Fall Like Rain (Preview)

Chapter 3

Before I could contribute to their argument, I heard my brother yell my name from the other side of the room.

It was kind of unsophisticated to yell back even if the program was done, especially because I was one of the bridesmaids. When I looked to where my brother was standing, I realized why he had to resort to yelling for me: he was standing with a bunch of truly noisy and seemingly always happy people–our cousins.

It was a tad embarrassing when the other guests turned to look at me after some of my cousins joined my brother in yelling to get my attention.

I sighed then stood up. Meah and Francis were still staring daggers at each other. "You guys, stop arguing," I said. "Thank you for your concern and all. I get what both of you are saying, but your argument isn't helping at all."

Francis tried to speak up. "I'm just saying—"

I raised a hand and shook my head firmly. "No. No more arguing." I gave them both a warning look. "I'm going to my brother."

"I'll go with you," Faith said, standing up as well. "I have to go back to James. See you later, Meah, Francis." She gave him a polite smile, because Faith was nice like that.

The two of us walked in silence until I finally asked, "So what do you have to say about all that?"

"I will support whatever you decide to do," she said simply.

Ah, classic Faith. She and I took up the same course in college, but we didn't meet until sophomore year when we became classmates. She had always been the nicest person I knew. If Meah was the gregarious, noisy girl, and I was the shy, quiet, sometimes almost stoic girl, Faith was the friendly and warm girl everyone wanted to be with, and who always knew the right thing to say.

"But if you really want me to say something," she continued, her face breaking into a grin, "it wouldn't hurt to send him a message."

For the first time since my friends brought the news up, I finally said what had been really bothering me. "But what if he's mad?"

"You're overthinking it, Rain," she replied. "Stop that right now. And what did you say earlier? Mark hardly gets mad. Why would he be angry with you? You, of all people." She smiled at me again as we neared my cousins' tables. Faith squeezed my arm before going to James. I made a beeline for my brother.

"Glad you decided to join us," my brother, Kuya Raymond, said with a smirk. I rolled my eyes at him as my new sister-in-law, Ate Carla, laughed.

"What do you want?" I asked.

"You haven't said hi to everyone yet." He motioned to the two tables that my cousins occupied. I said a very general hi, and waved at everyone. Some of them returned the greeting, while others didn't notice me, too caught up in their own conversations.

I turned to him. "There, happy now?"

Kuya Raymond made a tsking sound, then said in a mocking, yet affectionate, tone, "Rain, Rain. You're not trying."

When people learn of my extended family set-up, they always get amused because they didn't think something like it could exist. Our family was the definition of the word "close-knit". Our grandparents lived on the same street back in the province, so their kids—our parents—were childhood friends before they got together. My parents were also super close to their siblings and they all somehow belonged to one huge group of friends. Eventually, most of the people in their group started pairing off with one another, and they became in-laws. When we, their children, were born, we were all expected to be friends with one another, too, because that's just how the clan rolled.