes when her phone rang.
Without thinking, she swiped to accept the call.
"Hello? Is this Dei Mendoza?"
"Who wants to know?"
"Pero ikaw nga si Dei?"
"Sino nga muna nagtatanong?"
"Jesus Christ."
"Kamusta naman po? Napatawag kayo. Oras ko na ba?"
"What?"
"Ambot. You called me, kaya subukan mong magpakilala muna."
"This is Jay."
"Faulkerson?"
"Yes."
"Uhm... why---"
"Why did I call you? Hindi ko rin alam."
"Eh di babay. Patulog na ko. I need to sleep now dahil baka mag-oversleep ako mamaya, ma-late pa ko. Ayokong mapagalitan nung suplado kong TL, baka kilala mo siya, pareho kayo ng pangalan--"
She was poised to hang up when she heard him sigh deeply before blurting out what was also in her mind.
"I can't stop thinking about the kiss."
She felt her world stop and tilt.
"Kiss? What kiss? Ano tong kiss na pinagsasabi mo?"
She heard him chuckle on the other end of the call.
"The one we shared. Our kiss. I can't stop thinking about it. I can't stop thinking about you."
In her panicked state, she did the first thing that came to mind. She ended the call.
