Page 57 of Chasing Mr. Prefect

“I have a lot of interests. Your boyfriend is well-rounded,” he said cockily, pinching my nose, and then he got another couple of beers from the chiller. “You should be proud.”

“Do we count being good at drinking when you say well-rounded?” I asked, eyeing the bottles he was holding and he just laughed it off and walked away, not forgetting to give me a huge kiss before doing so.

Ew, beer breath!

I shook my head as he left the kitchen.

New Year was approaching,and I planned to ask Cholo what his plans were. He beat me to the punch when he sprung the question on me while we were watching this pretentious movie on cable.

“You guys doing anything on New Year?”

“No, why?” I asked, busy with a game on my phone.

“Want to spend New Year’s Eve with my family?”

BEEP. BEEP. GONG!

My phone vibrated as I missed one too many notes. The screen told me I had failed the stage. I threw my phone on the sofa beside me and faced Cholo.

“Is that my fault?” he asked, looking nervous.

“Why would I not want to spend time with your family?”

“They want us to spend the night with them on the thirty-first in Ortigas. I already asked your dad.”

“That’s tomorrow!”

“He said yes. We’re driving up before lunch tomorrow.”

“Look at you,” I said, making a mock-annoyed face. “Always one step ahead.”

“I wouldn’t have gone this high up on the club ladder if I wasn’t,” he gloated.

“Anything we have to bring? Do I need to do something or not say anything?”

“You’re going to be fine. They already love you.”

“We’ll see about that,” I said nervously.

CHAPTER 25

New Year’s Eve with his family went much better than I thought.

The roads were clear and we made it to Kuya Chan’s building from Las Pinas in less than an hour. We pulled into the parking area and Cholo gave me a curious look.

“Huy, Vinnie. I’m getting worried now. You haven’t said a word since we left Las Piñas.”

“Don’t talk to me, kinakabahan ako,” I told him, my heart beating wildly.

We got to the elevator and Cholo pressed the button for the top floor. I raised an eyebrow but kept my thoughts to myself as the elevator shot up, causing a weird sensation in my ear as we were going so high up.

Wow.

I barely had any words to say when Cholo entered the key combination and tapped the card on the door. My eyes roved the hallway and found very interesting details—subtle gold paneling, among other things.

“We’re here!” Cholo said.

“Hiw! Hiw!” a small voice called out.