ANDERDAL Manor smells like Pam and Marge's famous gingerbread cookies.

"Bakit nawawala na kamay nito?" tanong ni Ate Kaf, frowning, looking between hers and Lovi's gingerbread men. "'Tsaka bakit deformed 'yong iba?"

"Ate, tinatawanan mo ba 'yong gingerbread man namin?"

"Tinatanong ko lang kung ano nangyari. Sensitive?"

Tita Pam leans over Lovi's shoulder and bites off the other arm.

"Ah!" sigaw ni Georgina, her face and hair marked with flour. "Tita—" She bends over and reads Tita Pam's name tag. "—Tita Cheerful Angel Ears! Wala na siyang kamay! Ano pong ginawa n'yo?! Noooooo!"

"Uy, masarap. Great job, girls," Tita Pam says in approval, her bright eyes shining. "Marge—ay, Happy Peppermint Toes, tikman mo 'to. Nakuha naman nina George—puta, nina Twinkle Sugar Socks 'yong lasa."

Lovi's mother comes closer to their station and bites off the leg. "Oo nga!"

"Gingeryan Reynolds, I will avenge you," George promises, dramatically sobbing and falling over the kitchen island.

"Georgina, come here, please," utos na mahinhin ni Kuya Aze. from the other end of the station, may hawak na twalya.

Itong kitchen na 'to. Oo, nandito silang lahat. The very place where she and Gabriel were standing last night, touching and kissing and tasting each other, where he kissed her like he's been starved of it, like he's imagined it for so long, like he needs her.

And she kissed him back just the same.

Inner Voice 1: Fuck, yes, yes, I did that, I kissed Gabriel Tanjangco to prove a point, but then he grabbed me and I lost, I knew I would lose, why did I do that?

Inner Voice 2: Kasi gusto mo siyang laplapin. Duh.

Inner Voice 1: Okay, um, let's not address that for now.

The kitchen is crowded and buzzing now, their families divided into teams to bake batches of gingerbread cookies for the city festival today (nasa schedule na gawa ni Holder), and Lovi can't look at Gabriel and has spoken a total of, hmm, zero words to him even when he cooked her a separate omelet without the mushrooms because he knows she doesn't eat those.

Kinuha lang ni Lovi saka siya tumakbo paalis.

She swears she heard him laugh under his breath.

Jett grabs Gingeryan Reynolds from his mother and eats him whole.

"Ah!!!" sigaw ulit ni Georgina, her face now free of flour and her braid smoothed down.

"Ma, tikman mo amin," sabi ng bunsong Tanjangco.

"Hindi siya si 'Ma,'" paalala ni Tito Rich.

Jett rolls his eyes. "Mama Cheerful Angel Ears," he corrects himself through gritted teeth.

Mikee snorts.

"Ingay naman ni Happy McMistletoe," komento ni Jett. "Huy, happy ka raw dapat."

"Manahimik ka nga, Precious Sparkle Pants." She makes a gagging sound.

"Everyone!" Holder shouts. "My fellow gingerbread people! We march to the festival in forty minutes, so go on decorating them!"

Ito talagang tatay ni Lovi, kung anu-anong pakulo ang iniisip. They're baking gingerbread cookies and because they're baking gingerbread cookies, kailangan may gingerbread name ang lahat! Kingina, may name tags pa ng Hello, my name is:!

May mas babaliw pa ba sa pamilya nila?

"One of us has fallen," sabi ni Georgina, sniffing, still mourning one of their gingerbread men. "Okay lang, nandito pa rin sina Cinnaman, Sir Edward Crumble Ginger Snap, Kris Kringle, Dough-bert Downey Jr., Bready Mercury, Gingison, at Morgan."

"Bakit Morgan lang?" Ate Kaf questions curiously.

"Wala lang, Morgan lang, naubusan ako ng braincells. Patikim nga ng inyo!"

Lovi leaves their station with their sheet pan to start with the decorations in the dining room, and a voice in her ear makes her jump.

"Bakit mukhang may pinagdadaanan 'to?" tanong ni Gabriel, pointing at Bready Mercury.

Lovi inhales, her senses immediately on overdrive just from the smallest hint of his cologne and the deep timbre of his morning voice.

If it was bad before, it's way, way worse now.

His hair is damp from his morning shower and the plain black shirt he's wearing has Lovi wanting to bunch that up in her fingers the way she did with his sweater last night (FUCK). Gabriel always looks handsome—he's not the type to turn heads when he walks in the room because of his looks, that's more Jett and Kuya Aze, but because of his confidence and charisma, he's the one who pulls you in.

But that's not how he pulled Lovi in. That's not how he got here with her. He worked for it and he earned it.

Constantly reminding herself of the fact does not make thing easier.

"Bready Mercury's going through a lot," depensa ni Lovi protectively, her first words to him today. She clears her throat and Gabriel smiles. "Bakit n'yo ba hinuhusgahan gingerbread children namin? 'Di naman 'ata masarap 'yong sa inyo..." Binasa ni Lovi 'yong name tag nito and can't help her laugh. "...Twinkle Expert Eggbeater. Wow."

Gabriel's smile stretches wider into a grin. "Fitting, right? Twinkling na, expert pa."

"Sa egg beating."

"Sa maraming bagay." He places one hand on the table beside her and leans into her, one hand reaching up to brush the flour away from her face with his thumb. Lovi's skin prickles and her breath catches. "Papapalit ko 'to to Expert Kisser."

"Baka Expert in Trembling Knees."

He laughs. Lovi's stomach drops. "Hello, Angelic Jingleheimer Smith...na hindi naman angelic kung humalik. Kaya nanginginig ang tuhod, e."

He's here, acting the same. Talking to her the same. Like everything's normal even though they just shared a life-changing kiss.

Lovi is glad, because when things get awkward, she tends to run. And she doesn't want to run from Gabriel, no matter how jittery her insides feel.

Their friendship is not something she wants to trade. She's lost enough friends who caught feelings along the way.

"You would know."

"I do know," Gabriel answers, still grinning. "Palaban. Pero nag-si-squirm sa French."

"'Wag na magsalita ang puro ungol sa bibig ko."

"Sabi ng puro kalmot sa leeg ko trying to get me closer."

"Best kiss of your life ba? 'Di ka maka-move on?"

"Yeah, it is," he answers quietly, staring at her. "And I won't. We won't. Lagi akong natatalo sa mga ganito natin, napapansin mo? Kasi Lov, ikaw, nonchalant? Ako, hindi. I'm very chalant, I will chalant the shit out of you. Lalo na pagkatapos ng kiss na 'yon. I'll tell you one taste isn't enough. I need more, I want to kiss you more, I want to kiss you endlessly, I want to kiss more than your lips, just your lips, wherever you would permit me to do so. Expressive ako. Honest. With you and only with you."

Lovi's lips part.

Oh.

Oh.

Gabriel places a finger under her chin and closes her mouth. "Sarado mo 'yan. Baka mahalikan ko na naman, nakakahiya sa pamilya natin 'tsaka 'di ka fan ng PDA. 30 - 40, Lov, keep up."

*

After the festival, next in the schedule is the scavenger hunt her dad organized in Anderdal Manor. The prize? Tito Rich's homemade eggnog.

Lovi loves his homemade eggnog.

Ate Kaf, her mom, and Tita Pam are shopping with Bailey, Gabriel and Kuya Aze are cleaning up their booth, Jett and Mikee are missing, probably holed up in their rooms, and Georgina is getting her 'beauty sleep' in preparation for her date later.

Kumbaga walang kalaban si Lovi.

"Bakit 'di ko na lang siya gawan ng eggnog niya?" tanong ni Tito Rich sa tatay ni Lovi, sprawled on the couch with a football game playing on the TV.

Sinamaan ito ng tingin ni Holder. "Hindi pwede. Kailangan niya mag-scavenger hunt kung gusto niya 'yong eggnog."

"Wala akong kalaban, Dad," depensa ni Lovi.

"Kasi palagi kang nananalo, Ate," sabi ni Jett, chips in his hand and plopping down on the couch next to his dad. "Sa 'yo na 'yan."

"Ugh, fine," Lovi says, sighing. "I need a distraction, anyway."

Sa mga sinabi ni Gabriel sa kanya kanina. His words have been replaying over and over again in her head like a broken fucking record.

His honesty about her should scare her, and it would if his words came from a man she doesn't know and wasn't insanely attracted to and compatible with, but this is Gabriel Tanjangco. He doesn't say things he doesn't mean—especially to Lovi.

There was that time he told her her smile is his favorite and even though she laughed in his face, he never took it back. Sometimes, she'll catch him zooming in on pictures of them together or his eyes will linger on her longer than a friend might stare and admire a friend. There was also that time she left a red lipstick mark on her coffee cup and Gabriel kept staring at it, was so incessantly bothered by it, that Lovi turned it around and snapped, "Pwede ka na ba mag-focus ngayon?" and he answered, "Nakaka-inggit kasi. Oo, pwede na." There was also that time he told her, "I trust you and your brilliant mind," when she was just an executive, and then during a meeting, he asked her, "Lov, what do you think? I'll go with whatever you decide," and he did. There was also that time when Tanjangco Group faced an internal security crisis three years ago, he went to Lovi and told her all his fears and doubts, because he had to look put together and composed in front of his family, employees, stakeholders, and the press, like he knew what he was doing.

"I don't know what I'm doing," he said in her neck.

"I'll help you," she said. "I'm here."

It was also to Lovi that Gabriel admitted a small part of himself wished he didn't have this much responsibility, wished he could've turned it down just like Kuya Azriel, but he didn't want to pressure Jett or pass this business empire onto his younger brother. Siya lang ang nakakaalam nito. Kay Lovi lang ito nagsabi.

So there's no doubt about the trust between them. As coworkers. As friends.

With Lovi, Gabriel never holds anything back. Which is why she knows he's telling her the truth.

This is what he's thinking. This is what he wants.

What he said earlier is what he wants.

"'Pag natapos mo, nandito lang ako, Lovi, nagluluto ng dinner," Kuya Patrick's voice says, winking and ruffling her hair, passing her to head to the kitchen. "Ako in-assign na taga-check ni Tito."

"Do you need help instead?" she asks, frowning, shaking out of her thoughts. Let's focus on the eggnog, please. "I mean, I'm not the best sous chef, but cooking for a lot of people is tedious."

"Tutulungan daw ako nina Aze and Tan pagkabalik nila, matatapos na sila do'n," sabi nito. "Don't worry and do your thing, I know how much you love Tito Rich's drink."

Dahil ayaw na niya mag-isip at maguluhan sa iniisip, Lovi reads her first clue.

Some clothes are dry, others are damper. But inside me, they're all dirty, because I am the __________.

Lumabas siya at pumunta sa hamper sa laundry room. Pagdating niya ro'n, she gets the next clue card under one of her mom's polo shirts.

When you hear a creak in my floorboards, you get so dramatic. Likely you hear a mouse, not a ghost, creeping here in the __________.

Exercise. Exercise ang ginagawa niya.

Sige. Para sa homemade eggnog ni Tito.

Lovi races up to the attic of the house and finds her next clue taped to the roof.

She does the same thing for the pantry, the dryer, her parents' suitcase, the shower, the driveway, and the mini library where she finds Mikee asleep on one of the chaise lounges with an open book on her face. Her last clue:

All the clues have been found, the speed of the hunt was shocking. However, there is one last surprise, hanging on the wall in your __________.

Tangina, pagod na siya. She really just wants her drink, kaya 'di niya napigilan ang inis niya when she sees in her stocking:

Bring the game master something you might eat at Christmas dinner, and get your homemade eggnog as the winner!

"Hoy, Jett," sabi ng boses ni Gabriel pagkapasok nila ni Kuya Aze, shrugging off their coats. Tulog ang tatay nila at ang tatay ni Lovi sa sofa, magkayakap pa. "Bastos ka talagang bata ka, ni hindi ka man lang tumulong sa mga kuya mo. Kumain ng cookies tapos nawala, punyetang 'to."

"Help us in the kitchen, Jett," utos na kalmado ni Kuya Aze habang nagtatanggal ng sapatos.

"Ayoko," he groans.

"'Di kita pakakakainin, magsama kayo ng mga pusa sa labas!" banta ni Gabriel. "Tumayo ka diyan, magluluto tayo!"

"Ito na, ito na. Bossy n'yo."

"Bossy talaga kami, kuya mo kami." His eyes meet Lovi's from across the room and he raises an eyebrow. "Ano ginagawa mo diyan?"

At the sight of him in a thick black hoodie and a cap slung backwards on his head, Lovi's heart quickens.

OA na 'to, bwisit.

"Tapos ka na?" Kuya Patrick asks Lovi from the kitchen.

"Tapos saan?" tanong ni Gabriel, still staring at her.

She's irritated and hungry and she's thinking about nonsensical things because of this asshole and she's going through a lot.

Keep up pala, ah.

Stomping up to him, she pulls Gabriel by the sleeve of his hoodie, him making a sound of surprise when she just grabs and drags him with her to the kitchen.

"Not that I'm not enjoying this, pero, Lov, ano ginagawa—"

Binigay ni Lovi kay Kuya Patrick 'yong papel na nasa kamay niya and shoves Gabriel to him. "May I please have my eggnog now?"

Kuya Patrick blinks at her. Then he laughs. Out loud.

His laugh echoes across Anderdal Manor.

Gabriel's eyes are still on hers, curious.

She slaps the paper on his chest and tiptoes to whisper in his ear, "Deuce."