Tadhana

- 8 : Walls -

By the time the two got out and entered the battlefield once again, around three minutes were left on the clock. Sienna and Asher felt the sweet taste of victory coming ever so close, on the tip of their tongues whilst running for their laser-tag lives.

However, their hopes were dashed, when a tuft of purple hair met their view. "Sienna-!" Asher screamed out loud as he lightly pushed his childhood friend away in a split second. She could only see as Asher got tagged, putting him out of the game.

How tragic.

From the sideline, Sonia couldn't help but mutter, "Nagpapaka-prinsipe naman ito, pero sige..." she breathed in, soon shouting cheeringly yet urgently, "TAKBO! 'MA! TAKBO! Kaya mo 'yan!". "Go Sienna!" followed up Asher, who just got to the sidelines himself. A flurry of voices were screaming at her as each millisecond seemed to slow down,

"Panaluhin mo ito para sa atin!" the brown-eyed accountant cheered on.

"Avenge mo 'ko!" the brunette jokingly advised.

"Matatag din kita, Sienna!" James cackled as he ran after his friend, aiming.

"FRICK," she breathed as she made a sharp turn, her legs were running as fast as they could go.

Two minutes left on the clock, two minutes before victory would be in her and her team's grasp.

'If I keep running like this, no matter how fast I'd be, James will tag me...!' she strategized in her head, 'I have to change directions every once in a while now!'.

Putting her plan into action, Sienna took herself to the more ziggy-zaggy route, in the hope that she would confuse the "it". "P*ta, kilala kita masyado, sis! You can't hide from meeeee!" the cafe owner followed her pattern, now basically spamming the laser gun in order to catch her. He grunted, "P-Pero good job... Medyo nahihirapan na din me-!".

It was basically a cat-and-mouse chase. Soon, however, the last ten seconds were nigh.

"10... 9... 8... 7... 6... 5..." the machine counted down the final moments of the match. The future lawyer made her case at that moment, determined to win. To her surprise, she gained some more speed, narrowly escaping the attempts of James at tagging her. It was as if adrenaline pumped through her whole system!

"4... 3... 2..." the last second was coming soon, but it felt like an eternity to her.

"1."

The chase came to a halt. Panting, Sienna's grey eyes scanned her monitor to check if she had been tagged. To her shock, the final life that she had for the round remained.

"YESSS! 'YAN YUNG NANAY KO!" Sonia screamed at the top of her lungs, "WOOOO!". Her mother figure was met with her hug. "T-Thank you, anak...!" the economist hugged her back. After Sonia released Sienna from the hug, the latter got a high-five from James, "Uyyy good job doon! Mukhang nagka-motivation ka yata ah," he teased her, pointing his lips at Asher, who was walking towards them. "J-James---!" she embarrassingly retorted, straightening up her posture as Asher came near.

"Na-avenge mo na pala kami ni Sonia," Asher grinned, "Good job, Shenshen!".

Shenshen.

Her old nickname from back then.

"Shenshen?" James repeated in an inquiring tone, "'Yan yung tawag mo sa kanya?". "Noong kinder, oo," the childhood friend in a denim jacket answered. Sonia nudged her best friend, "Uy," she mused in a softer tone, "Naalala niya, hehe.". Sienna tried to hide her blushing face, "O-Of course, of course he did! K-Kahit noong high school tayo...!". Her daughter figure chuckled, shaking her head.