NOT A RIVALRY

Extra: Drunken Night

Second Kiss

THIS night's supposed to be a birthday celebration, a party for Noah's Mom. But why the heck instead of a birthday party Noah felt like he's in a gathering of a bunch of businessmen and the likes?

On top of that, his Mom is also supposed to be the center of attention, the birthday celebrant herself. But the moment this certain person step inside the venue, he singlehandedly caught everyone's attention— Noah's not an exception either.

This kind of party is not really Noah's cup of tea, he'd rather just celebrate their Mom's birthday with just their family. Pero wala siyang magagawa dahil ganitong klaseng selebrasyon ang gusto ng mga ito, go with the flow nalang siya.

Napailing nalang si Noah kapagkuwan ay inalis ang tingin sa kumpulan ng mga businessmen na mukhang nagkakasiyahang mag-usap. Dumako nalang ang tingin niya sa hawak na baso, nagdadalawang isip kung iinumin niya ba ang laman o hindi. The last time na uminom siya, sobrang lasing na lasing siya to the point na hindi na niya matandaan kung ano ang nangyari noong gabing iyon.

According to his sisters he really did nothing that time but there's a part of him saying that he really did something, he just couldn't remember.

Ang huling natatandaan niya noong gabing iyon ay ang lumabas siya sa VIP room at nakita niya si Callen na may kasamang babae na nakaupo malapit sa binata. Ang alam niya lang ay biglang hindi niya nagustuhan ang nakita at matapos niyon ay wala na siyang maalala.

For the past few months after Elijah's birthday, there's this weird happenings— though Noah don't know if he could consider it weird. But for some reason Callen always appeared in his line of sight, though, that man didn't approached him or dared to stand close to him, but Noah almost could see him everyday from a distance. He's not assuming anything and his senses work just fine— from a distance, Noah sometimes could feel Callen staring at him.

Did he do something to Callen during that night? Kung bakit kasi wala siyang matandaan sa mga pinaggagawa noong gabing iyon.

Kung may nagawa nga siya sa binata, gaano ba iyon kalala to the point na halos araw-araw na itong nagpaparamdam sa kanya? Hindi ba nito alam na sa ginagawa nito ay na co-conscious na siya? Kung may nagawa man siya pwede naman siya nitong komprontahin.

On second thought, paano nga ba siya kokomprontahin ni Callen kung dinaig pa niya ang pinakamailap na hayop kung umiwas sa binata?

Him confronting Callen is none of the choices either, hindi siya tanga para isawalang bahala ang paghihirap niyang iwasan ito. Nagpakahirap siya tapos siya rin pala ang lalapit dito sa huli, anong silbi ng pag-iwas niya dito kung ganoong din pala ang mangyayari? Para lang siyang kumuha ng bakal at ipinukpok sa sarili.

Bakit nga ba niya iniiwasan si Callen?

Noah don't exactly know why. Was it his insecurities towards Callen? Was he jealous of what Callen have? There's that but he knew those mentioned are just a small part of his reason why he's avoiding Callen. There's more to it, a deeper reason that he himself couldn't name it.

As his mind engulfed with so many thoughts, he's also unconsciously drinking the liquor that he was just having a second thought of drinking it or not a moment ago.

Tuluyan ng nawala sa isip ni Noah ang pagdadalawang isip at hinayaan ang sariling akitin ng alak. Without him knowing, the more he drink the more he's putting himself in a situation where he might forget everything happens and have a hard time remembering it, just like the last time.