When did her bed become this softer, she asked herself while half-asleep. She sniffed the sheets and it smelled like heaven. Those fluffy pillows and warm duvet draped against her body were like sweet dreams. So comfy but weird at the same time. This was so much of what she was used for. Uneasy and irritated, she squinted with the throbbing pain that struck her head. “Shit...ouch!” One of the reasons she was not into alcohol was because she did not want to experience a hangover headache. While massaging her head with her eyes closed, she thought of last night.

She was trying to remember how on earth she came home? How did she manage to drive herself home? She knew that she was drunk. Did her friends drop her? She knew they were more drunk and messed up.

A phone rang. Shocked, her eyes opened widely. “Jesus!” It was shocking as she never had a telephone on her bedside drawer. She looked around. Nothing in that room was familiar. Her room was not this spacious and not this luxurious. “Where the hell am I?!” Disoriented, she jumped from the bed and frisked herself. “What the hell I was wearing?” She never and will never wear pajamas on bed. Just the thought of it made her feel suffocated. But rather than waking up naked in a random place, she should be thankful for it.

When she gathered all her shuttered senses together, she looked for her bag that she found on the brown leather couch. It looked untouched and unzipped. It was past one o’clock in the afternoon already when she checked her phone. “You’ve got to be kidding me!” she yelled in irritation as her phone had only four percent. The luck was obviously not on her side. Without wasting any second, she dialed Kellen.

“Come on! Pick up your damn phone...please...please.” Kellen was not answering so she tried several times with no luck. Her heart pumped and her hands sweat as she started panicking. What if she was kidnapped for ransom? Or abducted by a cult who will slice her into pieces and sell her internal organs to black market? No freaking way! How she hated herself from being imaginative and exaggerated at the moment.

One thing she was sure of, this room was a man’s room. She noticed it from the minimal interior designs. It was very manly, elegant and homey, too. To the point that she could stay there as long as she could. She was tiptoeing while collecting her clothes from last night. They were just on the floor. She cringed at the thought of a stranger changing her clothes. Whoever that is - he was a pervert!

Her phone rang and for sure it was Kellen ringing her back. “Kelz!” Without looking at the register, she answered with a shaky voice and about to cry like a baby. “M-Mom? W-Why did you call?”

“I am just checking on you. You did not ring us since last night. Are you okay? Why you sound disoriented?” her Mom worriedly asked. Calling her family was the first thing in her daily routine since she moved to the city. Myla had all the rights to question her now.

“Huh? Me? Of...of course not. I had a long sleep and I just woke up...er...can I call you back?” She wanted to escape from her Mom’s interrogation as much as she wanted from this unknown room. Myla was not convinced and had no plans of releasing her from the hot seat. “Pretty please?”

“Alright then. Just c-”

“Love you! Bye!” Without Myla finishing whatever she wanted to say, she cut the line, grabbed all her things and looked for the way out. Before closing the door, she looked left and right first hoping that no one was there to see her walk of shame. About to head to the elevator, she realised that she was barefoot. She squirmed and sighed as she looked into her stilettos in her hand. Walk barefoot or walk with heels in her PJs? It did not even make a big difference! She will still look stupid in either ways.

“Mayen, breathe in...breathe out...this will not happen again.” Left with no choice, she immediately wore her stilettos, cringed for a moment, ran to the elevator and pressed the down button. Her fingers were crossed wishing that the elevator was empty. She was on the tenth floor. Only one floor left to the moment of truth. She swallowed harder and harder till the elevator opened. There were so many people looking at her from head to toe with different reactions on their faces. Wanting to explain herself, she knew what she should do - play dead don’t care!

An old woman wearing a yellow dress with an obvious shoulder pads beside her looked at her with dismay like she was her parents’ mistake or someone gullible. What the heck, she thought. A teenage girl with a thick false eyelashes on the other hand even came near her, looked intently to her face and asked bravely in the middle of awkwardness, “Are you the columnist who writes for Love Pages? OMG! I’m a fan!” Everyone got curious. It could be overwhelming for a not-so-famous personality like her to meet such an avid and vocal fan but that moment was really embarrassing.

“My sister and I love your articles! Can we take a selfie ple-” Mayen shook her head that caused the girl’s face to sadden and to turn red. Though feeling sorry, she continued shaking her head while touching her ears and mouth. The way people looked so confused, she admitted that she was not a good liar nor an actress.

“What was that?” The old woman asked.

“No talking?” she nodded to the man with a weird mustache. “No hearing? What the hell?” she clapped to him as a response.

“You’re mute?!” the girl finally concluded what she was trying to imply. She gave her thumbs up! Her stupid alibi worked in all fairness. “My bad! I’m really sorry...you just look like her. Anyway, you are as amazing as her. Bye!” the sweet girl gave her a flying kiss before exiting the elevator. Others waved at her, too. Flattered, she did not even realize that they reached the ground floor.

Like others, she moved out of the building without paying attention to the crowd whose eyes were on her. She sighed in relief when she saw a cab passing by her. “Taxi!” She screamed on top of her lungs. That much she wanted to be out of that zone. When the driver finally moved ahead and knew her location, Mayen declared that she was out of danger.

Shame, rather.

SETH REMOVED HIS HELMET WITH A PROUD SMILE ON HIS FACE. He used his hand to brush up his curly bangs that was covering his sweaty forehead. For the nnth time, he won again in their friendly motorbike competition. His fascination to motorbiking grew when he traveled to Morocco five years ago when he was still a professional car racer. When he stopped racing, he started focusing on motorbikes and it fed him a different kind of excitement and fulfillment in being able to balance and to freely go out on the road without being recognized.

“Son of a bitch! When can I beat you?” Caleb asked. Like him, he was also an A-lister. Not bad as Caleb won third place.

“Hustle harder! You have twelve months to practice,” he answered. Keenan, Ryan and five more men came, parked their bikes and congratulated him. They belonged to a group of riders called “The Freewheelers” founded by Keenan who won second place this year.

“Man, you are getting better and better every year! You ripped off our banks again,” Keenan joked. Money was never an issue for all of them. Their egos might get hurt but never their pockets. This year, they decided to triple the amount of bet to make it more exciting. He just made a billion!

“Or it’s you guys who are getting weaker and weaker? I think you’re all getting old!” he said that made all laughed. Caleb failed to hit him with a helmet. Channeling his childishness inside him, he gave him a thumbs down. “Weak!”

“Speaking of aging, Dad has been annoyingly asking me to give him a grandchild,” Ryan started to get a little serious. He heard a desperation on his friend’s voice. He took the beer Keenan handed over to him and sat on the sand like his friends.

“It sucks.”

“Yeah, it fucking sucks,” he agreed to Caleb.

“He threatened me that he will disinherit me if I don’t before he turned seventy and he’s fucking serious about it. Nah, I just really don’t want to think about it. It’s making me crazy!” Ryan groaned and opened his third beer. “I need a break! Where do you think I could go to forget Dad’s ultimatum?”

“To a hot lady’s bed?”

“Yeah, right! Hitting two birds with one stone. You need a break from stress, so fuck first, then second, impregnate her. Congratulations! After nine months, welcome Little Ryan!” Keenan and Caleb gave each other a high five. He could not stop laughing as well.

“Keep your ideas in your green mind! Seth, any ideas?” Hopelessly, Ryan looked at him. He pouted and thought deeply. He knew so many beautiful places but where could be the best? There were too many to choose from. However, he had not been to that kind of situation before and never would be. Not being conceited, he knew that his Dad will never put him to such chaos.

“I knew it! Why don’t you invite me to your private island in Sagada?” Finally, Ryan said with an excitement and spark in his eyes.

“What?! No way!” He strongly disagreed. His private island in Sagada was a paradise and everyone wished to have it. It was his and Debby’s safe haven, actually. Both of them were natural sites and nature lover so they found the best place where they wanted to spend the rest of their lives. Not that he was being selfish, but he wanted his island privately the way he wanted it before. His spirit awakened.

“Come on, Man! That is a perfect getaway. For sure Debby will not mind if she is still here.”

“I would also not mind but I had plans already in going back there,” he burst his bubbles.

“For real?!” his friends blasted in chorus. He never went back there for the past three years since Debby left as it felt like a torture for him. The whole island was screaming Debby’s name. Every corner of that place reminded him of all the happy and sad memories they had shared. The only fear he could never face - knowing that Debby will never come back anymore.

“Yeah. It’s about time, right?”

“What made up your mind?”

Questions started to fire him. Seth gave them a playful smile letting them hung unsatisfied. “I’m sorry I have to take this call.” Saved by the bell, he stood up, walked a little far from noise and answered his phone. Julie, his personal assistant’s name was registered on screen. “Yes, Juls?”

“Severino Theodore Alarcon! Why on earth just now you answered my calls!” he laughed hearing Julie’s tiny yet authoritative voice. He liked her personality so much especially her bossiness. Julie was the one taking care of his things, every single thing.

“You have good news for me?” He would be extremely disappointed if he would not hear what had been running in his mind.

“Yes! And, I could not wait to spill it out!”

“I wont judge.” He teased. Was it excitement and a bit of hesitation he could sense in her voice?

“I’m sorry...I thought you were just delusional when you told me about her. B-But then, when I saw her face to face...” She paused to take a deep breathe.

“I’m not getting crazy, Am I?” That night when he bumped into a drunk stranger, Mayen, he immediately ordered Julie to research everything about her.

“Seth…” she said with a worried tone which was unusual of her. “You’ve survived for three years without Debby. I saw how you fixed your broken heart... how you stood up and how you lived your life again. If this will make you lose yourself again, then I will not allow this lady to come near you.”

“You are too dramatic today, Juls. I need her details to my phone now.” Let the games begin, his playful self roared.