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DIANA'S POV

"Oh, let me see how far that self-control of yours can go in this house, hmm?" Franki naughtily grins up at me while biting on her lower lip and sweet Jesus, she looks fucking seductive right now.

"Stop challenging me, Boo. There are other things that I'm also capable of..." 

The thoughts of the naked her on my red bedsheets upstairs and me doing some...things on her had me smirking right now.

To my surprise, she reaches for my shirt and pulls me down with such surprising force, and for a second, I am now sitting on sideways, facing her.

She grabs me by the collar this time and pulls me closer until our faces are just an inch apart,

"That smirk of yours always makes me wet every time, do you know that? Hmm?"

Oh fuck, someone should stop me from ravaging those luscious lips right now...

"Franki, I'm—"

"And what makes you wet again, Franki?"

With both of us gasping in surprise, we jerk away from each other upon hearing Mommy's voice from behind us. 

How come I haven't felt her presence approaching? 

"I was saying that Diana's smi—" Franki attempts to explain in exact details but I immediately cut her off as apparently, she is about to lead us into trouble. This woman doesn't really know how to lie.

"Mommy! What are you doing here? You surprised us!" I exclaim with a hand on my chest. "Jusko!"

"What's so surprising with my presence? I was looking for both of you. You girls need to fill those flat stomachs again with some merienda (snack) that I prepared outside."

Franki gets up from the piano chair and faces my mom in an awkward, polite stance. "It's okay, Rowena—oop! Sorry." 

She flashes us a toothy grin while holding out a peace sign, then continues, "Scratch that. I meant...Tita Rowena. My tummy's still stuffed from all those food, especially with that crispy paa (feet). It was so yum!"

Mommy and I both turn to her in amusement.

"You meant crispy pata (deep-fried pig trotters), Franki?" I clarify while stifling a laugh. 

Mommy chuckles softly at first, and then it progresses into a laugh that can be comparable to a pregnant cow when Franki uttered the crispy pata word as "crispy pa-tuh" with pure confidence. 

"You're really cute, hija."

"Salamat...po, but I get that a lot po." Franki mutters with an innocent smile, which just intensified my mom's non-stop laughter.

"Mommy ano ba...OA ka na ha. (Stop it, Mommy. You're overreacting already.)" I playfully roll my eyes at her. 

"Diana is always like that—Killjoy," Mommy tells Franki while glaring at me.

Franki then pretends that she has understood the meaning of the insult by a forced giggle. People tend to find her cute and irresistible, especially whenever she opens her mouth, and I can't blame them because well...she's really cute as fuck. 

"So...what was it that is making you wet, Franki?" Mommy asks in a cracked voice as soon as she recovers from her laugh, and I start to panic again. 

Why is she so keen on it?! And why was she eavesdropping on us?

"You probably just misheard it, Mommy. She meant that water makes her wet,"

Nice one, Dee! You deserve a medal on that explanation!

Franki starts talking again and I try to warn her through my eyes to leave this to me, but she seems unstoppable right now. 

I hold my breath from this thrilling moment. I don't trust the words that are about to come out of her mouth.

"W-water from the rain, Tita Rowena. Diana was talking about one of her favorite childhood memories—bathing in the rain, but it actually makes me wet... and soaked all over..." She gives me a flirty eye contact as she utters those particular words out in her heavy accent. 

I just want to act like a dog and play dead right now. Franki's literally scaring me with the way she prattles.

My little fighter even adds, "...and I'm not comfortable about it. About the water. From the rain."

Oh my God, we're both hopeless cases. I tap my head in vexation and turn to my mom to see her reaction. Miraculously, she seemed to be swayed by her explanation. 

"Oh, you should try it one time! David and Diana usually prance around under the rain like rabid dogs,"

"Rabid dogs?! Grabe ka naman, Mommy. (What a way to describe your children, Mommy.)"

"My imagination is pretty clear on that!" Franki is giggling right now as she initiates a high-five with Mommy. 

So... they're like best of friends now?

Seeing Mommy getting along with her well has extended my lips into a delighted smile. How I wish everything would be the same when she learns that this Kiwi girl is actually with the wrong sibling...

"Mommy, you go ahead for the merienda. I'm just gonna show Franki something outside," I put an emphasis on the words "go ahead" to shoo her away, as she's disturbing my moment with my girl.

"Okay but, I'll be waiting for the both of you." She sternly says while pointing her index and middle fingers on her eyes and on us.  

"Okay...po." Franki adorably responds. 

"God, that was close!" I massage my temples in relief as soon as my mom left the room. 

"It was fun!" Franki comments while nibbling on the nail of her index finger.

"Come on, I'll show you my favorite spot outside." I grab her arm and start pulling her outside. 

"Wait, you haven't shown me your bedroom yet," There's excitement sparkling in her eyes.

"Relax. I'll be showing you every corner of it tonight..." I look back at her to throw her a wink.

"Ooh! I'm excited!"

"Lower your voice, Love. We have to be discreet, remember?" I cautiously warn her as we head to the little garden at the side of our house where Sky and I talked earlier. 

"Oh my gosh, a swing!" 

A soft chuckle comes out of me as I watch her skip her way to the single swing like a little girl who's finally out of the house from being grounded for a week. She sits on the swing, facing the view of the green fields over our lowly-built gates with the beautiful sun setting at the horizon.

Standing behind her, I hold onto the chains on her either side and lean over to rest my chin on the top of her head.

Sunsets are my favorite, and watching it with the love of my life is pure bliss.

"I like the view..." I mumble while my eyes are fixed on the horizon. The orange-gold rays spread into the sky and blend into red, purple, and crimson hues. It's like I'm staring at a beautiful painting—a painting of endless hope...and unconditional love.

Franki looks up at me and asks with a suppressed smile, "You do?"

It then dawns on me that she is trying to imitate Rose from that reality TV show which is now a popular meme in social media.

"You're my best view..." I say in my deep, male voice, acting like Big Ed while I lovingly gaze down at her.

"Ngee..."

I burst out into laughter when she finally said Rose's iconic expression. I don't know why but it's funny how she pronounced that Filipino expression.

It's just amazing how we clicked despite our contrasting personalities. 

I shift my hands over hers from the chains and bend my head to look down at her. My heartbeat stops for a second the moment she looks up and her honey-colored eyes meet mine. They're so beautiful, so expressive...I can see endless spirals of light-brown and millions of hues in its center, and the way they play with the rays of the setting sun is teasing my soul. 

The thought of the orange sky capturing this little moment of ours feel so magical. I wish that there's no end to this.

Can I be any more in love with this woman?

I made a mistake of dropping my eyes from hers to her luscious lips. And now I want to kiss her.

Bahala na...

Without an ounce of worry that someone might see us, I close my eyes and lean down to kiss her. My heart is set ablaze the moment our lips meet again.

I can feel her smile against my lips as we engage into a warm, gentle kiss. With the warmth of the sun in our faces, I wish for endless moments like this...

But the world is cruel and all we can do right now is to love each other in secret.

"I am so in love with you, Franki," I whisper at her as soon as our lips parted from each other.

"And so do I..." she says, eyes glistening with sincerity. 

I straighten up and continue pushing her swing. 

"New Year's fast approaching. I bet the fireworks would look amazing from here," she says after a few moments of silence. 

"It is, and I'm looking forward to watching it with you."

"My mum was my New Year's kiss last year so..." She gives me a sideways glance as she teasingly smiles. I'm now excited at the thought of kissing her under the fireworks.

We continue to enjoy each other's presence in silence until an important thought comes to my mind.

"Love?" 

"Hmm?"

"What's your plan?" 

"About?"

"Will you go back to Australia soon?"

There's a deafening pause before she answers me,

"I don't know...I really don't know, Boo."

"Won't you stay here with me?" My voice might be calm but there's desperation in my heart.

"Of course I want to but..." she signs as she bows her head down.

But what?

"Tell me. I want you to tell me everything that's going on your head." I calmly plead. I want to talk about this right now. We don't have all the time here as everyone's eyes will be on us so I have to take this opportunity now. 

"You know that it's my dream to travel the world, right? I want to discover new places, visit all the countries and enjoy every beach in the world. My friends and family used to call me a wandering stunner because I have been to a lot of countries at such a young age." she pauses as a fairway look enters her eyes. She then closes her eyes, and everything seems to be in slow motion the moment she opens it again with a gloomy emotion glinting through them.

"I just can't stay in one place, my love."

Ouch...

A wavering feeling of an incoming doom fills my chest upon hearing what she said.

She's a wanderer, an extrovert, while I'm the opposite. I'm quite the introvert person myself. I just want to stay at home and sleep on my bed or do my make-up. Listen to music or watch sunsets and the moon from my balcony while I sip on my Juul. During my energetic days—party on weekends with my friends—I mean, with Franki, and drink milk tea with my cousins and friends in the nearest cafe whenever I'm here in Cabanatuan.

To be honest, I really don't want to be an actress or a model or a beauty queen of some sort but my mom has been exposing me to these kinds of the environment since David and I were babies and I was trained to be one so I'm kinda used to it now. 

Franki's revelation made me sad. I don't want to talk about this anymore. I don't want to think of the possibility that she'll just leave me for that dream. Call me selfish but I just want her to stay with me here in the Philippines and be with me all the time.

She is about to say something more but I cut her off by stopping the swing in an instant and changing the topic. 

"Wanna tour around the town with me tomorrow, my wandering stunner? I can borrow Niko's scooter."

Her face lights up again, "Oh my God, are you serious?" 

"Yes."

She squeals. "Please, Diana. I miss riding a motorcycle with you!"

Memories of that rainy night and the unforgettable events that transpired in that motel flood my mind, and based on the sparkle in her eyes right now, she might be thinking the same.

"I just hope my brother won't get in the way like he always does." I roll my eyes at the thought.

"We can only hope, Boo."

****

Franki and I later join the girls for the merienda in the balcony of Mommy's room while the guys are left drinking in the cottage outside. Thank God Tita Kelly got busy in their house. I'm worried that she might open up a topic about homosexuality and Franki would slip or something. 

She has been extra busy for the past hour. My cousins are asking her endless questions while Baby Chon can't get enough of her. He has been bouncing on her lap the whole time, hugging her and pinching her cheeks when it should be the other way around. Mommy and I can't help but be amused at the sight.

Evening rolls around so fast and it's dinner time. Franki and I are back on our show—pretend that we're not madly in love with each other so she can continue with her publicity stunt to my family. 

"Open your mouth, Baby. Say ahhh—" she holds a spoon full of food next to my brother's mouth. 

I'm literally sitting across David and I can't stand seeing that smug look in his face.

Feel na feel ng gago. (The asshole's really feeling it.)

Franki has been extra sweet to him tonight and the bastard is visibly enjoying it.

"Do you want me to spoonfeed you too, Dee?" Sky again imposes his existence beside me with his annoying smile. 

"Don't start with me, Sky."

Arvie and Denise giggles at Sky's embarrassment. 

"Diana, don't be too harsh on Sky. He's just being a gentleman." Mommy comments with a glare.

"Thanks, Tita." Sky sweetly says in his hyper voice that always irritates me. 

"Sky knows that I'm joking, Mommy. Chill." I force a smile on my lips before stuffing a spoon full of macaroni salad in my mouth.

Franki is currently giggling to whatever David is showing on his phone. He then holds it out in front of him as both of them do wacky faces for a selfie.

Seriously? Right in front of my fucking salad?

I know that we have planned about this so she can get away from him tonight but the sight is such an eye-sore and I don't think I'll get used to this. What makes it worse is that everyone is teasing them, urging them to be sweeter. Arvie and Denise are even taking pictures of them and I can't help but roll my eyes inwardly behind my fake smile.

I don't think I can afford to be apart from her at this point. I can bear all the pain about her relationship with David and all our little stunts, but I want to see her every day, be with her, hold her in my arms, kiss her, love her...

But I guess that I need to have more patience...and trust in this relationship.

****

The night finally ends and everyone's getting ready for bed. Mommy is showing Sky one of the guest rooms where he will be staying this weekend while I just finished washing the dishes.

"Come on, Baby. Let's go to my room." 

I heard David's voice while heading to the living room where he and Franki are getting cozy right now. 

"Can I sleep with Diana instead?" Franki boldly asks to my surprise. 

"Why?" 

"We're planning to do some online shopping tonight," she glances at me upon seeing me joining them. "Right, Dee?"

"My gosh, can't you girls do that tomorrow?" David blurts out.

"Our favorite online shop has a sale tonight. We couldn't miss that!" 

I want to give Franki a round of applause for her white lie. It was believable. 

"Let your sister enjoy her newfound friend and future sister-in-law, Davey. Isa ka pang killjoy eh. (You're another killjoy.)" My mom casually reproaches him as she descends from the stairs.

"Yes, Kuya Dave! Ate Franki and Ate Diana like this!" Baby Chon garbles in his cute voice while bumping his index fingers together, indicating that Franki and I are very, very close...

Delikado 'tong batang 'to. (This kid is dangerous.) 

Somehow, it made me blush.

"Whatever," David shrugs his shoulder and gets off the couch in defeat. 

Whatever to you too, Bro!

Franki and I then exchange excited glances, both repressing the impulse to grin in victory.

Everything inside of me then starts to tremble in the anticipation of what I am about to do to her tonight...in my red sheets. 

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

A/N:

Thanks for reading! 

To all the chanaccs and Frankiana fans out there, advance HAPPY 1ST ANNIVERSARY!😍🥳🎉
 It has been a year since this fandom started on Twitter and it was definitelt a roller coaster ride! I hope you'll be active tomorrow on Twitter for the celebration. 😍🙏

 Thanks for the patience and neverending support! Love you guys! 

Vomments ( Votes + Comments ) are much appreciated! ♥️