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Thirty-four

Wala palang chapter twenty-seven? Twenty-eight na agad. Haha

-THIRTY-FOUR-

Amilyte's POV

Crap. Crap. Crap. Crap.

Talia's birthday is today and I'm with Sage, stuck in a traffic. Sinundo namin yung kaibigan ni Talia sa Batangas. Sage, being Talia's cousin collaborated with us (Divine and me) to surprise Talia. At ito ang naisip niya. Sunduin si Gwyneth at dalin sa Manila. Childhood friend daw kasi ni Talia si Gwyneth.

"Alam mo parang familiar ka! Ikaw din! Sage, diba?" Seriously? Kanina pa siya ganyan ng ganyan. Ngumingiti nalang ako sa kanya pag natatanong siya kasi naman pang ten na niya yatang tanong yun.

"Wait... Iisipin ko kung san ko kayo nakita," she said, thinking deeply.

"Maybe you saw us in Talia's pictures," I supplied. I don't like her to be crazy, when we present her to Talia.

"Hindi e! Nagkita na tayo personal," she insisted. I shrugged and my seat and never looked back. She was murmuring things on her own. Ang weird lang.

"I think I saw her before," Sage uttered in a low voice that only I can hear. I rolled my eyes at him. Pati ba naman siya?

"You're cousins. Common friends, perhaps?"

"No. Talia grew up in Batangas, and I occasionally go there." I shrugged as a response and killed time as I waited impatiently to move.

At the final turn, we rounded up in Talia's house. Actually, it's half-past 11 pm, November 29.

"Where is Talia?" I asked Ela. She's here too.

"Natutulog pa sa taas. Inaayos na nila yung cake," tuwang tuwang sabi niya. Nagpunta kami sa kitchen at naabutan namin na naglalagay ng icing si Line. I remembered that before she attended baking classes.

The cake is so cute. It's a cartoon version of Talia. And as for the cupcakes, iba iba sila ng colors pati ng color ng icing sa ibabaw.

"It's done!" Line made an excited sound. Inilagay nila yun sa cupcake tier. Twenty cupcakes for Talia's 20th birthday. I am two years older than Talia. Technically we are older than her. I stopped for a year because of the incident. Line, Bekah, Richard, and Alder were graduates; while Sage, on the other hand, is like me. Pero alam ko irregular siya kasi may hindi yata na-credit na subject niya nung nag-shift siya to architecture.

We went up to her room sneakily and I literally jumped on the bed to wake her.

"Happy Birthday!" We sang until she became aware of what was happening around her.

"Oh, jeez!" She covered her face using her hands.

"I'm so flattered! Thank you!" She looked at each one of us and smiled then went to give her big hug. It was choking. Really.

"I love you!" She squealed, blew the cake and hugged us once more.

"So, ano yung wish mo?" Asked Sage when we were already sitting on the cold, damp grass, under the moonlight, beside the pool. The breeze was cold enough to make me shiver.

Beside me sat Gwyneth. She keeps on bugging Ela to give her good gossips about us. I somehow noticed that Ela was starting to feel irritated.

"I want my friends to be happy. Especially Ami." The moment I heard her sweet voice, napaangat yung tingin ko. What did I do to make her love me like that? I wasn't a good friend to her. Ngayon ko naisip na ang sama kong kaibigan. I wasn't there when she fell down, Divine was there. I didn't tell her anything. I never told her anything. Whilst she on the other hand, tells me everything under the midday sun. I feel like crying right now. I'm a coward friend. Ngumiti ako sa kanya, aware that my eyes were glistening, and held her hand.