Win couldn't stop laughing after he heard what Fiat said that morning.
"Really, Fiat? You didn't think about calling New first to ask for my number? You really had to ask your kuya Bright?"
Fiat frowned. "I know kuya. It was a stupid move. I really didn't even think about it. I was like, oh I need to get your number so I scrolled on my contacts and B comes before N and T so I called kuya Bright instead of kuya New or kuya Tay."
Win ruffled Fiat's hair affectionately. Fiat was sweet and honest but he really wasn't as smart as his older brother. He wasn't necessarily stupid though. He was very intelligent but just a tad bit too careless sometimes.
"So were you able to talk to him when he got home last night?" Win asked.
"Nope. I ate dinner as fast as I could when I got home and stayed in my room the entire night so I could avoid running into him."
"Silly," Win commented. "Now, what lesson do you need help with? I have about an hour before I have to go to my own class."
"This one, kuya," Fiat said as he laid out a workbook on pharmacology. "I really don't get it."
"All right. Let's study it together," Win said and started going over the lesson with Fiat.
As he guided Fiat through the first lesson, Win realized how much Fiat meant to him.
He had started to love him like his own brother. As an only child, he was envious of the relationships between New and Pluem; Bright and Fiat; and Tay with Nanon and Chimon. That's why throughout their five years of being friends, he had considered the four boys: Fiat, Pluem, Chimon and Nanon as his own brothers. He would buy them gifts for their birthdays and for Christmas. He would even check on them every once in a while.
And the boys treated him as another older brother. He would also receive gifts from them on his birthday and on Christmas and would often be invited for their swimming or gaming parties.
Win had so much fun tutoring Fiat that he wouldn't have even known that an hour had already passed if Luke didn't come and interrupt them.
"Oh, hi babe," Win said upon seeing Luke.
"Hey," Luke replied. "Let's go. I'll take you to your building."
Fiat looked up and smiled at Luke. He had only seen him in photos before.
"Luke, this is Fiat. Fiat, this is Luke," Win said.
Fiat stood up and extended his hand.
For some reason, Luke ignored Fiat's hand and talked to Win instead.
"Let's go or you're gonna be late."
Win quickly picked up his things and pat Fiat on his shoulders.
"See you next time, Fiat. If you have any questions just text me. I'll tell you when my next free time will be, all right?"
Fiat, still disappointed with Luke's reaction to him, managed to smile. "Thanks kuya Win. Bye."
---
As Win removed his helmet, he stared at Luke sharply. "Why did you have to be so rude to Fiat?"
He just got off Luke's motorcycle in front of the college of medicine building.
"I wasn't rude."
"You completely ignored him when he offered his hand for a handshake. What was that about?"
"Forget it," Luke said as he took the helmet from Win.
"Is it because he's Bright's brother?" Win wasn't willing to let the issue go. He loved Fiat and he wasn't going to let anyone be rude to him like that, especially his boyfriend.
"You already know the answer. Why'd you even ask?"
Win sighed. "So it really is about Bright. Luke, I haven't talked to Bright in almost a year. I haven't even seen him. Why is he still an issue?"
"Because Fiat is still his brother. And you still keep seeing Tay and New. You know those guys are still hoping you and Bright will get back together."
Win's eyebrows went up after what Luke said.
"Seriously? So I need to completely cut Fiat off my life and avoid my best friends just so you'll feel secure about Bright?"
"Look, let's not talk about this now. You're gonna be late for class," Luke said as he motioned Win to hug him. "Come, give me a hug. I have to go and visit the office."
Win reluctantly embraced him.
"Love you," Luke said before putting on his own helmet.
"Love you too. Be safe," Win replied before turning and walking to his class.
---
"Are you even listening to me?" Fiat said loudly while nudging Chimon.
They were at the school cafeteria. Even though they had different majors, they happened to have the same free time in the morning. Fiat was taking up Nursing, his pre-med course before taking up medicine in the future. Meanwhile, Chimon was studying business management, just as his parents wanted.
Fiat was telling Chimon about how cold Luke was to him but Chimon didn't seem to care.
"Are you still stressed out by your speech yesterday?"
"No," Chimon said. "Read this."
Fiat took Chimon's phone and read the tweet on the screen.
It was posted by Pluem:
"I appreciate the support guys, thank you. But let's all try to be respectful. No need to be mean. I know Chimon Ramos personally and he's actually a really good person. Let's focus on our platforms. Thanks."
"Oh wow!" Fiat said. "I knew it! Pluem will do something about those nasty haters."
"What the hell, Fiat. Don't you get it? Pluem posted that so he will look even more kind and nice to other people. Look at the comments. Other students think he's an angel."
Chimon's entire party was having a meeting at the table beside theirs. They were concerned about the negative backlash on Chimon's speech the previous day and how Pluem's popularity was helping his entire team's likelihood of winning the elections.
"Chimon, do you know of any dirt we can use against Pluem?" their party's presidential candidate asked from the other table.
"Unfortunately, none. Aside from being annoying," Chimon said. "The only interesting thing I know about him is that he had a heart surgery before but I guess he's all healed now."
Fiat's eyes widened at Chimon's statement.
"You shouldn't have said that," Fiat whispered.
"What about it? There's nothing wrong with having a heart problem. Besides, kuya Tay helped pay for his surgery. And he seems perfectly healthy right now. It's a happy story. What's the problem?"
"But still, that's someone's health information. You shouldn't be shouting it out in the open."
Chimon just shrugged and drank his milk tea.
"That wasn't cool at all. Just focus on what you can do about your image instead," Fiat said before walking out.
"Hey!" Chimon called out but Fiat ignored him.
---
"Martha, can you get me a new sim card please?" Bright said upon getting back to his office that morning. He had just finished heading a meeting regarding one of his newest projects as a mayor: an overhaul of all ambulances being used in the city. He was dismayed by the quality of the ambulances that were currently being used in his city and there was a budget for it so he decided he might as well upgrade all of them.
"Sure Mayor," Martha said. "I'll buy one during my lunch break. What happened to your old one?"
"Someone has been texting me weird things again," Bright said. "And once I get a new personal number, never give it away to anyone without asking for my permission okay? If anyone asks for my number, just give them the phone number for my office."
"Okay, Mayor."
"Must be those Delgados. Bitter losers," Bright muttered under his breath. Darwin Delgado was the former mayor and used to be Bright's mother's ally. However, he didn't want to stepdown and run for vice-mayor in the previous election even though their political party had agreed to let Bright run for the position. He formed his own line-up and ran against Bright.
It was a dirty fight between them. Delgado used everything he had to try and destroy Bright's name, even resulting to making up stories about Bright's supposed sexual adventures which were all false.
Delgado had the money and the machinery to try and destroy Bright.
However, Bright had New. And all of Delgado's hired trolls were no match for New. He singlehandedly launched a tsunami of exposes against Delgado from his years of corruption and involvement in several extramarital affairs. By the time New was done, even Delgado was ashamed to go out and campaign for himself.
Aside from Bright, no one else but New, Win and Tay was aware that New was behind the counter attack on Delgado. Bright didn't even want Win to know about it since he and Win were no longer together during the campaign. He thought Win didn't really have any business knowing about what New was doing but they all had made a promise to each other: no more secrets.
Bright entertained the idea of getting New to check who was sending these messages to him but he thought it wasn't that serious yet.
---
"Good afternoon Sir, Mr. Arm Garcia is here to see you," Tay's secretary, Sonia, said while opening the door to Tay's office.
Tay stood up to meet his visitor, a potential business partner for their new condo unit project in Bulacan.
"Good morning Mr. Garcia," he said brightly as he extended his hand to the visitor.
"Good morning, Tay. You should call me Arm, after all I think we're of the same age," the guy answered while shaking Tay's hands tightly.
"All right, Arm. Please take a seat," Tay said as he motioned towards a table in the corner of his office where he usually entertained his business partners.
Tay was no stranger to meetings like this. Everything may seem simple to an outsider but for him and probably for his visitor, every little thing mattered. Who says what and who says it first.
The meeting went well. Arm Garcia was the son of Bulacan's provincial governor, which made him a good partner in the new condo project. Not only would he be an investor, he would actually make sure that everything will run smoothly as far as getting permits and other administrative matters are concerned.
After their meeting, Tay was quite surprised when Arm invited him for dinner.
"I'm sorry?" Tay clarified. It was the first time that a business partner invited him for dinner. Well, a dinner with just the two of them. He thought they had already settled everything.
"I'm alone right now and I'm staying at a hotel. I have no one to have dinner with and I just thought maybe you could join me," Arm said casually.
Tay thought about it for a while, still unsure about what the dinner was all about.
"Come on. My treat," Arm prodded. "We can talk about other possible partnerships too."
That seemed to get Tay's attention.
"Sure, okay then," Tay answered. He grabbed a business card and passed it to Arm. "Just text me the time and place."
Arm readily accepted the card and examined it. "I was hoping I could get your personal number but okay."
Tay was distracted for a moment and didn't really understand what Arm just said.
"Uh, what was that?"
"Oh nothing. I said I'll meet you at the restaurant at my hotel. I heard they have great food there."
"All right, then. Let me walk you to the elevator," Tay said as he stood up.
---
It was already 5pm in the afternoon and Chimon was walking towards his car when he saw Pluem waiting for him beside his car.
"What are you doing here?" Chimon asked.
"I don't know what has gotten to you Chimon," Pluem said walking towards him with a grim face. "But I never thought you would go this low just for a freaking student council position."
"What the hell are you talking about?" Chimon retorted.
"Really? You're gonna pretend you know nothing?" Pluem paused as he clenched his fists. "I'm very disappointed in you. Yes, I don't like you as a person but I've always thought you were better than this."
"Excuse me. What are you blabbering a-" Chimon couldn't finish what he was trying to say as someone had pushed him from the back.
He almost lost his balance and was about to punch whoever pushed him but he realized it was Fiat.
"Why did you do that?" Chimon yelled at him.
Fiat did not respond. He just looked at Chimon scornfully and then turned to Pluem.
"Let's go, Pluem. Before I hurt this stupid guy," he said as he dragged Pluem away by the arm.
"Fuck!" Chimon muttered when he got into his car. He didn't understand why Pluem and Fiat were so mad at him. He didn't remember doing anything bad at all. In fact, he was so busy with his classes he wasn't even able to post something on his social media to try and gain some empathy from his followers.
He was about to start his car when his phone rang. It was Nanon.
"Hello Non," Chimon said.
"Kuya, why did you do that?" Nanon yelled.
Chimon was triggered by Nanon's tone. "Hey you. Do not yell at me like that. I'm still your older brother. Show some respect, won't you?"
"Respect? Big word. How can you ask for something you're not willing to give others?" Nanon challenged.
"What's wrong with you people? Just a while ago, Pluem and Fiat attacked me here at the parking lot like I somehow punched a poor baby's face. What's happening? I just finished my classes."
"Don't act like you don't know kuya. But whatever happens, I hope you can still be proud of yourself. I hope you can still face kuya Tay and kuya New after all this."
Chimon was about to ask another question but Nanon had ended the call.
He angrily threw his phone to the passenger's seat. After a few deep breaths, he picked it up and decided to go on Twitter to try and see if there was anything to find. If anything worth knowing was happening, it would already be on Twitter, he thought.
He almost punched the steering wheel when he saw a viral tweet from a then closed account. The tweet had been deleted but screenshots of it has been retweeted a thousand times.
It read: "Pluem Gonzales had to undergo a major heart surgery 5 years ago and Tay Ramos paid for it. Now Pluem has the audacity to run against Chimon Ramos, Tay's younger brother, for a student council position? Isn't that a bit ungrateful? #thickfaced"
Chimon fumed inside his car and was stunned for a long while until he saw his phone ringing.
It was New.
A flood of shame overwhelmed Chimon at that time so he decided to ignore New's call and started driving home.
---
New was about to leave the café that night when one of his staff approached him.
"Sir, the building landlord came earlier while you were at the back. He left this letter for you."
New casually accepted the envelope and went on his way. Upon getting inside his car, he ripped the envelope open.
He leaned back on the driver's seat as he read the letter.
It was just what he had expected. He fought the urge to tear the letter into two.
He knew he had not been able to pay the rent for the past two months.
The café had been struggling for the past six months already. There was very little income coming in and it was only enough to buy supplies for the next month. New even had to apply for a bank loan just to be able to pay for the utilities and his staff's salary. He had basically been losing money for several months.
With the initial amount he loaned from the bank to launch the café and the succeeding loans he made just to keep it running, he was in too much debt and the only reasonable action to take was to close the café.
"Fuck!" New cursed as he gripped the steering wheel.
He felt frustrated at how his life has turned out to be. Although he finished his nursing course, he didn't want to work in a hospital since he would have panic attacks if he spent too much time in there. Tay, Bright, and Win have all been encouraging him to try his hand on internet security services since he was really good at it. He could set-up his own IT company. His friends had a lot of faith in him but he doubted himself. He was good at hacking and a lot of other tech stuff but he didn't get any formal education on it so he wasn't confident in pursuing a tech company.
Cooking and food were his passion but as he had discovered, he wasn't good at the managing and marketing part.
He felt inadequate and insecure. Win was on his way to become a doctor. Bright was already a city mayor at the young age of 22, one of the youngest ever in the country. And there's Tay who had easily found his niche in his family's business.
Tay had even offered him a position in the family company but New immediately rejected it.
The only thing New had going for him is the fact that his parents were doing well financially back in the province. Their restaurant had grown and they had already opened a new branch in a nearby town. They had also launched a grocery store and a gasoline station.
New no longer had to worry about them or about Pluem's tuition and allowance.
He only needed to worry about himself.
And that's what he did a lot in the past few weeks: worry. Deep inside he knew he needed to share his problems with Tay or Bright and Win but his pride has been stopping him. He closed his eyes and tried to control his breathing as he felt the signs of another panic attack starting.
---
At that same time, more than a hundred kilometers away, Tay was also sitting inside his car. Trying to make sense of what just happened.
The dinner with Arm was quite fine at first. They discussed the ongoing partnership and even spent some time brainstorming what other projects they can collaborate with in the future. Arm had studied political science and was being trained to replace his father when he runs for higher office but in the meantime, he worked for his family's construction company. Tay thought the dinner was actually very productive.
However, things took a turn when Arm started asking personal questions that made Tay uncomfortable. Arm asked him if he was married or whether he was in a relationship.
Tay had explicitly stated that he had a boyfriend and he caught the look of disappointment in Arm's face.
At first he thought he was just imagining it. But he didn't need to confirm it as Arm had directly said, "Well if you ever get bored with your boyfriend, I'm available. Who knows, I might even make you happier than your boyfriend does."
"You're kidding, right?" Tay nervously asked.
"Nope. And based on my research, it looks like I may be a better partner for you in the long run.. you know, business wise."
"What do you mean?"
"Well, your partner's business isn't doing well at the moment and he doesn't seem to have any idea about running a business at all. I thought it would be better for you to have a partner who is good at business and strong political connections. Besides, I believe I'm as attractive as he is, don't you think?"
Tay's eyes widened but he quickly tried to regain composure. He quickly changed the topic as he felt his skin crawl.
Tay winced as he stopped thinking about the weird dinner with Arm.
In his five years with New, he had never thought about flirting with another guy. It didn't even cross his mind. He shuddered at the thought.
As if to cleanse his thoughts, he dialed New's number.
"Hello," New said.
Tay noticed New's heavy breathing and it immediately made him worry.
"Love, where are you? Are you okay?"
"Yep. I'm fine. I'm in my car about to drive home."
Tay considered probing about what was happening but decided to talk to New about it at their condo later.
"Okay then. Drive safely. I love you."
Even in his distress, New felt a tinge of apprehension. Tay never called just to ask where he was and to say 'I love you'.
"Right. You too, love. Love you too."
After they ended the call, they both sat in their cars for a few minutes.
They have been together long enough to know when something was bothering each other.
As New tried to breathe more slowly, he recognized that something didn't feel right. And it wasn't just his café.
---