Page 81 of Chasing Mr. Prefect
Lance waved goodbye and Miss Mikayla threw us a last murderous glare before storming away behind him.
“What just happened?” I asked him, my eyes wide. Cholo opened his mouth to respond when we heard loud voices calling us.
“Look! Holding hands! I told you they’d be okay already,” said someone.
I immediately let go of Cholo’s hand and turned around, wanting to see it for myself, and I was not disappointed.
“What the fuck?” I said.
“Asher?” Cholo exclaimed.
My jaw dropped as I saw Asher and Kuya Chan standing nearby, both looking happy, with Kuya Chip and Ate Ania following closely behind them. “When did you get here?”
“Mga thirty minutes ago? We can’t be late to your event, of course,” said Asher, who was smirking. “Why’d you let his hand go, Vinnie? We don’t mind.”
“Aha! ‘Di pa okay,” said Kuya Chan and Asher whacked him hard against the shoulder while cursing under his breath. “You owe me a thousand bucks, Ash.”
“Look at you two, betting like kids,” Kuya Chip teased and only then did I realize what was going on.
“Wait. They know?” I said, rounding on Cholo. “And you were letting them bet on whether we were okay now or not?”
“Are you kidding? Why would I do that?” Cholo snapped, glaring at his brothers. Kuya Chan raised his hands in surrender, looking like he was about to laugh.
Asher flinched under Cholo’s gaze. “Don’t look at me, Choleng. It wasn’t me who told them.”
“Actually, it was me,” said Ate Ania and Cholo’s angry expression disappeared, replaced by shock and confusion.
“Ate Ania, I trusted you!”
“You trust her but not your brothers?” Kuya Chip cut in. “You need to tell us these things, man.”
“What, so you can make bets on my choices or something?”
“Do not use that tone with me, Charles Paolo,” Kuya Chip said in a mock-serious voice and Cholo visibly flinched. “Not after what I did to get back at Mikayla.”
“Hoy Chip!” said someone from behind us and I saw Miss Co approaching.
What the heck. Was I still in Ephemere or was I in a family reunion?
“What did you do?” Miss Co went on, putting a hand on Kuya Chip’s shoulder. I had never seen her so excited before this. “How’d you do it?”
“I told Angkong about what she said to Cholo,” said Kuya Chip. “And Lance, her boss—he’s an old friend. Let’s say I pulled a few strings. But don’t tell her that.”
“What are they talking about?” I asked Asher, now thoroughly confused.
“They’re talking about Mikayla, ano ka ba,” he replied. “Earth to Lavinia?”
Apparently, the Kuyas told their grandfather about what Miss Mikayla did and their grandfather got mad at her for it. He gave her a good scolding but Cholo did not like that.
“Yes, she’ll leave me alone but what about Vinnie? She’s got an interview with her and Lance next Tuesday!”
“Come on, give your girlfriend some credit,” said Chan, smiling as he put a reassuring hand on my shoulder. Cholo scratched his head in frustration. It was funny, watching him not being in charge for once. “You really think she’ll let herself get bullied?”
“What did you tell Lance?”
“Oh don’t worry. He was just going to troll Mikayla or something. Like what happened earlier—did you notice how she almost cried with the effort of keeping her mouth shut? She obviously couldn’t bully you around Lance as he was acting like a doting father and he dragged it on for as long as he could,” KuyaChip said with a naughty glint in his eyes. I got the feeling that he was the wild child among the three siblings. “Well, I guess it’s good to let people owe you sometimes.”
“He must owe you a lot, then?” said Asher.