GAMES & GAMBLES

CHAPTER XIII: A Missing Presence

Tuesday morning, Jael was torn between passing by Jin's house or not. He's thinking that Jin might be surprised if he would see him passing because he's thinking that it's not his business anyway but he's still worried that Jin might be still sleeping or anything. End up, he was too shy to pass by so he went straight up to the school. As usual, it's a bit late and their teacher is not yet around but so is Jin. Jael was a bit worried about why Jin is not around yet and is kinda regretting that he did not passed by Jin's house to see how he's doing. Minutes have passed and he's still not around. Jael was over thinking Jin's action yesterday, he seem to be off and not being himself. There must be something wrong he convinced himself. Jael was lost in his stream of consciousness and then suddenly; "Mr. Fuego?" his teacher called his name but did not respond. "Mr. Fuego!" his teacher exclaimed. It put Jael into shock that set everyone in the classroom into laughter. His teacher then noticed that Jin was not around so she asked "Where's Mr. Clemonte?" it altered everyone's attention towards the blank seat beside Jael. Everyone in the classroom went "Yieee" again that put Jael into discomfort. "Uy Jael bakit wala pa yun?" Carlos asked. "Hm di ko alam e." Jael responded. "Isn't he acting a bit weird yesterday?" Jael asked Carlos. "Oo nga. Halata naman diba?" Carlos replied. "What do you think is the reason?" Jael asked again. "Eh hahaha sabi ko sayo kahapon ikaw na mag isip kung bakit e" Carlos responded. "Wala talaga akong idea." said Jael. "I'm not sure either" said Carlos. "Ikaw naman hindi lang pumasok namimiss mo agad." he added. "Huh?" panicked answer of Jael. "HAHAHA wala joke lang." Carlos teasing Jael. "Baliw." Jael's annoyed respond. Classes have passed and it really seems that Jael did skipped class and worried but he did not want others to see it tho he seem out of his mind all day. Meanwhile, Jin, skipped class because he wanted to meet his friends before. He went out pretty early because he don't want his neighbor to raise suspicions... especially his relative living nearby. "Omw there!" Last words he said to his friend after hanging up. "It's been 24 freaking years Jin!" *exaggerating first words of Jin's friend "Hindi mo pala sinabi kung bakit ka pumunta..." "What's up?" His friend added. "Nothing, just wanna catch up" said Jin. "Utot ka, may problema ka na naman no?" said his friend. "You know me so well" "Omw there!". His friends as usual, is skipping classes and spending the day to the house on one of their friends in their circle. His friends knows that Jin wouldn't give away any of his problems if there's no booze in front of them so they prepared it even before Jin's arrival. Everyone heard the stopping of car's engine sound so they looked in the window... They was shocked when they saw Jin carrying lots of liquor with him, Jin usually don't buy stuff like that for his friends, he don't buy things for his friend in general, he give his friends money to buy for him. "Wooaaaahhh" is how like everyone went as soon as they saw Jin. "Daaaang, what's up with you?" said one of his friends (Seth, who the call "Eth" because he has defective speech with the letter 'S' to make fun of him) "Seems like you wanna get wasted" added his another friend (Nero) "You guys wanna help me or what?" said Jin as he hand what he's carrying and went on inside the house. "Tara na dito sa loob" said one of his friend (Xaphan, 'Shaphan' who's living alone in his house because his parents is working abroad). It was around 9 in the morning when Jin came to his friend's house and time has passed already, and it's readily 3 PM, they went outside first to play League together since Leonard (Jin's another friend) suggested it and everyone agreed since it's been so long since they played together. They went at Xaphan's house all excited and ready to get wasted. They prepared the booze and started to rotate it to one another. An hour has passed and everyone seems tipsy already except Jin. Nero then suggested a game to play while they are drinking. "Hey guys do you wanna play a game?" Smiling, he got everyone's attention and then said "It's been quite awhile since we've gathered like this, so I think--" "Stop with the intro and shit, let's just play" Leonard interrupted. "Yeaa, this game is called 'Truth or Drink' --" "HAHAHA the fck is that lame ass name?" Seth added. "Listen first u dipshit" Nero said. "This is a game where everyone will get a higher drink and a question... If the person doesn't want to answer the question given by the person beside them, that person should drink they hold instead." The person who should answer a question first is Nero because his friends told him that it's his idea. The question revolved around them was just a bit stupid and funny... until the next one to question is Jin. Nero asked "Is the reason why you came here because of a person?" Jin did not want to drink too much and get too drunk so he answered "Yes". Everyone went "Ooooohhhh". The questions that his friends ask on another is rather easy to answer but when he's asked, it's a lot more controversial. The next question is "By any chance, do you like the person that you said is the reason why you came here?"