"May itatagal ka pa ba?" Uno asked Dos in an irritated tone while knocking at her bedroom door.

He was all fixed to go to the mall for their planned shopping, whereas, Dos was taking her time inside her room. It has been an hour, yet she still hasn't ramped out.

"Didn't you tell me to take my time?" Dos replied in a matter-of-factly, which lent Uno an urge to arch his brow.

"I did. But you've been dolling up for ages. Sa mall lang ang punta natin, hindi sa sagala."

"Of course I know that! I just want to make sure I'd look fab. Today would be the first time that Filipino people would see my beauty. I don't want to lame down their first impression on me."

"Goodness gracious!"

"You mad?! Are you yelling at me?! You're cursing now?!"

"Just...just do your thing, okay? I'll just wait for you out here." He expelled a heavy breath.

He decided to wait and sit.

No matter how angry he was, for he hates waiting, he couldn't seem to get mad at the woman for some unknown reason. He didn't also know why women, like her mother, take so much of their time to doll up when he and his father were good with a plain shirt, shorts, and sandals or slippers.

Will she come out of her room looking like Gal Gadot after times of rituals? he thought to himself, dragging the name of his forever and the only woman crush to his insanity. But on second thought, she levels with Gal Gadot's beaut--eewness! Hell no! He went to the kitchen area to grab a soda, thinking he was insane for having such thoughts about her.

"Can I have one, too?" There came the woman he'd been waiting for days if he was to base his time on a dog's clock.

"Finally." Uno rolled his eyes at her. He was about to say something more when he saw what she was wearing and how she looked like wearing it.

She was sporting a powder blue above the knee and spaghetti-strapped dress. On her right shoulder was a grey sling bag. Covering her soles were thin-strapped grey sandals. Her icy blonde hair was free-flowing on her back and shoulders. She wore no cosmetics, but she seemed to be with her glowing pinkish skin.

"What the heck!" Uno yelped, slapping Dos' hand that wiped his mouth with a tissue. "What are you doing?!"

Why would Dos do that to him? Did his lips have a stain of the soda he drank?

"You're drooling over me...boy..." Dos gigglingly whispered against his lips.

"Why would I? Are you nuts or somethin'? You're not even a brawny and brainy man for me to drool over--" He stopped upon saying what he wasn't supposed to say.

Fuck! What did I...? Sheez!

Dos' ear-aching laugh echoed.

"Oh boy...A boy who wants a boy and not a girl," she said in a singsong tone, swaying her body along with her song's rhythm.

Uno quickly averted his gaze. He pushed her away from him as he stepped away from her. "Le-let's go," he demanded.

She laughed again. "Coming....boy....."

After a few, they reached SM Aura. It was the most accessible mall within the vicinity of Uno's unit aside from Market Market, so he didn't think twice about not choosing it as a place for them to have their grocery.

"Where are you heading?" he asked her when he saw her walking away from him.

"I like that top there at Bershka." She pointed a forefinger at the pastel green sweatshirt. Then she took another step away from Uno but was held by him on the arm. "What again?"

"Aren't we here for grocery and school supplies shopping?" he asked. She nodded. "So why are you going to Bershka?"

She smiled sheepishly. Uno disappointedly shook his head as he dragged her to the escalator going to the supermarket.

He couldn't help to look at her with annoyance. Of all people, he hates the childish ones. The spend-there-spend-here type of person, and one who acts close to him when they aren't. Like her.

"What?!" Uno asked when Dos nudged him on the arm; a tinge of irritation could be sensed through his high-pitched voice and knitted brows.

Dos open-palmed and stretched her hand towards him. "Pipirma o hindi?" she asked, looking at the opposite side of the escalator.

At first, Uno didn't understand. Not until he traced where Dos' eyes were looking at. She was looking at a tall, tan, lean man who just rode the escalator going down. His hair was in a brush-up style, he got a silver piercing on the left ear, and his face was clean-shaven.

The man was beautiful. Too beautiful, Uno unknowingly signed on Dos' palm while still pinning his eyes at the man who suddenly smiled but not at him, instead at Dos, who was returning the favor.

Bruhang 'to!

That was a double whammy situation for Uno. First, he was with her, and he wasn't taking her existence as any form of grace. Second, the man didn't smile at him. A double whammy situation worth to skyrocket an annoyance in him.

"Ouch naman!" Dos yelped, tripping on the steps of the escalator. "Why are you dragging me?! We're not in a hurry, are we?! Let go of me!"

"Kasi ang bagal mo!" He continued dragging her, not minding the heavy stares of people around. Until they reached the supermarket, he let go of her arm.

"What the hell is your problem?!" Her face was frowning, lips pursing, and her left hand caressing her right arm tinted with red marks Uno's fingers left on it.

Ikaw! Your goddess-looking face! That man would have smiled at me had you not been there!

"I hate slowpokes," he muttered plainly and calmly as if he wasn't lying. "Let's go."

He heaved a long exasperated breath when Dos didn't bother to reply. She instead opted just to roll her eyes and went to the pushcarts to take one.

"Let's go na," she said, darting Uno an icy stare. "Let's go look for some random handsome man who'd prefer smiling at you than me, so you wouldn't have to drag me out of his sight just 'cause I'm more attractive, more beautiful than you." With that, she left with her head raised with finesse.

Uno was left dazed and alarmed because he sensed the gay in him showing bit by bit at Dos. That couldn't be. His gay circle's enlarging. What was supposed to be just between him, his family, and his closest friends now includes Dos.

It couldn't include Dos. Who is she in his life anyway? Nothing. No one. Just a mere girl. A mere stranger. A human who might drag his gayness on the mud of both humiliation and another cycle of self-acceptance which he struggled for years before he became as confident as he is now. He couldn't go back. He wouldn't.

"Ano? Will you stay standing there? Men won't go looking for you. You, go looking for them. Hindi ka babae." There came what he hates the most, a homophobic remark.

"And so? Did I tell you I wanted men to look for me?"

"Duh! You're a skirt. So obviously, yes, you wanted men to look for you."

"And I want you to shut up and listen to every single word I'd say," he hissed. Dos stumbled on her bearing with Uno's unannounced display of attitude. "Doesn't mean I'm a homophile; I'd go round any place to prey for a man. Desperate for men, that's probably how most of the people like you see us. But I tell you, we aren't. Rather, we're hoping for someone--be it a man, a woman, a gay, a lesbian, a transexual, or a bisexual--to pick flowers on the floors like us, in this freaking world where no one ever dared to."