Hello, Goodbye, and Everything In Between

Chapter 4 - Superman

"Morning te" Tricia casually greets her as her younger sister nibbles on her bread. "Bread, gusto mo?"

She's done with most of her tasks for the day. One more meeting and she's free. "Sige, thank you." She joins her sister, realizing she was also starved.

"Busy ka today?" she looks up from her phone when Tricia asked the question. "Lunch date tayo. Miss kita." She smiles in admiration for her younger sister. If she were honest, she had missed her sister too. Both of them.

For the past years, after their mom retired from politics, her sisters have been pursuing their dreams nonstop. 

Tricia went on and studied for her Master's degree at Harvard, while Jillian started her full-time job in New York. 

Now that both her sisters are back, all three of them wanted to make up for the times they were away from each other, including their mom.

"Oo nga, medyo busy tayo pareho the past weeks. Sige ba. Pero quick lunch lang muna ha, may meeting pa kasi ako ng 2PM tapos kay mama nako didiretso after." She's elated to see her sister happy of their plans. "Text mo si Jill baka gusto sumama."

"Kay mama o sa assistant ni mama?" Tricia says nonchalantly. "Sus. Mag-bebeh time ka lang eh. Actually, ako rin. Anyway, I left Jill a message na." She just rolled her eyes at her sister and went up to freshen up and change.

The drive to the restaurant was quick. They opted to go to one of their favorite places. It was quiet, less crowded, and more accessible to their next destinations. 

Jillian already had lunch plans and bailed out on them, leaving them to catch up alone.

"So anong latest sayo te?" Tricia starts the conversation after placing their orders. "I heard from Mama may kasama ka sa Florida"

"Ma-issue ka. Work trip naman kasi yun for us both. Ewan ko ba, si Mama rin naman kasi si Cassie pa yung ipapadala" she reasoned but her younger sister wasn't having it.

"Sus drama ka pa eh alam ko naman na gusto mo rin." Aika just laughed it off. Aba oo syempre. "Pero seryoso Ate Aiks, wala kang anything planned?" She just shrugged. She hasn't honestly thought about anything, too caught up in the thought of spending a week with Cassie alone. "Ano ka ba ate" a light smack on her arm from Tricia.

"Eh kasi nga diba work trip. Swerte na nga pinayagan kami pareho ng full-week stay, three days lang naman sana yung conference. We'll wing it nalang." She tries to play it cool.

"Wow, kelan ka pa nag wing ng anything te? You always like things planned kaya." Trish taunts her.

"For some reason, Cassie makes it easier for me to walk towards paths unknown." It was true. Her and Cassie was never a part of her life plans. 

While she had thought about dating again that time, she never imagined herself being with Cassie exactly. But here they were, some years later, madly in love. "Parang ano. Parang panira ng plano palagi ganyan."

"Alam mo te, okay na sana. Convinced na sana ako na kaya mo rin ng romance pero basag trip ka" she was about to respond with a witty comeback but heard a familiar voice calling her name.

"Aika? Tricia?" She turns around and sees Luis with Issa, Sen Risa's daughter. She immediately smiled and waved at them.

"Hi, guys!" Her sister greets them both. "It's good to see you. Kumusta kayo?" They exchange pleasantries and side cheek kisses.

"We're good. Kayo?" Luis asked.

"We're good rin. Kayo lang ba?" She looks out to check if there are indeed other people behind the Hontiveros cousins.