Love, Rameng (Completed)

Salamat guid!

This is my first full-length story. Didn't realize the amount of work that went into making one. Hats off to all ADN writers who do fanfics.

Thank you also to:

A.V. - A beautiful, renaissance woman who is also dyslexic. Originally, RJ was supposed to spell Cat as Tac. I asked if this was accurate. She said, most likely it would be Dat.

T. A. - A loving mom who fought for her daughter who is dyslexic. Their story deserves it's own retelling. Her daughter finished Magna cum Laude in college, similar to RJ.

J.J. - RJ's study and work ethic was patterned after his. Before J graduated from college, he was offered a job at Procter & Gamble. He is now assigned in China.

Jane - My long-time friend. She spoke about the Manong RJs of her life.

Michelle and her husband who is a volleyball coach. They taught me about the line that should not be crossed. Otherwise, I don't know a thing about volleyball.

Pamy - My friend who used to be a crew of Mcdonald's. Thank you for answering my sudden questions on how it was as a mascot. She used to be Birdie.

L, L and H - Visual artists who patiently listened to me. Bewildered.

Erika - For recommending that Rameng Designs be on IG and not on Etsy.

To @justmemajella – For answering my query on best man ages.

Gerbie – For a wonderful thread about writing on her Twitter feed.

Hazelmarie – My fellow ADN and sounding board. For last-minute proofreading. Hope to see you when you come home.

My son Carlos, 11, who is tireless in his inputs on how a child thinks.

Nat – For your inputs on possible punchlines, particularly on the cross-stitch chapter "Shallots."

Jaime – my client, for his input on the type of car the Ricky character should drive. Ricky, by the way, doesn't own the car, his dad does.

To my cousin M – my partner-in-crime and instant editor. For her most valuable time reading and her inputs, particularly on teenage RJ and Menggay. She also policed me when I became exceedingly verbose and off tangent.

To all of you who read Lov , Rameng, I read all the comments. I apologize for not answering. Your reactions oftentimes encouraged me the write the next chapter. For example, if someone did not ask for harot after RJ and Menggay got together, the story would not have flirting in the library.

I also loved the discussions on the variety of topics : parental approval, objectification of women, others.

By the way, I was wrong about Molave. Apparently, it's now an all-boys dorm. Thank you for pointing this out.

A lot of the plot lines were inspired by real life experiences.

I would also like to thank my Mama, who is the impetus to the story. On her deathbed, she told me: "Life is not perfect, so it's up to you how to make it beautiful."