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"Teka lang, Fiona. What happened? Ha? Sige sige teka lang papunta na ako," nagmamadali akong bumaba ng hagdan para puntahan si Fiona sa bahay nila ngayon. Hindi siya tumitigil sa pag iyak kaya nag-aalala na ako. 

I drove as fast as I can, hoping that my friend would be alright. Stephanie said na papunta na din siya. Pagakarating ko ng bahay nila nakita ko ang sasakyan ni Stephanie sa labas ng bahay. I parked outside their house at agad ako pumasok. As soon as I opened the door I saw Stephanie hugging Fiona she was crying so hard. Halos hindi na siya nagsasalita at umiiyak nalang. We asked Fiona to explain what happened.

"Pregnant?" tanong ko pero yumuko na lamang siya. "Tangina Fiona Alyssa, you are what?" I was so surprised. I could never imagine her being pregnant with Jolo's child and now she has to go through all of this without him. 

She cried. "Hindi ko na alam ang gagawin ko. I want to keep this child pero my parents, they will get mad. I am such a disappointment."

Niyakap siya namin ni Stephanie. "You are not a failure, Fiona. I know your parents would understand. They won't be disappointed, okay?" Stephanie said as she rubbed Fiona's hair. I smiled and caressed her back.

"We're here for you, always remember that," I told her and she nodded.

Mabuti nalang at tumahan na siya. We talked about her baby. "Gusto ko babae ang magiging anak mo, Fiona. Para naman I ca take her shopping!" Excited na sabi ni Stephanie. Tumawa lamang kami ni Fiona. 

"How about you, Alexis?" Tanong sa akin ni Stephanie. "Alin ang gusto mo? Babae or lalaki?

I shrugged my shoulder. "Kahit na ano. Hindi naman ako ang maghihirap na dalhin ang bata. Kung ano ang gusto ni Fiona, 'yun din ang gusto ko," I gently said. Kumunot naman ang noo ni Alexis. 

"You are making me look bad here! Sige na nga! Kung ano nalang ang sa'yo, Fio."  Stephanie pouted. 

***

3 weeks had passed and kami nalang ni Stephanie ang magkasama sa school. Fiona was home schooled for this semeste. It might seem impossible pero Fiona's parents made in happen. Binayaran nila ng malaking halaga ang School para lang pumayag na ma home schooled si Fiona. They also explained her situation.

"Alexis, tuloy tayo later? Let's visit Fiona," Stephanie said. Tumango na lamang ako. I took over Fiona's position as the Council's president. They all made a vote and they all voted me to replace her. Medyo naninibago ako pero kinakaya ko. Kakayanin ko. 

Rumors were spreading about Fiona getting pregnant. None of us denied it pero we weren't giving them exact answers as well. I was eating alone at the cafeteria kasi Stephanie had to submit her paper sa teacher namin. 

"So the popular Ms. President got pregnant?" I heard one girl said and the others laughed.

"Ayan kasi masyadong hinahype ang magkakaibigan. It Girl my ass. Just because the three of them are the most outstanding students in their department doesn't make them celebrities."

"That is so true! Lalo na 'yang Alexis na 'yan, she thinks she's great or something. She always comes second naman eh, pangalawa lang siya kay Fiona. Tapos ngayon she got the chance to become president kasi ang kaibigan niya nabuntis ng maaga," they all laughed.

I don't know if they were aware that I was behind them, or maybe they did it on purpose. I closed my eyes stopping myself from crying, second. I have always hated that word, why do people have to rank other people. What's the point of it all. Why do people have to compare others? 

"Such pathetic jealous bitches."

The group of girls gasped. "S-sky," they all said in unison, he just smirked at them.

"If you got nothing to do. Why don't you try to study para mapantayan niyo sila. Instead of talking shit about them. If you're THAT jealous," after saying that, he went to me and grabbed my hand. Nanlaki ang mata ng mga babae. Hindi nila siguro alam na nasa likod lang nila ako at nakikinig. 

He dragged me away from the cafeteria. "Teka! Ano ba! Let me go!" Angal ko. Nang makalayo na kami ng cafeteria ay binitawan niya kaagad ang kamay ko. "What the fuck is your problem?" sabi ko, he raised his eyebrow at me.

"Why do you let people bully you? Are you that dumb or something? Or are you just playing the good girl or what?" hindi ko namalayan nasampal ko pala siya. Sa sobrang lakas ng sampal ko ay agad na tumingin sa direksyon namin ang mga tao sa paligid. 

"You don't know me! You don't know one bit of me! Wala kang karapatan para sabihin 'yan sa akin. Sino ka ba sa tingin mo ha?" I was furious. How dare he judge me like that. He doesn't even know me! We just met few weeks ago! 

Hawak hawak niya ang pisngi niya na sinampal ko. He just smirked at me. "See, you can be aggressive if you want din naman pala. Stop being the good girl all the time. They will just take advantage of your kindness. Soon enough, magsasawa ka din sa pagiging mabait," his words are like daggers piercing right through me. 

Agad naman siya lumapit sa akin. Napa atras ako para ilayo ang mukha niya sa akin. I suddenly bumped into someone's car kaya napatigil ako sa pag atras. Agad naman niya nilagay ang dalawang kamay niya sa sasakyan. Trapping me in between his arms. He bent a  little para pumantay ang mukha niya sa mukha ko. He went closer to me. I wanted to close my eyes to avoid contact with him but his eyes are hypnotizing me. As if telling me to look directly at him.  I could feel his minty breath on my cheeks. "Who am I? I believe our parents introduced us to each other already. And for the record, I'm your fiancé, sweetie," he left after saying those words. 

I was dumbfounded. 

"Alexis! Sorry I was late! I looked for you sa cafeteria pero wala ka doon," sabi ni Stephanie, humihingal pa. 

"Ah, yeah" sabi ko nalang. 

"Bakit mo kasama si Sky?" Nagtatakang tanong niya.

 "You know him?" I asked her. She nodded and chuckled.

 "Sky Gabriel Legrand, Mechanical Engineering. Pantay lang sila ata ng kasikatan ni Jolo. The difference is, he is such a snob," tumawa na lamang ako sa expression niya when she said that he's a snob. She's not wrong. 

"May something ba between the both of you ha? You're not making kwento, Soliel Alexis!" I pinched her cheek. Kaya nag reklamo naman ito at hinampas ang kamay ko.

 "Loka loka, wala. Hay nako let's go na. Fiona's waiting for us," sabi ko nalang. 

"Ay wala? Sayang naman, he's a complete hottie," she said. Well that, I agree. As much as I want to tell her everything, huwag na siguro muna. I want to focus our attention to Fiona right now. And besides hindi naman big deal ang arrange marriage na 'yon. Mas kailangan ni Fiona ang buong supporta namin ni Stephanie. 

We both drove to Fiona's house. Nag convoy nalang kami since both of us brought our own cars with us. We both parked outside the moment we arrived at Fiona's house. Pag pasok namin agad kami sinalubong ni Fiona. "Look at you," Stephanie teased her. She was wearing a duster dress. 

"Heh! Tigilan mo ako!" Fiona pouted. I showed her the bag of dried mangoes that I bought. She smiled widely and took one packet.

"Waaaah! Thank you, Alexis!" she started eating the dried mangoes. Fiona said she wanted to eat leche flan kaya naman bumili kami ni Stephanie ng mga ingredients kanina bago kami pumunta dito. I went to the kitchen para iprepare ang mga ingredients. I looked at them at the living room. They were both sitting on the sofa while watching a movie. 

I took the pan at nilagyan ito ng asukal. I made sure na pantay ang pagkakalagay ng asukal sa pan para pantay ang pag distribute ng heat. I saw the sugar started to melt. Hinintay ko nalang na mag brown ang sugar. When it started to brown, I stirred it a bit at hinitay ito na mag dissolve completely. I poured the syrup in to the molder and made sure to evenly distribute the syrup. I started separating the egg yolks from the egg whites. Kinuha ko ang mixer and I started to mix all the egg yolks. After mixing, nilagay ko na agad ang evaporated milk at ang condensed milk at hinalo ulit ang mixture. 

Kinuha ko ang molder at nilagay na doon ang mixture. I preheated the oven kasama ang tray na may tubig para maging mainit ito. I covered the molder with aluminum foil at pinasok ko na ito sa oven. 

Lumapit naman ako sa dalawa at tinignan kung ano ang pinapanood nila. They were watching some romance movie on N*****x. I scooched over at agad naman nila ako dinambahan na dalawa. We all giggled and watched the movie.

I heard the oven timer at agad ko naman kinuha ang leche flan. I placed it on the rack for it to cool down bago ko ito ilagay sa loob ng refrigerator. After a few minutes it cooled down kaya nilagay ko sa loob ng refrigerator 'yung isang molder tapos 'yung isa naman ay kinaim naming tatlo. 

We had fun talking about random things. Kinamusta naman ni Fiona ang council. "Every thing is okay, Fio. Don't worry too much, okay? Ako na ang bahala sa council. Focus on yourself. And your baby," I assured her. Tumango naman siya at patuloy na kinain ang ginawa ko na leche flan. 

Napangiti ako dahil nakikita ko na sarap na sarap ang dalawa kong kaibigan sa ginawa ko. But my smile quickly faded when I received a text from my dad. I hid my phone and focused on my friends. I'll take care of it later when I go home.