The General's Only Daughter

Chapter 4

”Osya, ito ang pagkain mo. Mag-iingat anak ha?” paalala ni nanang sabay abot sa akin ng lunch bag.

“Nanang, bakit ang bigat ata nga pagkain ko ngayon?” today is Saturday, kaya may lakad kami nila Winter kagaya ng napag-usapan.

“Hay naku, huwag ka nang mag reklamo at dinagdagan ko ng snacks ‘yan at mukhang matatagalan ka. Enjoy ka don ha?” nanang smiled, I could sense her happiness seeing me having my own friends now.

“Thank you, nanang. I will.” I rest assured her. I bid my goodbye before leaving, we are living in a condo near in my school, 10 minutes lang makakarating kana sa school if you take a grab or taxi.

***

“Over here, Cali!” Napalingon ako sa sa gawi ni Winter nang marinig ko ang boses niya. We made a deal na susunduin nila kami dito sa waiting shed sa labas ng school. I am with Chas, right now. I smiled at her.

“Tara, Chas.” Aya ko kay Chas.

Winter look stunning in her simple peach dress. I wore a boyfriend jeans and a white minimalist t-shirt, I tuck it in my jeans then I tied my hair into a pony tail. Chas, wore a maong shorts and minimalist black t-shirt.

“Get in!” excited na utos ni Winter.

We planned to do a bonding in Lawrence house. They said we can do many things and activities there. So we all agreed. Winter was kind enough to offer to fetch Chas and I. Well, she has a driver naman kaya hindi siya mapapagod mag drive. We talked about random things on the way to Lawrence house. It’s mostly likely a girl’s talk, we talk about makeup and some stuff. I do my everyday make up and so Winter and Chas. If you think I go to school with bare face? Then you are definitely wrong, I put on a light make up, I mean who doesn’t do makeup these days? Even the most beautiful person in this world wear makeup.

When we arrived at Lawrence place, there are many maids welcoming us, it’s almost similar in our house in Cebu, except that most of the people in my home are soldiers. Their mansion is nice, and I found out that this is next to Winter’s mansion too. Well, this is Villanueba’s residence, ang weird naman if may iba na mahalo.

“Welcome, ladies!” bati ni Lawrence. They are actually waiting for us in the living room.

“Grabe ang laki ng bahay nila!” bulong ni Chas. Nginitian ko lang siya.

“Salamat.” Sagot ko kay Lawrence at tumango naman ako kay Bryce and Sage. But there’s another guy on the couch. He glance at us and cleared his throat.

“Hi, everyone.” Tumayo siya at nilapag ang binabasa niya.

“Omg, ‘yan yung crush ko.” Kapit ni Chas sa akin sabay bulong. I look at her, aba namumula ang gaga!

“Hello po.” I said politely. Siniko ko naman si Chas, to say something.

“Oh, hi!” nahihiya niyang sambit. I almost laugh.

“Ah, Chas and Cali. This is Elton. Kaibigan rin namin.” Pagpapakilala ni Bryce.

“Elton, Chas and Cali.” Tumango naman ‘yong Elton at ngumiti lang.

“Omg, kuya Elton! You’re here na pala.” Nag beso si Winter sa kanya.

“As you see. Well, you guys do your thing. I’ll be in the guest room. I wanna sleep, jetlag pa e.” Paalam nito sabay akyat sa taas.

And soon enough, we started doing our own thing. We went to the study room first, before separating our own ways. I am with Winter, Chas is with Lawrence while Sage is with Bryce. It is 9 o’clock in the morning so we plan to separate ways and then we will get together at 11 o’clock then we will have our lunch at 12 o’clock. Winter and I went to her house, she said she wanna show me something.

When we arrived at her house, hinatak niya ako papasok sa isang kwarto, and believe me I was in awe! Like, what the hell this is heaven!

“This is my play room. I do codes here and play some games too.” She happily said sabay upo sa gaming chair niya. Ang ganda ng silid na ‘to, it has many new edition of gaming PC and Laptop. I was in awe because I don’t have a room like this kahit gaano ko pa ka mahal ang teknolohiya. I just visit our IT Team in their IT room. I don’t have my own collection just yet.

“Wow, you’ve got an awesome room!” I blurted out excitedly.

“Yes, I do.” She said and smiled at me. I thought she just chose computer science because of her family’s business, nangunguna kasi ang Villanueba sa IT Industry, that’s their line of business. I think it’s in their genes talaga.

We did our thing there, we played games too and she let me see her bedroom. One thing we have in common is, we do not like bright colors. Winter’s bedroom theme is a pastel color the same as mine, nagka iba lang sa choice of pastel color and style.

“Oh, shoot! It’s almost 11:30 o’clock!” Napatingin ako kay Winter then sa time. Oo nga, 11 o’clock usapan naming na babalik sa bahay nila Lawrence. We were too focus, doing our own portfolio that we completely forgot the time.

“Sorry, we’re late!” hinihingal kami pareho ni Winter nang makarating sa garden nila Lawrence, we planned to have our lunch here. Maganda kasi ang panahon, hindi ganon ka init and there are trees here kaya nakak refresh.

“Mukhang nag enjoy kayong dalawa ah at nakalimutan na kami.” Lawrence commented. Umupo ako sa tabi ni Chas, sumunod naman si Winter. The table is round and sakto lang kaming anim.

“I guess we were just too focused. We started to draft our template for the portfolio.” Winter revealed, sabay inom ng tubig. Nauuhaw rin ako kaso wala silang sealed water sa table ngayon, yes aside from food, I can’t also just drink water from someone else if the bottle is not sealed. Naka pitcher kasi ang tubig na nasa mesa and I don’t want to offend Lawrence by asking a sealed water bottle. And I am so stupid for not bringing my own water today. Naisipko kasi na bibili nalang kanina kaso who would’ve thought na mapapaaga ang sundo ni Winter sa amin.

“Cali.” Tawag sa akin ni Chas sabay abot ng isang basog tubig na ininuman niya muna. “Here, you look thirsty.” Thank God ang thoughtful ng kaibigan ko.

“Salamat!” I thanked her. Ininom ko naman agad yung tubig.

“Uhm, umiinom lang kasing sealed water bottle si Cali. Otherwise she need someone to drink the water first, before she can drink it.” Chas, suddenly explained, so I looked at her with full of confusion only then I realized that the other our person looked at us with full of curiosity too.

“Uh- sorry, I didn’t mean to be rude.” I hurriedly apologized, napayuko ako sa hiya.

“Oh, it’s ok. I’m sorry I should have been more considerate of you. I didn’t think at all. Don’t worry I’ll get some sealed bottle of water for you.” Lawrence said and smiled at me.

“Thank you, Lawrence!” I thanked him, he just nodded before going inside his house.

“You sound comfortable speaking in English, you should speak more.” I shifted my gaze to Sage, it’s so rare for him to make a comment, for the past months that I’ve encountered him, he seemed aloof but he get along with everyone, well- except to Damian.

“Oo nga, Cali. I heard Cebuano people are good in English, no wonder!” Chas said. Well, she’s right. I just smiled at them.

“Cali, tingin.” Tawag ni Winter, so I shifted my gaze on her. “Perfect!” she exclaimed.

What the hell? Did she just took a photo of me? I stared at her, and sigh.

“Delete it. You should’ve let me know so that I can smile. What if I looked horrible?” I whined.

“C’mon! You look amazing, well- you always do.” She said confidently. She showed the photo to Chas, “isn’t it, Chas?”

“Syempre, Cali ‘yan e.” Chas commented proudly. These two are shameless. Hindi man lang naisip na may lalaki sa table na ‘to. Napa iling nalang ako. Buti nalang dumatin gna si Lawrence, dala niya pati lunch bag ko.

“Cali, oh. I brought your lunch too.” Nilapag niya sa harap ko ‘yong lunh box and three bottle of water. I thanked him.

“Guys, 20 minutes pa ‘yong barbecue na request niyo. Kaya pa ba mag antay?” Lawrence, asked.

“Oo, naman. Hindi pa naman kami gutom.” Bryce answered, tumango naman si Sage.

“Ladies, pwede na kayo mauna if you guys are hungry.” Saad ni Lawrence. We shook our head in unison.

“Cali, Chas, let’s take some photos!” aya ni Winter, one more thing about Winter is, she likes taking photos. Wala naman kaming nagawa ni Chas kundi sundin siya.

“Tayo kayo d’yan” tumayo naman kami ni Chas sa may harap ng puno.

“Nooooo, magkabilaang side kayo tas parang sumisilip.” She instructed us so we did.

She took a photo of me and Cali individually too. Then the three of us, she set a timer. We took photos on a different spots in the garden.

“Airdrop mo sa’kin lahat ng pic Winter, dali!” Chas exclaimed, both of them are active in social media kaya exited sila pareho. While I don’t have any social media account, well my cousin Chan and I doesn’t have a social media account before, but recently Chan made an account on f*******:, i********:, twitter and t****k according to her. Hindi naman sa bawal kami gumawa ng account, sadyang wala naman kaming friends outside sa family naming kaya ganon.

Nang makabalik na kami sa table, naka handa na ang pagkain, busy parin si Chas at Winter sa mga pictures naming. Ako naman nilabas ko na ang pagkain ko, nanang made a broccoli beef and fried porkchop. I smiled in satisfaction, kasi naglagay rin s’ya ng sawsawan.

“Let’s eat, ladies, enough with your phones.” Sage commanded. One thing I noticed about Sage too is, he doesn’t like it when someone is using phone while eating.

“Oh, sorry we are just really excited to post our pictures.” Winter explained, tinanguan naman siya ni Sage.

“Oh, nga pala let’s follow each other girls.” Winter said and began eating.

“Sure, sa i********: nalang siguro? Hindi ako madalas sa f*******: e.” Chas, answered. Then they exchanges username on i********: and promised to follow each other after eating while I just continued eating.

“How about you, Cali? What’s your username on i********:?” Winter asked. I drank my water before answering her.

“I don’t have any social media account.” Wait, did I just followed Sage words? To speak more in English? I mentally face palmed.

Sabay-sabay naman silang lima na naubo. Nabulunan na sila don?