I could only answer Daisy honestly: "No I have never been to Boracay"
Daisy looked at me with her deep brown eyes and said "Let's go Stan, this week is a long weekend. We could leave this Friday and return on Sunday....or did you have other plans?"I was overwhelmed but at the same time flattered, why wouldn't I want to go to on a short holiday with an absolutely stunning looking girl with a great personality. She basically threw herself at me, all I had to do was say "yes"
I answered with a straight face and in a casual voice "yeah, that seems like a good option, let's do it"
We agreed that I would pay for the tickets and Daisy would find and pay for accommodation. She surprised me with that offer, I had no idea how much or what type of accommodation she was booking? Would we sleep in 1 room? Or 2? I decided not to ask, I would go with the flow and see what would happen.
The week went by quickly, my work-load continued to pick up and my time in the office increased to 10 hours a day.
That Tuesday night I had an evening coffee with Jin to talk her through my public speaking experience and how to overcome nerves. To my surprise she mentioned that she had been a shy girl her whole life and had always felt pressure from her parents to be the best in everything she did. Jin's explanation of her fear is that she doesn't want to fail. I tried to explain that this seems like a true vicious cycle. She was appreciative and both understood that she had to confront her fear to overcome them.
It was Thursday and our last dinner before my trip. Jean and Miki had prepared four homemade pizza's plus had bought ice cold beers. The Hawaiian pizza with pineapple was particularly tasty.
The conversation quickly turned to the long weekend.
Jin asked if anyone had any special plans and who would be home. Daisy couldn't wait to share that she was going to Boracay. Both Jin and Jean where happy to hear this.... until they found out that her travel partner was me!
Miki and Dan looked at me with surprised eyes, Jin and Jean's eyes were cold.
"Any more surprises" Jean asked in a slightly cynical voice.
Dan smiled and said he had to work all weekend; Miki didn't have any plans and wanted to watch Netflix the whole weekend.
There was a strange feeling around the table, I had a feeling that the girls had not bonded as good with each other as the boys had.
My relationship with Miki and Dan was excellent, we spoke about life, love and ambitions. OK....I had not told them of my trip with Daisy and I could understand this came as a shock but in a way I could hardly believe that it was happening to me!
I had some small superficial conversations with Jean and Jin as we cleaned up the kitchen. Both went to the girls bedroom early.
Daisy and I left Makati at 6 am on Friday morning to get a 9 am flight over to Boracay.Daisy was being her usual self, careless, bubbly and smiling. She did not hold back to wear as little clothing as possible, her tight short jeans and small top probably weight less than my Samsung Galaxy phone. We checked in at the Cebu Air and the smooth flight landed us on Boracay 1 hour later.
We took a taxi from the hotel to the beach resort that Daisy had booked. This beautiful place was so different to Makati, I had a instant holiday feel....the skies looked different, the smell was salty but sweet.
We arrived at the hotel 25 minutes later and Daisy checked in, I noticed that service desk staff handed only 1 key to Daisy.
"OK" I thought..."1 room...maybe two single beds"
We took the elevator up and I noticed that Daisy tried to make physical contact. Her arm was casually touching my arm. She also played with her hair and tried to engage in more eye contact with me.
I played it cool and ignored it....for now.
She swiped the hotel key card to open the door. The room was big, light, airy and clean and had a small desk, 2 chairs, 1 table, a small fridge and 1 queen size bed.I looked at the bed and I looked at Daisy. Daisy looked at the bed, looked at me and gave me a small smile.
Daisy placed her bag on the bed and proposed to have some breakfast before going to the beach. I agreed, by now I was hungry and had noticed the restaurants along the boulevard where our hotel was located.
