Sing!

Meet and Greet

'Who are you texting?' Courtney asked as she took a little peek on Geneva's mobile phone.
'Ben, my colleague. He's updating me about the new patients in the ward.' Geneva replied.
'Even if you're out of work?' Courtney asked once again.
'Yeah. Plus I'm updating him about what we're doing at the moment.' She leaned her head forward to whisper on Courtney's ear. 'He likes Lyka.' She said, then she winked. 'I can't get him to text her.'
'Oh. Okay. Then, good luck Ben. I don't know Gen, but looking at Lyka's eyes when she talked about the man with a beautiful voice it seemed that she has made a firm decision to look for her. I saw that she just kind of dismissed it because she thinks that Lacey thinks it's kind of foolish.' Courtney said in a low voice.
They high-fived each other. 'I knew you knew.' Geneva said, winking at Courtney.

After getting their bags from the baggage carousel they proceeded to the parking lot. There, they saw Lyka's cousin who leaned his shoulder on a white Toyota Vios.
'Heeeey!' Lyka greeted as she approached her male cousin named Vio, leaving her bag and her friends behind who stood under a waiting shed.
'Hi,' Vio greeted back then took a glance at his cousin's friends. His eyes glimmered when he caught Lacey's glance. 'Are they your friends?' He asked Lyka.
'Oh yes. Girls, come over here.'
'Our bags, Lyka?' Lacey asked a little cynically. It didn't appear as sarcastic as it is to Lyka, since she's grown used to her tones.
'Oh, oops. Let me take them.' Vio said as he excused himself from his cousin, pulling their luggage one by one and put them into the luggage compartment.
'Have you eaten, Vio?' Lyka asked.
'You haven't even introduced your friends to me yet,' Vio insisted.
'Oops, I'm sorry, bord. By the way girls, here's Vio, my cousin. He's the same age as me. And Vio, meet my friends Lacey, Courtney, and Geneva. Lacey and Courtney are both from the US. They're models. And Geneva is a fellow Filipina. She works at a rehabilitation center in Manila.'
'Pleased to meet you, Vio.' Courtney said and took Vio's hand that he extended toward Lacey. Lacey did not look pleased and looked annoyed with him who suddenly started acting all cute when he took their bags. Geneva took his hand as well and said hi.
'Come on girls,' Lyka motioned them to hop into the car.

'So where's uncle?' Lyka asked. She sat on the passenger seat beside Vio.
'He wasn't feeling well this morning. Anyway, where to?' Vio asked.
'The Mall. Let's eat before we meet mom and the rest. I'm already excited as heck, but I don't want to have ulcer.' She smiled.

'Lyka! Nice to see you again!' Lyka's cousin Elaine who was carrying her 1-year old son met her by the door of their grandparents' house, where her mom and some of her aunts stayed. She's Vio's elder sister, and lived in a different house like her brother, but came over just to meet Lyka.
'Elaine!' Lyka hugged her cousin. How I've missed you.'
She introduced her mates and her cousin Elaine to one another.
'Is this little Giovanni you're carrying?' Lyka asked as she touched the little boy's forehead with the back of her fingers. It was her first time to meet her nephew.
'Yes. He just turned one-year old in January. Giovanni, say hi!' Elaine said as little Giovanni winked his eyes.
'What a cutie!' Lacey giggled. Courtney and Geneva looked at each other and smiled at the baby.
'Where's mom?'
'Upstairs, I guess. She's been preparing herself for your arrival since this morning.'
'Aww how sweet.' Courtney interjected. Lyka smiled at her.
'By the way, we've prepared some snacks for you. Are juice and sandwich okay with you?' Elaine asked the girls.
'Yes, that would be alright.' Geneva smiled.
'That's great! You can have a seat for a while, while I bring the food.'
The three found their comfortable places in the sofa at the living room while Elaine went to look for her husband so he could take over on looking after Giovanni while she prepared the food on a tray. She came back to the living room to serve them.
'Please help yourself.' Elaine said as she put the glasses of juice and the sandwiches one by one on the glass center table.
'Thanks a lot, we really appreciate it.' Courtney said as she smiled at Lyka's cousin.
'You're welcome. Will you be spending your nights here? I was not informed.' Elaine said.
'No, we will be checking into a resort, I think Lyka called it Alona Tropical Beach Resort.' Lacey replied.
'Oh, that's a beautiful place. I'm sure you'll have a good time there. I hope Lyka will. She looks so stressed.'
'Yeah. She's been working very hard lately. And you know, the state of her family is not good, so this vacation came just at the right time. I hope she'll feel refreshed somehow,' Courtney said full of concern.

Meanwhile, once Lyka made her way upstairs, she knocked at the guest room. Her vibe was strong that her mom was occupying that room so she proceeded. 'Mom?'
As the door opened suddenly, Lyka's mom was smiling widely and hugged her right away.
'Lyka darling! Oh how I missed you.'
'I've missed you too, mom.'
'Where are your friends?'
'Downstairs. They're being entertained by Elaine. How are you, mom?'
'Let's come inside.'

It took about an hour before Lyka and her mom's catch up session was over. It was getting dark outside, like a rain is coming soon.
'Mom, let's catch up some other time. Me and my friends will be checking into Alona resort, where our whole clan used to spend two nights, remember?'
'Yes, I do remember.' Suddenly Lyka's mom's eyes became gloomy, as she remembered the times when their family was still fully okay.
'Oh mom. I'm sorry. Did I make you sad?' Lyka asked with full of concern.
'No, honey. I'm happy that you're here. Well, will you be visiting me even though you'll be staying your nights in Alona?' Lyka's mom asked.
'Yes, mom. We will be staying here in Bohol for seven days. We'll spend the first three days in Alona. And since Aunt Miriam said she could accommodate the four of us in her house, we'll be staying the remaining 4 days there. It's just a walking distance from here so that should be okay. I could sleep with you if you want,'
'That would be great. But how about your friends? Will it be okay if you spend some of your nights here?'
'I'm sure they would understand.' Lyka smiled.

*when a younger person takes your hand and touches the back of its fingers on his/her forehead is a sign of respect toward the elderly in the Philippines. It's called 'mano'.