Someday, I'll Find My Way Home

Axel moves forward.

The small step of reconnecting with Paula turned to be a big one. After we mended our friendship, Candace and Marvin began talking to me again. And soon after, I hang out more in their condominium, finally eating proper meals.

I was feeling a lot better that Migs noticed it, and he was glad that I was almost back to normal.

His wife still gave me a hefty lunch, and I told him that one of these days, I needed to pay her back with something. I tried giving him frozen bagnet or longanisa that I ordered from a supplier in Ilocos, but he always refused since he claimed that would be a pain to bring in commute.

When our Christmas party drew near, I invited my team to a pre-Christmas party dinner for just us. We even drew slots for Secret Santa. Since we're all getting a pretty big bonus plus our thirteenth month pay, the minimum price for a gift is PHP 1,000. 

I brought the team to a Korean grill with KTV relatively near our office. I picked the right place for us. Not only the food was great but the place was also relatively quiet. We had our own room with a KTV installed inside so everyone could throw a party and never minded the noise we created.

I paid the half and all of them would contribute to the remaining bill. I insisted to pay the whole price, but all of them threw a fit and wanted to pay for our food.

Migs, being one of the father figures in our team, cooked the meat and the younger ones would get once it was finished. I helped him, but I was doing a bad job at it--the meat kept on clinging on the grill, and I was spilling oil on the charcoal.

I felt bad for the waiter since he had to keep coming back to our table to bring meat since all of us were hungry before we came here. 

After a few shots of soju, the team started to roll on with songs on the KTV. I didn't have the chance to input since the queue was already long before I realized I wanted to sing. I continued eating while singing along with my teammates.

Macky was the liveliest one among all the Junior Developers. He already hogged the microphone after eating, and he would chew a mouthful in between his songs. We laughed when he almost choked after eating potato marbles one after another in the middle of the bridge in Moonstar88's Migraine.

We had to pause the karaoke to announce our Secret Santas. I drew Macky, and his face was priceless when I gave him a brand new watch.

I received an Instax with a few extra films from Glaida, one of our female Junior Developers. She was shy upon giving it to me. I laughed and thanked her for an amazing gift. 

Of course I had to try it! I asked the waiter to take twelve photos of us using the Instax and gave them to all my team members.

We resumed singing. I put my hands up while screaming along with the lyrics of Itchyworm's Ayokong Tumanda. I snapped a video of us and shared it on Instagram.

When it was my time to sing, there was only one song that I found good for this night--Sugarfree's Makita Kang Muli. I was rocking the microphone, and everyone was yelling and bawling with me as I sang the lyrics with my eyes closed.

By the time we were finished, Macky was the drunkest of all. Good thing that he gave me his phone so I could contact his boyfriend, Ethan.

He waited for us in the entrance, his faced etched with worry and disappointment upon seeing how wasted Macky was. He was wearing a jacket and shorts after rushing from their apartment.

"Thank you for coming," I told him. I had to pass Macky from my shoulder to Ethan's.

"He always has a low tolerance in alcohol, yet he kept on drinking," Ethan said. "Thanks for taking care of him, sir."