If houses have termites and rice fields have rats, I, on the other hand, have Clark Ethan. Siya ang peste sa buhay ko. A damn good-looking pest, my cousin would say. But still a pest nonetheless. He's practically everywhere, every time, almost everyday. His mere presence pisses me off and although I've made it very clear to him that we can't be more than friends, he just don't seem to get it. I don't know what else to do so he'll leave me alone. Until he came up with a very tempting deal. One date. Just one date at tatantanan na niya ako. One date kapalit ng katahimikan ko. I'll finally get rid of him after just one date. That's why I took the risk. But the most unexpected thing happened. After that one date, I came to see him in a different light. I was able to discover the other side of him that I haven't paid attention to before. I realized he's not a jerk after all. He has Prince Charming potentials that I never knew existed. He's a Knight in Shining Armor waiting to happen. And all of a sudden, I found myself wanting to see him again, aching to be with him again. But he kept his promise. True to his words, I never saw his face again after that. I never heard from him again. He seemed to have moved on. I probably should, too. Problem is...ako naman ang inlove.

Tristan Matthew Lorenzo is certainly not the familiar face I was hoping to see. Not when it's my first day on the job. Not when I just gave up my career abroad to work here. Not when it's too late to back out. It was bad enough that I don't feel like I belong at all. To make matters worse, there he is with that irritating smug smile, reminding me of the past I'd rather forget. I have all the reasons to be mad at him. He was, after all, my Ex. Ex-Bestfriend. I've spent most of my life being friends with him. And the rest of it? Hating him. The boy who used to bring out the best in me apparently became my greatest rival. My pal who was my biggest fan suddenly grew up to be my harshest critic. My ally who used to defend me became my worst enemy. That one guy who made me believe in fairy tales turned out to be my worst nightmare. Because of him, I re-invented my own dictionary. Love? Bitter na kung bitter, that term is a feeling associated with extreme stupidity. Forever? Anong forever? That word doesn't even exist in my vocabulary. Trust? Bigla yata akong nagka-amnesia, I have long forgotten the meaning of that. Why would I believe in love when I see no evidence that it exists? Why would I accept the notion of forever when the only one who made me think twice about it just let me down? And why would I trust anyone when the guy I thought I could rely on chose to betray me? Kasalanan lahat ito ng tadhana. Destiny is clearly messing up my plans. Meeting him in pre-school was fate. Going to the same high school was planned. Landing on the same college had to be coincidence. But ending up in the same company? This is pure bad luck. But nothing is going to get in the way of my dream. Not even Tristan's annoying grin. He may know almost everything about me and will probably even use them against me. But there remains to be one thing that he knows nothing about. He doesn't know that back when we were best friends, I was actually in love.

I knew him. Yes, past tense. Sabagay, who wouldn't? Gavin Mateo is the famous point guard of our University basketball team and probably the best looking sa varsity. But there's more to it. I knew him because he used to be my Lab partner in Chemistry. He would usually come to class wearing his headset while waiting for our prof and I assumed it was because ayaw niyang maki-mingle sa gaya naming mga ordinary students. He seemed to be so full of himself and hardly make friends. But later on I came to really know him. Hindi pala siya masyadong suplado, hindi rin sobrang masungit. Medyo lang. There were even times when he laughed at my corny jokes. And as we became closer, I noticed him wearing his headset less and less until it was totally gone. He was my friend. Or so I thought. After just one unintentional mistake, he suddenly changed. The next thing I knew, he was back to his old cold self. His guard was up. Even his headset was back. And he never talked to me again after that. Until now. It's been two years. Am I hallucinating? Is he really in front of me, piercing me with his Zac Efron eyes and saying something I never knew I would ever hear from anyone? "I need you, Syndell Grace."