Risk

11

Prelude: A little changes has been made with the story. The set-up of this was June and I changed it to October 'cause that's Kiefer's birth-month. And yes, this is something from me for Manong's birthday. Kinda late but hehe.

Anyhoo, hope you enjoy this one. 😅

Mika

"What did you get Manong for his birthday?" I asked Jessey curiously while we're waiting for our food to arrive.

Bukas na kasi yung birthday ni Kiefer and surprisingly, no one's bringing it up yet. Not once.

Alam ko naman kung bakit... because they know that Kiefer is not a huge fan of having parties thrown in his honor. Pero kapag naman sya, he has no problem making me the center of attention on many occasions. Nako.

However, because of this, everyone's planning a surprise party for him and for that reason, no one in the house mentioned that it's his birthday na bukas—not even Kiefer himself.

I have been contemplating how to handle this situation for the last couple of days though. Hindi ko kasi alam kung anong ibibigay ko sa kanya.

"I got him the latest iPad mini Pro, something he can use sa work. I know he has one na but di ba masyadong malaki yung iPad Pro? Maganda yung handy." Jessey said excitedly, obviously proud of her gift choice. "Ikaw ba, Miks? What did you get him? Something appropriate for opening in front of the family naman sana ha." She grinned widely, giving me a nang-aasar look.

Gago talaga nitong si Jessey minsan.

"Actually..." I said and thought if lying would be a good option right now. "...wala pa eh." I blurted out.

Saying the truth is something I hadn't been doing a lot lately, so I figured I could use the good karma.

"Well... ano ba yung mga options mo?" She asked. She sat up straighter and going into full Jessey-planning mode.

"Honestly? I have zero idea what. Halos lahat ng naiisip ko masyadong lame or cliché."

She nodded contemplatively before her eyes grew wide and she smiled at me. "How about a new shoe rack? Like the ones from IKEA." She suggested animatedly. "You know Manong and his love for his shoes."

I raised an eyebrow. Seryoso ba tong best friend ko?

"A shoe rack." I repeated dully. "Jessey, that's not even sentimental."

"Oh, gusto mo ng sentimental?" She smirked at me and brushed her short pixie hair before continuing. "Okay sige, how about... skimpy lingerie and massage oils. There goes your sentimental."

I shook my head and rolled my eyes at her as our food arrived. We thanked the waiter and waited for him to leave before resuming our conversation.

"I honestly don't know what you want to hear from me, BF. " Jessey sighed as she put some sauce on her baby back ribs. "Ayaw mo ng shoe rack kasi it's too boring for you and a night of amazing..." She looked at me with a raised eyebrow as if saying alam-mo-na-yon. "...is too much? I can't help you then if ayaw mo naman mag-compromise."

"I'm willing to compromise naman, Jess." I argued, growing frustrated with her lack of helpfulness in this situation. "Eh kasi naman ikaw, you're not giving me anything useful to work here."

She groaned and took a bite of her food and she eyed me intentionally. "Fine, fine. You're right." She relented, putting her fork down. "Inaasar lang kasi kita, I love kasi your reaction. Sorry, sorry. Hunger was clouding my judgments."