Destiny Calls | A LOUDRE Fanfic

First Struggle

July, 2018 | Baguio, Philippines

Andre was struggling. It had been a tough week for him. He had been doing location photo shoots since he landed in the Philippines. He is tired but he is still happy that he is able to experience new things. Everyday is like a paid sight-seeing trip for him. They were doing some photo shoots at Siargao last week and now they are in a retreat trip in Baguio. His modelling agency Merchant Empire had decided that the models are free to do whatever they want for their last day as long as they are ready to go at 8:00 PM. Which brings him back to his predicament.

"Kulang... Kuleng..." He gestured picking his nose. The vendor looked at him like he had gone crazy. "Booger!! Oh my Gosh" He frustratingly whispered to himself. Where were his colleagues when he needed them. He forgot the tagalog word for Booger. He would have never imagined himself in this situation ever.

"Like this oh. The one inside your nose. I forgot what its called." He gestured picking his nose again to the confused old lady manning the small shop he was in.

One student noticed what he was doing and came in to rescue him. "Manang baka po yung 'Sundot Kulangot' yung gusto." The kind student said to the vendor.

"Ah... Ilan gusto mo?" The old lady asked Andre. He helplessly looked at the young boy who suddenly became his hero.

"How much daw." The boy said to him.

"Ah. Ah." Andre quickly took 200 peso from his wallet and gave it to the old lady.

He thanked the young man profusely and asked him if he wants something from the store. The young man just shook his head and said his goodbyes. This is one thing that he liked about Filipinos they are willing to help if they can.

"Oh ito gwapo." The old lady handed him a full plastic bag of bamboo sticks with some small orbs inside along with his change. He took the plastic bag but just left the few coins for the lady.

"You can keep that po. Salamat sa iyo." He said and he headed out the small store. He heaved a big sigh of relief and accomplishment. He glared at the plastic bag that he was holding and thought about the reason of his struggle.

He called Fumiya yesterday to tell him that he is finally coming to Manila after his trip from Baguio tomorrow.

"Moshi Moshi, Andore!" Fumiya answered the phone.

Andre can hear loud laughing in the background.

"Are you at a party right now?" Andre asked Fumiya.

"Hindi. Rou-rou and Yamyam is here. We're going to eat Lechon!" Fumiya excitedly said.

According to Fumiya, Lou and Yamyam her 'Kuya' had been visiting Fumiya regularly since he does not have any family and friends yet in the Philippines. Fumiya is going to start attending school for English lessons soon and he is trying to experience Filipino culture as much as he can before he becomes busy with school works and vlogging.

"Wow." Andre felt a pang of regret and envy. He wish he was there as well.

"Andore why did you call?" Fumiya asked bringing him out of his reverie.

"I'm going back to Manila from Baguio tomorrow. Do you want anything from here?" He asked. He heard Fumiya shushing the other two. Then he heard him asking if they want anything from Baguio which earned him squeals and excited responses.

"Yamyam said he wants strawberry wine and Rou-Rou.. Rou-Rou what do you want?" Andre heard from the other line.

"What? What? Hindi ko naintindihan." Andre heard loud laughter again as well as Fumiya's loud 'Ano's and What's'.

"Sundot-Kulangot" He heard Lou enunciating each syllable to Fumiya.

"Sungdow-Kurangow." Fumiya repeated to the receiver.

"What? What is that?" Andre is not sure why but he found the word funny.

"Rou-Rou what is Sungdow-Kurangow?" He heard Fumiya asked.

"It's tagalog of picked booger." He heard Lou explaining. He can hear the laughter in her voice.

"Eeehhh... Ehhh.....Ewww Kadiri!! Why you want that?!? What happened to this country?!?" He heard Fumiya say.

Andre can imagine his face at that moment which made him burst into laughter.

"Hello, sabihin mo dun sa nagtitinda Sundot-Kulangot." He heard Lou's voice from the phone. It immediately brought a smile to his face even though he has no idea what she is saying.

"Hello, Andore, Oh my gas this girl is crazy taraga. She said she wants booger!" Andre can hear the disgust from Fumiya's voice. Andre laughed again.

"What? Booger? What would you do with that?" Andre asked.

"Its not Booger its food! Its really good you'll see just buy it so you'll know what it is." Lou defended from the other line.

He doubt that any food called booger would taste good but who is he to complain? He was the one who asked what they wanted in the first place.

"Okay. So I got the strawberry wine and the booger thingy what else?" Andre finally calmed down enough to ask.

"Its not booger nga sabi eh." He heard Lou complain. He is guessing that he is on speaker since he can clearly hear the chatter from the other line.

"Peanut Brittle!" Lou exclaimed after much discussion.

Ok that doesn't sound too bad. "Anything else?" He asked again.

"Wala. Wala na. I'm scared Rou-Rou is gonna ask for something weird again." Fumiya said the last part in Japanese probably for Lou not to understand.

"What is it? I heard my name?" Lou asked from the background.

"Wala wala I'm telling Andre to buy a lot of booger!" He heard Fumiya say.

Andre was smiling the whole time. "So that's it? I'll see you tomorrow then. Bye!"

"Bye bye!" "Sayonara!" He heard simultaneous goodbyes from the other line before hanging up.

Andre's thoughts came back to the present. A huge smile appeared on his face. He started whistling as he started walking to his hotel. He can't wait to see the look on their faces once he finally meet them again.

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Ok just a light chapter for now.

Hope I made your day just a tad lively.

Thanks for reading!

- J