Chapter 19: Stimulation of the senses.

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My Dad and my brothers were looking at me intently while I fretfully held the wedding invite. In my head, I was ceaselessly praying that what I’m thinking is wrong… that this wasn’t from him.


I turned to my Dad then to my brothers. “Should I open it?”


“Well, naturally, yes,” Kuya shrugged.


I stared at it again and drew in a great deal of air. “Okay, here goes nothing,” I muttered to myself. I slowly opened the flap with trembling hands. My brothers and my Dad were awkwardly standing on my side; I could sense they too were ill at ease.


“Anak ng,” Kuya grumbled impatiently. “Can we please get this over with?! Para akong matata* nito, eh!”


“Oo nga, Ate. Just open it!” Then Dad suddenly smacked their faces with a throw pillow.


“OUCH!”


“Don’t rush her,” he scolded the two of them. “It’s okay, sweetheart. Open it at your convenience,” he calmly said to me.


I nodded and went back to deal with the invitation. Only this time, I hurriedly tore the envelope open, which surprised them, and an elegant paper embellished with golden frills fell from it and landed on the floor. And written on its front cover was―


“Francisco and Salvador Nuptial,” Wade read.


“Oh, God. Oh, my God,” I gasped and weakly fell on my knees onto the cold marble floor. “Oh, my God.”


“Wendy,” they all exclaimed. They immediately held me up and helped me sat down on an adjacent chair.


“I thought it was his wedding invitation… I thought it came from him… I thought it came from him,” I mumbled again and again while I tried to stifle the uncontrollable sobs.




“Are you three going out today?” Mom began while we’re having breakfast.


“Yes. To Greenbelt. With Gerard,” I replied faintly. Kuya suddenly elbowed me and gestured me to smile. Mom didn’t find out what happened last night in the den and we absolutely have no plans on telling, that’s why my brothers and even my Dad are being too cautious about their actions.


I sighed and tried to recede from any memories of last night, but Mom suddenly added, “By the way, I saw a wedding invitation in the den this morning.” The four of us instantly traded discomfited stares. I held my breath.


“Honey, it’s― A― Well―,” Dad struggled.


“I didn’t know Peachy was engaged,” she went on. “She also sent me an invitation in my office yesterday.”


“Oh,” the four of us reacted in surprised accord.


Jeez. That was freakin’ close.




Quote
Translations:
Ni qu nar? = Where are you going?
Wei shen me? = Why?
Ting ni de. = Up to you.


“Ni qu nar?” asked Maxine when she saw me heading for the door.


“I’m going to watch movie with Wendy and her brothers. Wei shen me? Do you want to come with me?”


“Can I? Boredom’s totally killing me.”


I shrugged, “Ting ni de, but ask Mom’s permission first.”


“I already did,” she chirped.


“Hindi ka rin excited, ano?” I said and chuckled quietly. Wade is going to flip when he sees my sister.




Nobody mentioned anything about the wedding invite again after breakfast… until now.


“So,”  Kuya uttered, who’s behind the wheel, while driving our way to Greenbelt. “You thought it was from Ralph, eh?”


I saw Wade, who’s on the passenger’s seat, shoot him with a defiant stare. “Can you be less of a moron once in a while?” he snarled.


“Fine, call me the big, bad wolf for asking,” he grumbled.


“Enough, you two,”  I broke in. “Yeah, I thought it was his wedding invitation. You’re free to execute me now,” I replied in a sarcastic tone.


“Is that why you couldn’t stop crying last night?”


I sighed heavily. “I don’t know. Maybe those were tears of, ironically, joy because I was actually relieved that it wasn’t from him.”


But then I thought, how would have I reacted if it did come from him?


“Good thing you’re still up for a movie, though,” Wade said, making an attempt to change the subject.


“I’m actually not up for anything, Timots, but I guess any form of distraction wouldn’t hurt.”


Kuya was already parking the car when I received a text message from Gerard.


From: Gerard
Message: Tell Wade I have a surprise for him.


Surprise? Ano na naman kaya ang trip nito?


“Hey, Wade, Gerard said he’s got a surprise for you,” I told him as we alighted the car.


“Does it look like I still need surprises? What am I? Five?!” he suddenly retorted.


Have I mention that Wade hates surprises? One thing that a nascent scientist like my brother detests the most is unpredictability. He always wants everything to be perpetual, just like the value of ∏, which 3.1416-I-simply-don’t-care.


Anyway, the last time he received a surprise was during his 12th birthday, wherein he ended up on a sickbay as a result of our older brother’s idiocy. Kuya Wesley wanted to give him a pet so he bought him an iguana, which unfortunately sank its teeth into my poor little brother’s finger like its some prey it could contentedly nibble on. After that incident, Wade already has a phobia with surprises… and iguanas.


“Still can’t forget the bad memory of Dmitri?” Kuya mocked with an evil grin. He mischievously named the ill-fated iguana Dmitri after Wade’s favorite chemist and known for his notable development of the periodic table of elements, Dmitri Mendeleev.


“Come on, Kuya, stop making fun of Wade. You know how much he despises that reptile after what it did to his finger,” I teased and Wade merely grunted.




“Hey, babe,” Gerard jokingly greeted when he joined us in Starbucks. I chuckled and gave him a light bonk on the head.


“Babe? Now you two are making me heave,” Kuya snickered.


“Oh, shut up. You’re just jealous,” I joked.


“Anyway, I hope you don’t mind that I brought my sister along with me. She would’ve died of tedium if I left her alone at home.”


“Maxine’s here?”


“Yeah, she just went to the restroom. I told her to meet us here.”


“So she’s your surprise for Wade?”


“Yeah, pretty much,” he grinned. “Where is he by the way?”


“He just went to nearby magazine stand. He’ll be back any minute.”


“I see. Oh, here she comes. Maxine, we’re here,” he called out to his sister who just walked in.


“Hi, Ate Wends! Hey, Coach,” she happily greeted.


I smiled, “Hey, Maxine.”


“Nice to see you outside the field, kiddo,” Kuya kidded.


“Well, I guess introductions are already unnecessary,” Gerard pointed out.


“Except for one more,” Kuya added.


“One more?” Maxine curiously repeated. “Who?” And by a quirk of fate, Wade turned up just in time.


“Ate, I bought you― M-m-maxine?” Kuya and I tried to suppress our giggles as we watched our brother’s face turn crimson red.


“Wade, I’d like you to meet my sister, Maxine.”


“Oh, I know him, Kuya. We spoke over the phone before about our high school fair. Their band is going to play as the front act.”


Wade mechanically nodded and continued to ogle at Maxine. “Y-yeah.”


“I didn’t know you’re actually related to Coach and Ate Wendy. I thought it was just a mere coincidence that you had the same surnames.”


“Y-yeah.” He was starting to sound like a remote-controlled robot so I knew I just had to save his ego from total humiliation of in front of Maxine, who’s perhaps my brother’s last straw from Cupid’s arrow and Aphrodite’s blessing because of his ka-torpehan.


“So? Are we still going to watch a movie?” I cut in.




The four of them, especially Maxine, all wanted to see the current succession of the Saw motion picture. I totally abhor horror films and those that depict any form of violence, gore, carnage, or anything that deplores abominable bloodshed ― but today was an exemption, I told myself. I just had to face that sinister part of my brain that stores my irrational fear for such movies.


“Are you sure you also want to watch this?” Gerard worriedly asked me for the nth time.


“The better question is, are you sure you’re not going to throw up all over the floor once the bloodbath starts?” Kuya taunted.


“It’s more than just trickles of blood, Ate,” Wade reminded me.


“You know what, let’s just watch a chick flick instead,” Maxine suggested.


I snorted. “People, I’m fine, okay? I don’t have an incontinent bladder either so you don’t have to fret about me peeing in my pants,” I kidded and the five of us finally entered the cinema.


I suddenly imagined a thought bubble on top of my head, which says:

Wendy + Saw Film = Terrible Combination.




“Oh, my God! Oh, my God! No! G*ga, don’t go there,” I yelped during one of the scary scenes.


Gerard, who’s sitting on my left, suddenly whispered, “Ang ingay mo pala manood ng horror movie.”


I turned to face him and was about to mumble ‘I’m sorry’, when I realized that our faces were now only an inch apart. He was genuinely smiling at me while I was looking like a complete lunatic with my mouth hanging open.


“Ni hen piao liang,” he spoke softly.


“Ni hen what?” I asked with scrunched up eyelids.


He laughed quietly. “I said you’re beautiful.”


Thank goodness it was dark inside and our faces were indistinct or else he would’ve noticed that I’m blushing like hell right now. But in the back of my mind, I couldn’t stop thinking how wonderful he smells from this distance. A perfect mixture of aftershave and a tang of his Ralph Lauren cologne.


Gahd, you smell great.















































“Really? Thanks,” he replied with a wide grin.


Oh, my effin’ God! Did I just unconsciously utter my thoughts out loud?


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