Out There

I. Unang Pagkikita

Milo's Apartment
Manila, Philippines
Wednesday, 5:04 pm.

“Okay, so here we are, your room for a while," Milo's a clean type of guy with semi-formal clothes and has a nice haircut. The room he showed to Lance is a neat room with new bed sheet and new pillows in the color of sky blue. He liked the room already.

“Well bro, thank you for letting me stay here for a few days while Tita's still searching for an apartment I can stay in," Lance Winchester's smile can make anybody tremble and swoon, except for the fact that he doesn't have to try because Milo's not a girl, and there's no female present in the room. So Lance's smile can be a natural, friendly smile in this point of time.

It's all part of a plan.

“It's no problem bro. Besides, my honeybunch Kakay," Milo blushed and Lance has to cringe “explained and persuaded me to let you in here. Not that it's a big deal. You need to duplicate the key though, just in case."

“Oh yeah, sure." Milo tossed the key to him and said goodbye. He has this ‘certain emergency' he has to attend to, leaving Lance arranging his things in a cabinet provided for him. He doesn't have much, just a bunch of clothes, toiletries, perfume, and a favorite book. Unbidden memories flood through him as he hold the book, refusing to open it for it will further bring memories he once desperately tried to forget.

He doesn't even know why he brought the book with him. He could have tossed it in a dump in Australia, miles and miles away, where it can't bring any damage. Some things just can't be explained, not everything has an answer.

He'll just leave it at that.

It was past six he finished fixing his things, and he don't know what else to do. He has jet lag, and he's a bit homesick but he wanted to go out and stretch his limbs.

Wait...he is in a foreign land, and it could be dangerous walking in unknown streets and roads without some sort of basic knowledge he forgot to Google. Well...

Someone rapped in the door so loud he became suddenly afraid. Lance thought about the possibilities. Is it Milo?  No, he's just out remember? A thief? No idiot, my subconscious hissed, a thief, knocking? Wow, when did robbers become so polite? Who then? Just open the door and find out dammit.

“Who's there?" Lance asked cautiously.

There was a loud squeal at the other side of the door. “Lanceeeeyyyy! It's your cousin, Kakay! Open up, hurry! Omg...."

He opened the door and it revealed a very hyper girl that was about half his size, jumping up and down, then hugged him tight. Bloody hell, this girl's a cowboy, he thought. Last time he saw her, 12 years ago when Kakay's family still lived in Australia, they were pretty close but she was a lot more... contained and girly. Was.

“Uh, hi?" he said uncertainly.

“Milo texted me and he said that you're already here!  So I went straight to you! Oh Lance you're gonna love the Philippines! I'll take good care of you and tour you around!” she squealed with delight. “There's this café we can go to right now!" She suddenly frowned, “because that Milo ditched me for his favorite aunt's dinner. Ugh... But it's a perfect opportunity to show you places!" She squealed again. Seriously, this girl reminds him of a squeaky, little mouse. No offense, he added.