Giliw (Joy)

It has been days after the sleepover. The sun freshens up everyone and is not merciful. People are crowding the beach, the pools, and the malls, all just to beat the summer heat. The six, however, have other plans in mind. Oliver, Gregory, Aka, and Kelly headed back home. While the two have their minds in the summer, the sweltering heat.

“This heat isn’t normal,” Eugenio says, sweating so much that he couldn’t handle the heat and took off his shirt. Somehow, he feels comfortable this way. “Good thing halo-halo saves the day.” Halo-halo, or mix-mix, is a popular dessert in the Philippines. He has been eating halo-halo every day. That’s some serious sweet tooth. “I’m actually so bored, they all left.”

Eugenio actually went to the airport to see Oliver and Gregory off. He hugged them for a good minute; they mentioned, jokingly, that they’ll miss the flight… by 3 hours. Eugenio went back to the house alone; no one is in the house, so he has it all by himself. Usually, he can just stroll around town and journey, but being the busy man he is with his studies, he went back to his notebook and re-studied. That’s dedication. Hours went by, and it was evening. He ate and went back to his room. Suddenly, the phone rang. He sees the one whose calling, and it made him answer immediately.

“Eugenio!”

“Oliver!”

“Someone had to check on you since you almost made us late.”

“Hey, 3 hours isn’t even late for a flight!” Both laughed it off. It’s a nice gesture for Oliver to call him, yet something feels missing.

“Bing-bong!” Gregory enters the call of the boys. “I know you miss me. So don’t cry.” His teasing of Eugenio continues even behind the screen.

“I’m not crying, you…” Everyone lets out a big laugh. The day doesn’t seem to be a bad one for Eugenio. They seem to be in good spirits, like it’s still there for Eugenio. “If anything, I miss everyone’s presence.”

“Aww!” Both sarcastically reply in unison.

“Wait, I feel like someone’s gonna enter.” Oliver has a strong hunch about it.

“Oh, stop it, you’re not even a mage…” And sure enough, someone did enter.

“Heya!”

“Kelly!” The boys say in unison. Oliver looks proud behind the camera. He seems to be enjoying the hunch. “See, Eugenio, I told you I can summon…”

“Uh, you told me to enter, Sir…” Well, that was awkward.

“Kelly! You shouldn’t even—”

“No, no… Your shenanigans should halt.” Kelly dismisses him with such authority that even the Secretary-General couldn’t deflect. “Anyway, I should go now, my family is here…” Kelly says her goodbyes and drops the call. The call goes back to the three boys. The call lasted until late at night in the Philippines and morning in Europe.

“You know, Eugenio, you should confess.” Gregory is already telling him to let out his feelings. Whoever this woman is must be very special to Eugenio. He didn’t react or anything, he just stared at the phone screen, it might have been silent or may have been reflecting. “Just joking, my friend.” Well, that’s a relief, well, for Eugenio, he may as well do it.

“I’ll do it, soon.”

“Okay,” Gregory says so calmly, but for Oliver, he may not have heard it the first time.

“Wait, really?”

“I mean,” Gregory with an upcoming stinging reply. “I won’t be surprised if this girl rejects him.”

“Come on…” Eugenio says with a line of disappointment. “At least support me…”

“Of course, my friend, I will. Rejected or not, I’ll treat you to beer!”

“Sounds like a plan.” The conversation lasted for a few more minutes until everyone said their goodbyes to each other. The room felt quiet again. Eugenio stared blankly at the screen, then at the moon by the window. He may have reflected on what Gregory said to him. His thoughts were jumbled; he was just thinking about what was said to him.

“Soon, I’ll say it to you…”

The next day, the same sun rises east of the country. Eugenio is at the garage fixing a broken electric fan. A coffee right beside him, a screwdriver in his right hand, and his left hand holding the fan. Just another normal day for Eugenio to do something. Not even a minute later, a shadow can be seen from a distance. It caught his attention. A voice echoed through the streets.

“Eugenio!” 

It was familiar. Soft spoken, but kinda loud. “Oy, Eugenio!” There it goes again. He looked towards where the voice was. Sure enough, it was her.

“Trinity?”

“What?” She looks confused as to why Eugenio called out her name like that. “Aren’t you happy to see me?”

“Maybe?”

“Alright, I’m leaving.”

“No, don’t!” Looks like Eugenio can’t be bothered to be alone. “Here, have a seat.” He offers her a seat on a monoblock chair. She sits down. Wearing joggers, a t-shirt, and flip flops. “To be honest, I didn’t expect you to show up.”

“Its just that, uhm, because…” She twirls her hair in embarrassment. She doesn’t want to say the real reason, but Eugenio may have figured it out.

“...because no one’s in the house and you’re afraid of being alone?” Trinity nods as he gets the exact details. Eugenio giggles as she nods. He stops what he’s doing and goes inside. Trinity looks confused as to why he would go inside. Not long after, he brought out an ice cream stick, pandan, her favorite flavor.

“Ah, you know me well, bestie!”

“I mean, almost a year… I can’t forget what your favorites are.”

“Is it only me that you remember?” Her question made Eugenio pause for a while. His eyes weren’t in panic but more calm. He smiles subtly as if to say he kind of accepts what will happen next.

“And what if it is?” He slowly turns his head towards her. Unknowingly, her face turned red. He was shocked by that expression, which may have panicked him a little. “Uh, Trinity, your face?” She noticed it late and panicked when her ice cream stick fell out of her hands. She didn’t catch it on time. Her face is still red; she needs to calm down.

“Oh, uh, what? Can I use your bathroom?” She asks, but she went immediately there before he could answer. Eugenio has an expression where he may have messed it up. Whatever happens, happens, he might have thought. He continues to work on the broken electric fan. In the bathroom, the water is running from the faucet. Her hands were resting on the sink, looking at her reflection, still in red. It’s her first time hearing someone has said that to her.

“Calm down, it must be a joke, right?” She washes her face twice, in fact. She returns to the garage, sitting quietly at first. “So, what you said was true?”

“Well, I tend to forget some,” Eugenio replies, still attending to the electric fan, oiling it. Clearly, that’s a white lie in the eyes of Trinity, but in truth, it isn’t. “I don’t even remember some of your favorites.”

“Eh?” She still couldn’t believe what he said to her. So, she does an impromptu quiz for him. “My favorite anime?”

“Don’t remember.”

“My favorite singer?”

“Don’t remember either.”

“My favorite musical?” Side note: Eugenio doesn’t know much of that.

“School of Rock?” He answers with both confidence and confusion that Trinity face-palmed to her disappointment, “What? Do you expect me to read through your mind?”

“You could just become a mage…”

“Funny you said that since—”

“Oliver,” Both said in unison. Eugenio’s eyes squinted in surprise. How does she know? She may have really read my mind or hacked my SNS account.

“Wait, how did you know?”

“Oh, Kelly told me…”

“Of course…”

“What do you mean by that?”

“I mean, you three girls are closer. Right?” Eugenio wraps up fixing the fan as he gets the cover of the appliance. The sun is still unmerciful even inside.

“That doesn’t mean I’m not also close to you, Eugenio.”

“Alright, that’s fixed.” He completely ignored that statement by Trinity. He turns on the fan as soon as he’s finished. Eugenio then gathers all the tools. Trinity notices this and decides to help him out. He didn’t notice it at first, but slowly, each tool was passed to him. “Thanks, bestie…”

“Wow, now you’re saying that…”
“Because you’re important to me,” Trinity was impressed, but inside, she may have a different opinion. “Just like the rest.” That assures her that she isn’t the only being referenced. The two continued to fix the area, and the tools were eventually arranged back in the toolbox.

“Trinity,”
“Yeah?”
“I know you’re hungry…”
“No, I’m not—” Her stomach said otherwise. It was loud enough to hear it at least inches away from each other. Embarrassed, her hand was in her stomach, trying to punish it. Eugenio couldn’t help but laugh.

“Okay, your stomach knows you more than yourself, apparently…”

“Let’s just go inside, please.” She pushes him to go inside the house. Still laughing at what happened earlier with her stomach. Both had lunch, cooked by Eugenio. It was a simple soup dish with rice. Hearty and comfortable. After eating, Trinity prepares to leave, but she notices he may have something to say. The body language is strong for her not to let go of.

“You have something to say before I go?”

“How did you know?”

“Just a hunch.” This time, it isn’t a false mage but rather a genuine kind of person who knows someone far too well.

“Well, if you’re down for it, maybe we can go out sometime?”

“Why would I refuse?” She instantly said yes to that favor. Almost as if she really does want to be with him… or does she? “Tell me when and I’ll always say yes to you.” She couldn’t say no to him.

“Alright. Soon.”

“I gotta go. See you.”

He waves, she does the same. Her image is about to disappear from his eye. Eugenio goes inside, back to the still, quiet of the house. The thought still can’t be erased from his mind. Maybe he too doesn’t want that person to go when it's too late.

“Soon.”