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FRANKI'S POV

"Boom clap! The sound of my heart! The beat goes on and on and on and on and — Ahhh!" My singing is replaced by a scream when a car suddenly crosses in front of ours and turns left to head in the opposite lane. 

"Brat, look out!" David exclaims at his sister, who got distracted as it seems as she didn't notice the traffic lights turning red.

Diana gasps as she instantaneously hit the brakes out of reflex, successfully stopping the car at the last second before she can run the red light and get a penalty ticket.

"Whoa!" I roar into relief, slightly panting. "That was scary! What a near-death experience!"

"What has gotten into you, Diana? Jesus," David rakes a hand through his hair as he starts to reprimand his sister. My attention is then caught when the backseat window of the first car from the other side that we almost crashed into slides down and a foreign-looking woman's head pops out, only to give us the middle finger sign. She might be around my age, with her slightly curly, long hair and tanned skin.

"Learn how to watch on the road next time, bitches!"

I crane my neck backward as I watch her exclaim in a thick accent, her loud voice echoing from the distance as the car, which I assume is from Grab, speeds up on the opposite lane and disappears out of our sight.

"Oh my gosh, did you see that, Dee? She's so baztoz! (rude)" I pout my lips while folding my arms in front of my chest. It was a near-death experience for both cars but she managed to throw us that finger. How infuriating! 

"You should stop distracting me, Franki." Diana sternly says with her now steely eyes focused on the road this time even though we're on a Stop. 

"What do you mean? What did I do? I was just sing—" I pause when I realize what I have done. I was singing my heart out for her and she could have been watching me. I suddenly feel embarrassed when I imagined myself singing and dancing with the music.

Is she mad at me?

"Stop the car, Diana. Let me drive this time," David grumpily insists. He's seriously making it sound like we're all going to die if Diana will continue driving.

What with the sudden mood change of everyone?!

"Don't start it, Dave," Diana answers back in a low tone. The car is again filled with tension and I'm scared. 

I try to catch Sky's eyes from the rearview mirror to urge him to break the ice, 

"Guys, chill. It's your mommy's birthday today. Good vibes lang."

"We would have been safer if I were behind the wheel," David grumbles under his breath.

"Oh, so you have amnesia now? What happened to your Vios last year?" Diana claps back, which made me uneasier. 

"Don't get started with me, Diana." David leans forward in a challenging tone.

Oh my God, are they serious?!

I twist back and give David a reassuring smile, "Baby, cut it off. It's fine. Nothing happened."

"I just got distracted." Diana again inserts with a meaningful tone which made me glance at her in disbelief. Is she really serious about this? 

"So you're really pointing out that it was my fault?" I finally snap at her. I can't help it. I mean, why are they making a big deal out of this?

Diana seems to have been taken aback at the raise of my voice. Her facial expression softens as she turns to me and says, "Forget about it, Franki. Let's move on."

Oh, wow. And now she has the audacity to say, "move on?!" I turn to the other side and rather start appreciating the commercial billboards through the window. I don't know why but my chest suddenly feels heavy. It's like a hippo has decided to take a nap on my boobies. 

Diana might have noticed my sudden indifference because she tried to hold my hand but I immediately avoided hers and try to act like I need something in my purse. I mean, has she forgotten about David and Sky's presence at the back?

And what's wrong with two women holding each other's hands? You're just making yourself look defensive, Frances.

"Do you want some music?" she asks with some emphasis somewhere in her sentence. Does she need to rub it in? Was she sarcastic or I'm just paranoid?

"It's okay," I say in a cracked voice while forcing a smile on my lips. I so want to look at her in the eye but I'm suddenly allergic to face my left side. 

"How many hours do we have left?" I casually ask as I start to retouch my light make-up. 

"We're still in the metro so it would take three more hours I think," Sky answers instead after a few moments when none of the siblings spoke up.

So...Diana really wants to play an ignoring game, huh?

"Oh, okay."

"Just take a nap, Babe. I'll wake you up when we get there," David utters as he reaches forward to caress my arm in a comforting way. 

Diana then turns the music back on anyway and plays some random, mellow song. 

I wait for her to talk to me again but she seems to have no plans of doing so.

Does she think that I'm mad at her? 

Isn't she the one who got mad at me first?

Should I speak up first? 

No, she should do it first, right? She kept on subtly pushing that it was my fault that we nearly crashed into another car so...

She didn't even say sorry. She only told me to move on!

But you didn't say sorry too.

I'm the woman here so she should apologize first. 

But she's a woman too?

Ugh! I am so frustrated right now that I want to scream!

I observe her from my peripheral vision but I didn't get anything. She's just concentrating on the road while David and Sky start talking about some online gaming stuff from the back. 

I try to catch her eyes from the rearview mirror but she's obviously trying so hard to fix her eyes straight ahead. 

What the hell is her problem?! 

****

"Babe, wake up. We're here,"

David's voice along with his gentle taps on my cheek jolts me awake. My heartbeat is fast and there is a buzzing in my brain as I sit upright as if there's an emergency. A few more moments had passed before it finally dawns on me that I actually have fallen asleep at the rest of the ride. The side of my neck hurts, probably from my nap position.

"Oop! What time is it?!" I ask in a panicky voice while caressing my neck. Still disoriented, I look out the window and notice that we are parked in an unfamiliar place.

"It's past one in the afternoon. I have been waking you up for the past five minutes but you really are a sleepyhead," he says while sweetly preening my hair with his fingers. I cock my head to one side when I notice that he's sitting on the driver's seat this time.

"Why are you here? Where's Diana?" My chest heaves once again when I remember what happened earlier. My brain probably got exhausted from battling with itself on whether to do the first move on her or not.

I wonder if she's still mad at me?

"She got sleepy so we switched places. She slept for like an hour ago," David explains before coming out of the car. He then walks around and opens the door on my side. "Come on, they've been waiting for us."

The bright rays of the sun welcome my just-woke-up eyes as David assists me out of the car. With my sight still in the clutches of the two-hour nap, I rub the sleep out of my eyes, careful not to ruin my eyebrows. I spare another second to look at the side mirror to make sure that I look presentable for Diana's family.

"Whoa," I exclaim in delight when the fresh air fills my lungs and the sight of a huge beige-colored two-story mansion in the middle of the vast, grassy compound welcomes me. Aside from Diana's car, there are also other cars and a van lined up in the side. 

"Welcome to the province, Baby," he says before inhaling the warm, afternoon breeze with both arms outstretched which made me chuckle because he looks stupid. 

"So...all of this belongs to your family?" I refer to the wide area of lush, grassy compound littered with different kinds of plants and surrounded with a lowly built iron fence where we are currently in. There are two more houses at the side but their mansion literally stands out in the middle of it. There's a wooden couch with a table in front of the house and beside it is a small cottage but what caught my attention more is the little garden at the left side of the house with a single swing in the center.

"Yes, all of it. That's my spot over there, and I'm going to build our first home on it." he proudly says with a faraway look entering his eyes while pointing somewhere on the left side of the compound. 

"Oh my gosh, David. It is so refreshing here!"

It seems like I'm hearing the birds singing somewhere. The gentle breeze from the greenish fields that literally surrounds us kisses my skin and I couldn't help but feel at peace and connected with the nature at this moment.

"David!"

We turn to the front porch of the house ahead where Sky and Diana along with her mum and relatives are waiting for us.

"Oh my God, is that your mom? Nahiya ako! (I'm shy!)," I refer to the middle-aged woman with blonde hair and perfect eyebrows waving at me with a bright smile plastered in her still youthful face.

"Don't be. Relax...Mommy would definitely love you." he rests his hand on the lower curve of my back as we walk towards them. I look for Diana to see if she's looking at me but unfortunately, she seems to be engrossed in her phone. 

Is she chatting with someone?

There's a long table in the middle of the wide porch where everyone is currently seated and some birthday decorations glued on the wall. A lot of food lined up the table; spaghetti, fried chicken, roasted pig, shanghai rolls, macaroni salad, some more Filipino food, and a lot more! It's nice that they decided to celebrate it here so I can continue to enjoy the view of the countryside. I wasn't able to do it when David and I went to Gino's mansion last time because it was in the middle of the night.

I stare at his mom's face as he kisses her on the cheek. She looks prettier than the pictures and up close but I don't see any similarities with Diana from her features. She might have gotten most of it from her dad.

"What took you so long in the car? We're all excited to meet Franki!" His mom explains as she hugs David tight.

"Franki fell asleep during a ride and I had a hard time waking her up," he explains while pressing me into his side.

"Pasensya po...Nakatulog po ako sa biyahe and hindikolam anong time, (I'm sorry. I have slept during the ride I didn't notice the time,)" 

Everyone has these huge smiles on their faces as I try my best to speak into Tagalog to impress them.

"Isn't she cute, Tita Rowena? (Mrs. Mackey?)" Sky asks.

"You're right, Sky. She looks like a Barbie doll!" Rowena agrees while smiling widely at me.

David clears his throat before proceeding to the introduction. "Mommy, this is Franki, my girlfriend. Babe, this is my mom, Rowena."

"Ako po si Franki at ikinagagalak ko po kayong makilala, Rowena, (I'm Franki and nice to meet you, Rowena.)"

Based on their surprised reactions, I think I said something wrong or funny which got me worried in an instant.

(A/N: To my non-Filipino readers, saying "Tita" before the name of a middle-aged woman is a part of our culture and is a sign of respect. People from western countries usually just call them Mrs. Mackey or just simply Rowena.)

I silently wait for Diana's comment and correction, but she is now busy talking to two other girls at the side who I assume are her cousins. 

"Babe, you forgot the Tita," David whispers near my ear. 

"Oh, sorry. Let me do that again!" I chuckle in shame while holding out my fingers into a peace sign. I then clear my throat before saying it correctly this time,

"Ako po si Franki at ikinagagalak ko po kayong makilala, Tita Rowena,"

They all then exploded into chuckles, which finally quelled my anxiousness.

"I think I like you already," Tita Rowena says as she hugs me.

"Maliyagang kaarawan po ikaw, Tita Rowena," I greet her while hugging her back.

Diana taught me the Tagalog of Happy Birthday last night and I have been rehearsing it since then but I'm not sure if I pronounced it right. I turn to her to see her reaction but she immediately looks away and turns to Sky who has been busy getting her attention.

Seriously, is she gonna ignore me the whole time? Because that would really make me sad. 

David pulls out a chair for me, the one next to Rowena and I make myself comfortable into my seat as he continues to introduce me to his cousins; Denise, a college student, Arvie, a businesswoman who brought her boyfriend Mike with her, and Nikko, a cute looking teenage guy with curly hair. I've been waiting for Diana to continue the introduction but David finishes it with Tita Kelly, his mom's older sister. Tita Kelly has a five-year-old grandson Chon, who is currently sitting on Diana's lap and playing with her hair.

The little boy blushes his cheeks out and buries his face on Diana's chest as I try to take him from her, causing everyone to chuckle in amusement.

"Aww, he's so cute!" 

"Well, it looks like our little boy has a crush!" Kelly comments and everyone agrees, except Diana who has been acting like I don't exist. I seriously won't enjoy this birthday celebration if she will keep on doing that.

After the warm welcome and gift-giving, we then sang a Happy Birthday to Rowena. It has been like ten minutes since I step foot into this house but I think I like Diana's family already, especially her mom. She's so nice and bubbly!

They're David's family too, and you should always put that in mind.

"Let's cut to the chase as I know you're all hungry!"

Everyone seems to be interviewing me and checking my Tagalog skills when we start eating, and I'm a little distracted because I'm more focused on checking Diana out who keeps on using her phone for like every damn minute.

Who the fuck is she texting?! Veronica?

"So...iho, when are you getting married?"

The creases of disappointment in my forehead immediately vanish at Rowena's question to David.

"Franki and I are taking things slowly, Mommy. But don't worry, we'll get there. Right, Babe?" he turns to me while holding a fork with spaghetti rolled into it.

"Ah, y-yeah!" I reluctantly answer. He brings the fork near my mouth and urges me to eat it in front of his family.

"Say ahh,"

Seriously? A public display of affection in front of them? He warns me with his eyes, leaving me no choice but to eat it.

"Oh, wait, there's a stain right here," 

I slightly lean away from him as he wipes the orange stain at the corner of my mouth with his thumb. I got even more worried when I caught Diana looking at us.

"Aww, you two look so perfect together! You're like Ken and Barbie!" Denise comments, pressing her hands together as she stares at us with admiration.

"I can already imagine their babies. They will surely look like dolls just like their mom!" Arvie adds, which made me worry more about Diana's feelings. 

Look at her, Frances. She's eating that roasted pig so casually as if she's barely affected with the topic. Stop assuming things.

Of course, I will assume things. She's my girlfriend!

And David's your boyfriend!

I scream inwardly again, as my inner thoughts are just fueling my exasperation.

I then silently gasp when I felt Rowena's hand over mine. I turn to her and meet her grateful, admiring eyes,

"You're the first woman who David brought here and it has been a while since I saw him smiling and happy like this,"

Uh-oh...

I am genuinely surprised at the revelation. I turn to David in surprise, and he just shrugs his shoulders at me as he smiles.

"That's good to hear...po." I force a sweet smile at her.

Someone then clears his throat, "How about me and Diana, Tita? Won't you ask us when do we plan to get married?" 

We all turn to Sky as he inserts himself again.

Everyone laughs at what he has said except Diana and me. She sure has zero-tolerance for bullshit.

"My Diana is still young and she wants to have a successful career first," Rowena responds to him with a teasing smile.

"Don't worry, Tita. I can wait for her naman,"

"Kadiri ka, Sky. (Eww, Sky.)" Diana playfully rolls her eyes at him, and laughter ensues once more.

"Nothing new. She's always grumpy." Sky jokes as he pinches her nose. I caught Arvie elbowing Diana as if teasing her, and the latter just shakes her head in defeat while smiling.

"Their babies will definitely look like Koreans!" Denise comments. 

"Oh my gosh, Diana hates K-pops!" I blurt out. It was too late for me to filter my mouth. 

"Ah, she meant I like Hollywood more," Diana retorts while smiling awkwardly.

"Hey, Dee, how's living with Dave and Franki? I bet you girls get along so well. You have the same vibes for some reason." Arvie leads the conversation once more.

"That's because they are both half-Kiwi." Rowena answers while putting some crispy pork parts on my plate. If Diana is sitting beside me, she would have already explained what this food is called, its origin, and its role in Philippine culture. 

"Diana's very sweet, and I always have a great time with her," I suppress the urge to smile at the memories.

"Is that so?" Kelly chimes in with one intriguing eyebrow raised. "What do you usually do with her?"

Love each other. Fuck each other hard. Make each other come into our hands and mouth.

Oh if she only knew...

But wait. Is she sensing something? 

I meet Diana's wary eyes across the table as my paranoia strikes again.

"Whenever David is busy, I usually bring Franki to parties so she can also meet my friends. The more friends she has, the faster she will adapt to our culture and language," she finally speaks up which made me able to breathe normally again.

"That's good to hear. You should also help her get a boyfriend because it has been long since she has one. At one point, we thought she was a lesbian!" Kelly adds with an exaggerated laugh which elicited a nervous chuckle out from me.

"Thank God she isn't!" Rowena supports which made me tighten my grip on my spoon and fork. I communicate with Diana through my eyes and she seems to be in tension too. My mom would be so much worse than this.

Gosh, what have I gotten myself into?!

I secretly pray that David will just shut his mouth in this, and thank God because he seems to be engrossed with whatever Nikko is showing him on his phone.

"You both are so drop-dead gorgeous it's so unfair!" Denise playfully scoffs and rolls her eyes which elicits a chuckle from me.

"Aww thank you! You're so cute!" I so want to hug her right now for changing the topic.

"Diana has already gotten herself a very gorgeous sister-in-law in the future, right Dee?" David blurts out all of a sudden while giving his sister a tension-filled glance across the table, and I almost choke on my lemonade. So he's following with the conversation after all.

Diana chuckles softly before meeting his eyes, "Very gorgeous indeed, David. You're one lucky man." she emphasizes the adjectives as her eyes meaningfully land on mine. 

Seriously, Diana? In front of everyone? 

For some reason, her gaze felt like fire and I am burned for a moment. I am so scared to see Rowena and Kelly's reaction right now.

"And so are you. That's why you need to get yourself a boyfriend already," David brings the hot topic again. 

Diana smiles without showing her teeth as she wipes her lips with the table napkin, "Why don't you mind your own business, Dave?"

Okay. Here we go again. 

I lean back on my chair and sigh in anxiousness.

"I second the motion!" Arvie raises her hand. "I mean, Diana needs to get a boyfriend A-S-A-P!"

"Uhm, hello? I'm here!" Sky reminds us of his existence for the nth time. To be honest, he's starting to get into my nerves.

"Shut your mouth, Bro. We're talking about a real boyfriend here." David surprisingly retaliates which made everyone turn to him in question.

"What do you mean by that?" Sky asks with both eyebrows arched down.

Silence ensues as David, Sky, and Diana exchange gauging glances.

I turn to Rowena to see her reaction and she seems to be clueless of what's happening while here I am, secretly wishing that the branches of the mango trees from my view will just take me away from here and turn me into a stupid mango.

*****To be continued*****

A/N:

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