Page 38 of Chasing Mr. Prefect
“How are you feeling now?”
“Much better, now that I’ve talked to someone about it. Thank you for listening to me.”
“See? It’s not just fights and teasing I’m good for,” he said. I snorted in reply. “But really. Are you feeling okay now?”
“It’s fine. I’m just rolling with it. It’s just Liana I’m worried about now. I’m still thinking of how to make it up to her. No, scratch that. I’m thinking of a way to even start. All that shit I put her through.”
“Big mood,” he replied, shaking his head. “Not to sound preachy or anything but you can start by apologizing.”
“Wow. Coming from you?” I scoffed.
He did not laugh and suddenly turned serious. “No. Really. I started by apologizing,” he said. “And I think that worked okay. Juliana told me I can let it go now. Gian Luca said I needed more work though.”
“I’m sorry, you didwhat?”
“You’re not the only one who had character development these past few days, ma’am,” he joked. “I apologized to her and Gian Luca for giving them hell in gradeschool.Properlyapologized.”
“What? How did this happen?”
“I was at Monique Siy’s party yesterday. Weren’t you?—
“Who’s Monique Siy? Ah, wait, was that the girl who was handing out invites?”
“Yup,” he said. “I was having a beer next to the koi pond, and I’ve had a lot of beers because I’d been stressed out, too. Then Juliana appeared with this plate of lasagna and asked if she could share the bench. Mind you, she visibly flinched when she saw it was me.”
“I don’t blame her. Please continue.”
“Shut up,” said Cholo, making a face at me. “Anyway, I stared at her for too long and she asked me what I was looking at. I was going to ask if she was with you and then I remembered you probably weren’t speaking to each other because of that thing the other day.”
“Oh,” I said, curious now. “Tapos?”
“I apologized for overhearing you in that corridor, not that you were trying to be quiet. Then I said I tried to call you out on it and by golly, you should have seen the look on her face.”
I really tried not to laugh but imagining Liana chastising Cholo with just a look was hilarious.
“I then beat her to the punch, admitting I had no right to say that whatsoever because I was the one who tortured all three of you in grade school and made your lives hell. She was like, ‘I don’t know what to say to that.’”
Cholo gave a small laugh while I felt proud of Liana for not immediately forgiving him.
“And then you apologized?”
“And then I apologized,” he echoed. “I also tried to express my regrets for taking too long to apologize when we’d been moving around the same building for three years now. I could have done it sooner.”
“Interesting. Wow. Character development,” I said, dragging out the syllables just to be annoying. “What did she say?”
“Juliana finally budged after that and said I could let it go now. Gian Luca, on the other hand?—”
“Did he push you into the koi pond?” I asked hopefully.
“Not quite,” he said, pausing for a bit with his forehead creased, as though considering what to say next. “He told me it doesn’t mean we’re friends now or whatever but he hasn’t been throwing me angry looks since then. Honestly, I’m happy with that.”
“That’s it?” I asked. “Did you join them for dinner?”
“No. They started talking and I passed out after. They had to carry me to my kuya’s car,” he said.
“I can’t believe you.”
“But I meant that. I meant every word of my apology,” he said, looking at me now as we stopped at a red light. I looked around, recognized the buildings, and felt relieved because we were finally in Alabang. “That said, I owe you one, too.”