It's unusual that even with a complete attendance, nobody has started talking at this lunch table yet.
The boys are seated next to each other this time and left a vacant seat for Felip who is probably still asleep.
Some of the girls are still tortured by hangovers and some are still embarrassed slash mad at the boys from all the chaos yesterday.
Paige is fresh from the bath when she takes a random seat.
Shading Paige, the unfiltered Stell finally came up with something to talk about "Parang ang dami mo naman nilutong fried chicken ngayon. May kilala yata akong paborito ang fried chicken" (I see you've cooked so much fried chicken for today. I think I know someone who loves fried chicken)
Paige snaps a 'don't even think about it' look at Stell's direction.
Everyone knows full well that Felip's boyband nickname, "Ken", had something to do with his favorite food: fried chicken.
Josh just kept his head down, probably flustered about everything Paige has heard from earlier.
Stell couldn't erase his bantering face while putting rice on his own plate "San na ba si Ken? Tulog pa ba yon? Tawagin nyo na" (Where's Felip? Is he still sleeping? Somebody wake the kid up)
"Anong petsa na aba. Alam nya na dapat yun" (It's two in the afternoon. He should know that) Pablo releases his leader mentality again.
"Ako yung pinaka maaga nagising ah" (I woke up the earliest) Justin raises a defensive hand as if he's reciting something in class, obviously intimidated by this side of Pablo.
"Ay nga pala... Girls, siguro nagtatampo parin kayo samin" (Hey.. by the way... Girls, we know you're all still mad at us for ignoring you yesterday but..) How could these girls resist Josh's softie side? "Bati bati na tayo ha? Task lang samin yun okay?" (I hope we're all good now. It was just a task, okay?)
"Ah task lang pala yon! Sabi na eh!" (I knew it!) Dianne instantly accepts the apology. The other girls went with it too.
That's all it takes for everything to be back to being their normal noisy state.
Felip sluggishly turns up and sits on a chair that's been reserved just for him "Yoooo"
Felip sat coolly and his lip formed a lopsided smile while he goes for two chicken legs at the same time.
It's a mission accomplished for Paige.
But Erin takes the credit.
"Ken, here. Kunin mo yung chicken skin ng sakin. Favorite mo to since nung bata pa tayo diba?" (Ken, here, you can have the best part of my chicken. It's always been your favorite) Erin is sat right across Felip, a perfect spot to hog Felip's attention.
Erin just keeps serving specific parts of her chicken on Felip's plate now.
"Ano ba to kumain ka nalang dyan, ga." (What's this for? Just eat up, babe) Felip doesn't realize he had just involuntarily called Erin what used to be their term of endearment years ago.
Then, there's a short judgmental silence. A sign that everyone in the room heard it.
There's a hint of pleasure in Erin's stunned reaction.
Even Felip had realized his own mistake but tried to remain inattentive to the awkward atmosphere.
All different kinds of reactions burst out from every single person.
"Muling ibalik ang tamis ng pag ibig..." (Bring back the sweetness of love...) Stell teasingly sings a romantic theme song as his way of annoying Felip and it made the lunch table break into pits of laughter.
Of course, there will be girls who are semi-jealous.
Paige isn't one of them.
Because the only thing Paige feels for their fake cheesiness is disgust.
"I-evict na nga yang dalawang yan!" (Eliminate those two already!) Pablo tops Stell's joke with another one.
Erin loves the attention she's receiving now "O-M-G, kayo! Nasanay lang kami sa tawagan na yun. Issue kayo grabe naman.." (Oh my gosh, you guys! He and I have just gotten used to our nicknames. Stop it!)
"Wehh? Mag co-comeback na yata kayo eh" (Really? Because it seems to us that you guys could get back together) Justin joins in on pestering Felip, looking to-and-fro at Erin, the primadonna from Cebu and SB19's buzzcut blonde bad boy.
"Huh! In your dreams" Felip's cold joke killed the speculations.
It also broke off the smile on Erin's face, chewing on her food as if it's bitter "Yeah. As if"
Paige is on the same row as Erin. But she sat two seats away.
And for some reason, Erin and Felip being cheesy disgusted her.
The girl who appears so in love with Felip was the same person who told bad stuff about him.
Such non-sense.
Paige would not tolerate all that fake love. And it would break Paige to pieces if Kent showed her the same kind of love.
It's cruel.
"Okay ka lang, teh?" (You okay?) Paige's seatmate, Cat, tries to wake Paige up from drowing in her own thoughts again.
"Yie... may nagseselos" (I think someone's a little jealous) Justin said with a quizzing smile.
This made Felip look at Paige's direction out of his curiosity. But he isn't surprised only to see Paige's unbothered reaction. Instead, she's looking all over the table for something.
"Nasan ba yung mga kamatis?" (Where are the tomatoes?) Felip has read Paige's mind, searching the table as well.
Josh to the rescue holds out a plate of tomatoes to Paige. Which she accepted with a smile.
"Anong plans mo bukas? Diba weekend?" (What are your plans tomorrow? It's a weekend) Josh leans forward to send the message across Paige.
Everyone is picking up Josh's attempt to be casual with Paige. But Paige only takes the opportunity to plan something in her head that would be a good excuse to see Kent.
"Ah. Siguro tour lang konti sa Metropolitan Museum of Art." (Oh. Maybe tour around at the Metropolitan Museum of Art) Paige pops a tomato in her mouth.
"Kent works there" is what she didn't want to say.
"Sama" (I'll go with you) All five boys said synchronously and they shot each other a look when they've realized that they all had said the same thing.
Paige just wants to mask a bummed reaction by eating some more tomatoes "Isa lang pwede sumama diba?" (I'll only take one of you with me)
Josh stretches his arms and neck as if he's preparing for heavy duty exercise "O, bato bato pik. Ang manalo, sasama" (Time for a serious game of rock, paper, scissors)
Pablo pouts. Because he never wins this game "Pwede naman tayong lahat nalang pumunta don" (But we can all go there together)
Paige suddenly got stressed out by that remark. All she wanted is a time for herself. Away from everything and everyone.
"Di ba boring don? Ayaw nyo mag shopping?"
(Isn't a museum boring? Don't you all want to go shop at the malls?) Erin, the rich girl, proposes her own plan.
It caught Felip's interest.
"Ga, diba mas masaya mag shopping ng bagong clothes?" (Babe, isn't it more fun to shop for new clothes?) Erin winks at Felip, knowing all of Felip's weaknesses and hobbies.
Felip just nods, interested about Erin's idea.
And for Paige, it's better if Felip went with Erin for a successful time apart.
"Si Justin nalang" (I'm taking Justin with me) Paige settles it to avoid lengthy arguments.
"Yehey!!!" Justin shoots his two arms up in the air as a sign of victory before making faces at all of the other boys to mock everybody else's defeat.
Paige is worried that she must've decided too quickly. But Justin seems like the chillest one from the bunch. The youngest and the most gullible.
But boy, was Paige wrong.
***
Paige had been trying to bear with Justin's corny jokes over the past hour while they're walking around the city.
"Ano sa Japanese ang mayaman?" (What's the Japanese word for poor?) Justin starts another joke while filming a vlog.
Even if Paige would just sigh a fake interest "Ano?" (What?)
"Edi marami oto" (Meni oto *"many cars"*) Justin laughs at himself while buying two tacos from a taco trailer for Paige and himself.
"Jah" (Justin) Paige hides her face inside her hand, feeling embarrassed for Justin at such joke.
"Guys, kinakahiya na yata ako ni Paige" (Guys, I think Paige is ashamed to be around me now) Justin speaks to his vlogging camera.
"Justin! Justin! Can we take a selfie?" A foreign fan approaches the two of them by the taco stand, despite how much Justin tried to dress up to blend in with the non-showbiz world.
Justin looks at Paige, worrying if it's ruining a moment for the two of them.
"I can take the photo for you" Paige presents herself and gives Justin a reassuring nod that it's okay.
"Wait. You're from their show, right?! Holy crap! Do you know that I've rooted for you?" The American fan boy could almost jump in excitement "Damn you look even hotter in person! God, you smell like baby powder!"
Just when the boy is starting to get too close to Paige, Justin steps between Paige and the boy.
"Smile!" Justin takes the fan's camera so him and the fan can get over the photo op thing right away.
Justin smiles a "thanks" at the fan to keep him at bay. Then, gets back to his subtle time with Paige.
"Grabe" (Sheesh) Paige realizes now that she will never prefer dating a celebrity if normal private moments have to be ruined all the time.
Justin still made sure he had brought enough jokes to make Paige feel comfortable with him no matter what comes in the way.
So it was still a fun walk to the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
But the fun would stop once the museum tour starts "We're here!"
And so Paige's mission to search around for her lost love begins.
Is it okay if Kent would see her walking with a boy from music videos?