viii. joy and competition

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After the taxi ride to the nearest Jollibee, I saw the whole Vela family occupying a table! They had already ordered five buckets of Chicken Joy, 10 packets of Jolly Crispy Flavoured Fries, and some spaghetti, with a custom red velvet cake from Red Ribbon covered with icing saying: 'Congratulations Ava!'

"Salamat po everyone! Grabe naman, you're making me cry." I sniffed, overwhelmed by their love.

"Ano ba yun, Ava, anything for our angel." Tita Rose replied, leaning onto Mang Joel's shoulder.

"Sige na, kain tayo, huwag mag drama." Kuya complained, grabbing the Sour Cream fries until mom stopped him.

"Enrique Jason Sullivan, did you not forget that we pray before meals?!" Mom exclaimed, infuriated.

"Hehe, sorry!" Kuya replied, embarrassed sticking up a peace sign.

"In the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. Dear Lord, thank you for helping Ava get into The Voice Kids. May you bless the food we eat today and bless us always, Amen." We prayed collectively.

"ATTACK!" We all chanted, grabbing the Chicken Joy legs.

JK

"Hey, Espanto." I bellowed, motioning Darren to come here, scowling.

He gulped in fear as he slowly came up to me. He should be.

"What do you want, Juan Karlos?" He asked, glaring.

"You to get off my girl." I threatened, my fists clinching.

"You mean Ava? Well I saw her first." He retorted, getting even closer. "First come, first served."

He walked away, without any word. Did he just own me?

Not a chance, Espanto. Ava is mine.

Ava

We returned home to Rizal through two taxi's, a supposed 1 hour 30 minutes however due to traffic we took 3 hours just to return home. Typical traffic in the Philippines.

As we entered the house, I noticed a Golden Retriever, a Siberian Husky, a Corgi and a German Sheperd running around the house!! Excited, I ran up to them and stroked their fur, one of the, sitting on my lap.

"Can I name them, please please please!!" I exclaimed energetically, leaping across the house.

"Of course anak, these pups are your prizes! They were all strays found in the neighbourhood. The Retriever and Corgi are girls and the Husky and German Shepard are boys." Mom replied, embracing me.

"OMG OMG OMG WHANDBDSNJAKSHSJHSJSI!!!!!!! THANK YOU SO MUCH SALAMAT PO I WILL PAY YOU BACK PROMISE I WILL WIM THE VOICE KIDS FOR YOU FOR ALL OF US YIPEEEEEEEEE SUSJHSKSHSUAIAI!!!!!!!!!!" I babbled, shaking, hopping around the air in joy.

"Hmm, for you Miss Retriever, I'll name you...Bea Kim. For you, Miss Corgi, Ashley Rose. For you, Mr. Husky, Ian Daniel. And, for you Mr. German Shepard, Thomas Leo." I announced, grinning.

I went up to my room, all the doggie squad following me up the stairs. I opened my laptop, noticing an email sent to me.

Dear Miss Sullivan and family,

Ava will be competing in three weeks with the guidance of Coach Sarah Geronimo.

The group Ava will be in will be announced next weeks during the rehearsals. She and her group will be singing 'Ikaw Ay Ako' by or very own Sarah G.

The songs lyrics have been sent below:

Sa bawat pintig ng puso ay
Dama ko na bahagi ka ng buhay ko
Kahit na itago pa
Kahit na ilihim pa
Kita ko sayong mata
Tayong dalawa ay iisa

Puso ang siyang nagsasabi
Na ika'y Kahati ng aking kalul'wa
Kahit pa hindi sabihin
Ay dama ng puso na ikaw ay ako
Wagas na pag-ibig
Ay di magbabago

Sa pag-iisa madadama ko naro'n ka
Sa isip ko'y kasama ka
Di madaya ang puso
Sa lukso ng aking dugo
Tunay na pagmamahal
Ay hindi maglalaho

Puso (tunay ang) ang siyang nagsasabi (puso mo)
Na ika'y Kahati (hanggan sa aking) ng aking kalul'wa (na hindi ko madama ang pagmamahal ko)
Kahit pa hindi sabihin (bakit ang)
Ay dama ng puso (ganyan na) na ikaw ay ako (di ko madama sa puso mo)
Wagas na pag-ibig ay di magbabago

Nakikita ko
Ikaw ay nagbabago

Puso ang siyang nagsasabi
Na ika'y Kahati ng aking kalul'wa
Kahit pa hindi sabihin
Ay dama ng puso na ikaw ay ako
Wagas na pag-ibig
Ay di magbabago
Hindi magbabago... whoa whoa...

Wagas na pag-ibig
Ay di
Magbabago

Thank you for your full co-operation throughout this process. We wish Ava the best of luck learning these lyrics and performing them on stage. Hope to see you next week Saturday for rehearsals!

Yours sincerely,

-The Voice Kids Family

I practiced the lyrics for an hour when suddenly, two notifications appeared on my Instagram.

'darrenespanto1 started to follow you.'

'karloslabajo started to follow you.'

AYYYYYYYYYIIIIIIIEEEEEEEE!!!!! OMG HOW DID THEY FIND MY IG???!!!! WERE THEY STALKING ME??? WHO KNOWS OMG OMG OMG OMG!!!!!!

Composing myself, I followed them back and with a blink of an eye, Juan Karlos DMed me! He sent me a picture of a heart and texted:

'Meet me at your nearest SM. I know where it is, don't ask why, babes. See you there 😉✌🏻❤️.'

'Oh... Hi JK! Ok! 👍🏻😘'

OMG I SENT THE WRONG EMOJI FUDGECAKES!!!"

'😂?'

'MEEP! Sorry, wrong emoji I meant 👍🏻🌍. Hehehe...'

'Whatever you say Ava babes, tomorrow ha 😏✌🏻️🌍❤️.'

'Ok!! Night! 😊💤.'

I closed my eyes and dreamt about JK.

WHO TO CHOOSE???!!! AHHHHH!!!

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