LOVE & PROMISES [Editing]

PROLOGUE

"Nasaan na ba 'yon?" Alex asked, quite annoyed as her friend, Abigale, is late for their meet up at the university's cafeteria.

"Teka, tawagan ko." ani naman ng kaniyang pinsan na si Aliyah bago ilabas sa bulsa ang phone nito. They waited until Abi finally picked up the call.

"Hello?"

*ding*

As they heard their friend's morning voice, Alex recieved a new message on her phone.

She opened the mobile and her face immediately lit up when she saw the sender of the message.

"Sorry hindi kita nasundo ngayon. Tinapos pa kasi namin nina Seb and Yna yung 16 column worksheet na binigay ni Sir Dominguez." sent with a sad emoticon at the very end of the message.

With a fond smile on her face, she replied "It's okay, a. Don't worry."

Deanne, who's sitting in front of her, noticed the smile on Alex' face— which piqued her curiosity.

The mid-length haired peeked on the girl's phone. Alex quickly hid the screen with a tsk but Deanne already saw the contact name.

"Kaya pala ngingiti-ngiti ka diyan, parang kanina lang naiirita ka." Dea commented with a playful glare.

Umirap ang dalaga sa kaibigan. "Hindi kaya."

"Ows talaga ba?" pang bu-bwiset ni Aviel— ang kaisa-isang lalaki sa kanilang magkakaibigan. Sinamaan niya ng tingin ito at kaagad naman itong tumigil at umiwas ng tingin.

"Nasan na daw si Abi?" she asked, in order to stop further teasing from her friends.

"Otw na daw." Selene, Aviel's bestest friend in the group, answered.

"Otw to banyo." Venice jokingly added, making Alex chuckle.

"Yung babaeng 'yon.. kahit kailan talaga." pertaining to Abigale.

*ding*

At the sound of the notification, Alex hastily opened her phone.

"Malapit na ako sa school. nasa caf pa ba kayo? kumain ka na ba?" her boyfriend texted.

Alex replied "yes po. we're still waiting for Abi here. and kumain na din ako kanina, kuya cooked breakfast before he went to school."

"sabay tayo maglunch mamaya?" she asked.

She waited for his reply and when she did recieved the message, she frowned.

"sorry, z. :( tatapusin muna namin nina Yna yung feasib proposal mamaya. bawi ako ha."

The teen sighed to herself and just put down her phone on the table. She then joined her friends' conversation.

—

Nagkukwentuhan at nagbibiruan ang mga kaibigan ni Alex nang mapalingon ang dalaga sa dalawang kalalakihang naka-itim na nakatayo sa di kalayuan. Napairap siya at bumuntong hininga.

"Dapat talaga sumabay nalang ako kay Kuya." naiinis niyang sambit. "May nakabuntot pa tuloy." she continued, subtly stomping her feet.

Tumawa naman ang mga kaibigan niya. Aliyah gave her a side hug before speaking "You know Tito Andrew have a lot of enemies. Wala na tayong magagawa. We just have to put up with it. Para sa safety din natin."