Boodle Fight

"Hello? Look at Howard, all the women around are having a crush on him. I'm with the woman who has a crush on him though. Because he’s nice and has become more energetic than he was before," Lucille said with a shudder.

Zannie suddenly pinched her on the side. "Jokes on you, don't you have another crush? How's Arnaldo?"

Arnaldo is also a friend of theirs and Zannie knows that Lucille has always been in-love with that young man ever since.

"Why? Will I just let myself root for the only one I like? Are we, huh? I have no commitment to anyone so I'm free to have a crush on someone else. I'm not like you Zannie—I’m not like you who feel so committed with the guy who can’t even reciprocate your feelings for him."

There was a moment of silence between the two. Lucille covered her own mouth, maybe she offended Zannie because of the last thing she said. Ever since then, even though Zannie doesn't admit to her, she is aware of Zannie’s one sided love for Jacob. During the time they were together, she knew how to read the mind of her dearest friend. She just got used to teasing Jacob because of the closeness of the two.

"Yes, Lucille, I'm an idiot. I'm too attached to Jacob even if I can't. I wish I had known to know my place from the start." She faked her smile that she thought Lucille wouldn't notice.

"Oops, fake smile. You really are pretentious."

Even with a smile, Lucille knew if Zannie was true to herself or not. 

"You have to know your proper place. Here in Trias, where you still follow him," Lucille jokes. 

"My advice is, just accept what Jacob wants, his dream is to be a soldier. Just be happy for him and give him enough support. Okay?"

Zannie nodded even though she didn't have the guts to do so. "So, isn't it bad for me to like others? Is there still a chance that I will like others?"

"That depends. But my mother said, there is love that will come for us, sometimes we don't expect to love the person we initially hated. Like, you didn't imagine that you’re already chasing him because you fell in love unexpectedly. So my advice, after we leave here, is to find someone else. You know, you can find someone who's not as numb as your Jacob."

“Thanks for bumping me into the truth,” Zannie said.

"No problem, so let's eat before I bump into you, okay?"

Zannie nodded at Lucille's invitation. After leaving the barracks, she was greeted by happy volunteers sharing a simple meal, and even more grabbed her attention by the medical team and the nurse who were clingy to Howard. They are actually still side by side while eating.

Boodle fight set up their dinner. Zannie couldn't figure out why she wanted to mediate between the two. The seat was vacant, why did that nurse sit next to Howard? And why does that make her feel upset? 

"We're going to join," Lucille opened with a smile. Everyone at dinner smiled back, except for Howard who was just making a straight face. Zannie's smile faded immediately. Why did she feel so heavy because Howard ignored him?

“What do you have there? We're sorry for joining you late,” Lucille apologetically said. Zannie remained silent and flaunted a quick smile on her lips and she was unaware that Howard was stealing a glimpse of her from every minute.

“We have roasted fish, egg, banana and fried rice,” Joel enumerated with a grin on his face. 

“Alodia seemed to be a great chef. Her dish tastes good. You should give it a try,” he added. 

***

If the rain had not yet intensified, the few medical staff who entered the barracks would not be shaken. It is already the month of June, and according to the news, a typhoon is coming to the country and will landfall in Trias.

"The rainfall fell exactly when we just finished eating," a medtech staff member said to the volunteer next door.

Zannie was aware, the female nurse's closeness to Howard was still steady. Nurse Andrea was shameless for being close with him and it should be none of Zannie's concern. What matters most is if Howard changed his attitude little by little. In fact, the two are still together in the same basement. She didn't have to focus on the two anymore but part of her was disgusted for some unknown reason. She thought that woman was too clingy to a man who wasn't her boyfriend. She even remembered the scenario of one of his friends like that with another man, often being taken advantage of or abused. But that wasn't the reason she felt annoyed, it seemed like she felt before when Jacob was talking to another woman. Wait, there seems to be something wrong.

She was unaware of the spontaneous twinkle in her eyes and Lucille caught her. 

"Oh, why do you seem to be frowning there?" Lucille lamented.

"No. The dish I ate earlier was just sour and bland. I guess. And that made my stomach a bit upset," Zannie lied.

"Oh? I didn't taste any sourdough, Howard helped with the cooking aside from Alodia and Joel. That's great."

Zannie raised an eyebrow after Lucille spoke. They only shared a simple dish at the boodle fight dinner and the food was delicious. Who would have thought that someone like Howard could cook?

"Not obvious, ah. I thought only Alodia prepared for it."

"Hmmp. You just thought that, just appreciate him. He's handsome, he's good at cooking. Almost perfect, I really want to know if he's still single." Lucille let out a sigh twice as she furtively glanced at Howard. 

"You don't know what that guy's temperament is," Zannie could only say.

"What? I don't see any attitude problem in Howard. He just acts like a leader sometimes. Maybe he has a high position in his job in Manila. What do you think of him, Zannie? That's how I feel about him."

Zannie raised an eyebrow again. This time, his friend made no mistake in examining someone, even before. But she can't tell anyone Howard's background because Jacob ordered her not to disclose it to anyone. She chose to keep her mouth shut. She turned her gaze back to Howard's whereabouts. And like earlier, Howard was still talking to the female nurse.

"I'm sleepy, I'll be inside first," Lucille said. 

"Wait, it's still raining." Zannie stopped him. 

"Uh oh! I have an umbrella. Let's go inside?"

Zannie nodded. They passed the area where Howard and the beautiful nurse were waiting for the rain to stop.

"Ah, Miss. After you use it can we borrow an umbrella too?"

The soft voice of the female nurse caught their attention.

Lucille turned first. "Ah, we're going to sleep. But go ahead, I'll just come back or I'll look for an extra umbrella inside my barracks."

The nurse replied with a smile. When Zannie and I entered the barracks, Lucille immediately sought out an umbrella. "All I know is there's more here. Case in point, there's a little something wrong," Lucille said as she rummaged through the umbrella in the small drawer. Zannie watched silently.

She first sat to one side and then wiped her rain soaked arm with a towel.

"I said, it's still here. You take Howaed and the beautiful nurse there, I'm getting sleepy." She automatically raised an eyebrow in disapproval of what Lucille had said. 

"And why me? You're the one who said you'd deliver the umbrella to them. And I don't want to go out either because it's cold," Zannie reasoned.

Lucille frowned as she fell on the folding bed. It meant to show yawning. "I'm really sleepy. I'll only order you just once, it's not tiring to hand out an umbrella. Please, Zannie. Just this once."

"What the hell is that, Lucille!" Zannie growled. But she could do nothing when Lucille closed her eyes. She envied Licille because of her ability to sleep faster once she lays down in bed. She was forced to leave the barracks. She returned to Howard's shelter. Exactly, the young man was still there but the female nurse who had been with him before was gone. She doesn't know if she will move forward or return to the barracks, knowing that only two of them are still outside, in part he thinks that she and Jacob can still get the setup about Howard's evaluation as well as the secret she found out.

"This is the umbrella. You go inside, it's cold in here. Okay?"

It is really freezing, like her uttered words to Howard. She caught his attention and in that moment, their eyes met again. The climate seemed to heat up because of the young man's glances towards her. Are handsome men really like that? Are they really able to get someone mesmerized by looks?

Zannie broke the sudden eye contact between them.

"Where's that nurse?" she asked awkwardly.

"Nurse Andrea? She's already inside. With other female med staff," Howard replied.

Zannie nodded, in fact she didn't know if she should talk to Howard yet. Maybe she has to go.

"I'm going to go inside," she mouthed. She was one step away when Howie spoke again.

"I don't have sleeping barracks. It's already occupied where I sleep. I'm afraid that I might get sick," he uttered with a gloomy reaction. 

"Is that so? We don't have any more space. And one more thing, we're all women there. So, where will you sleep? In fact, there is another empty pallet inside the barracks where Lucille and I will sleep.”

Lucille and Zannie can just share a pallet so that Howard can sleep there. But hell no! She recalls her first encounter with the young man when he accidentally fell asleep in the barracks. She didn't want him to repeat that embarrassing moment. 

The man smiled sparingly. Fortunately, the smile was only sparing, otherwise its smiles might infect Zannie and make her even more handsome in the eyes of the girl. "Maybe I will sleep in the spot where we ate dinner earlier. I'll just sleep at the bamboo table." 

“Okay, it's up to you,” Zannie shrugged.