"Nikolai, wake up!" Uno heard someone yelling at him while pulling his feet.

He groggily pulled himself to sit while rubbing his eyes to see who had the pluck to wake him up. He laid his eyes on his scowling best friend. "What the fuck, Melchizedek? You do know how much I hate it when someone wakes me up, don't you?"

Yari rolled his eyes skyward. "And you know how much I hate it when someone sleeps on my couch! That's a seat, not a bed!" he hissed, kicking Uno's knee. "And you know I also hate hearing non-stop loud rings coming from one's phone! Kanina pa nagri-ring 'yang phone mo! Tinatawagan ka yata ng binahay mo! Try mong sagutin 'di ba?! Imbyerns!"

He hurriedly searched for his phone under the throw pillows.

His eyes grew wide open upon seeing twenty-six missed calls from Dos. "Twenty-six missed calls all from her?! Just what the fuck!" he lamented after carelessly ditching his phone back on the couch.

"Jowa lang ang peg?" Yari laughingly said, making Uno pull a worse wry on his face. "Rise and shine, bakla. Let's have breakfast before you head off. May work din ako, I can't be late."

"Can I just stay here-"

"And then what? Forever mong iiwasan 'yong bata? Wiz! Bumangon ka r'yan, mag-almusal tayo, tapos umuwi ka at mag-usap kayong dalawa."

"But-"

"Shutanginamez, Nikolai! Kahapon ka pa!" His best friend sounded losing his patience.

Uno had been nagging Yari over what to do and what to tell Dos once he comes back home to his pad, but he took none of his suggestions into account.

"The feeling isn't mutual, for pete's sake! How would I like a woman if I'd been into men since preschool? You know that!" Uno frustratingly threw a defensive response over his best friend's quip. "You saw how I nearly die shuddering over that Salazar guy when he chose to occupy the seat beside me for the whole second grading!"

Yari laughed, more to poke fury on Uno than to laugh over the old dated story of his first romantic moment. "Being into men since preschool doesn't make your sexual preference invariable. Love has its way of reversing that. I know a lot of gays like us who ended up fancying women. Besides, that Salazar guy sat beside you because it was the only available seat. Chose ka r'yan, feelingera ka."

"Still, the feeling isn't mutual!"

"'Di mo sure."

"I'm sure of it! I simply don't know how to face her since we're living under one roof. I don't want to put a barrier between us either. More so, I don't want to keep her hopes high with the possibility of having us. Do you get me?"

"Frankly, no."

"Melchi-"

"But if you'd go home, and tell straight to her face that you don't like her, then I might change my mind."

"Hindi ko nga alam ang gagawin! My ghad!"

"If I'd suggest, will you-"

"Fire away!"

"Call her back, tell her you need to talk when you get home."

"Pass."

"Go home, ignore her, and make her realize on her own that the feeling isn't mutual."

"Pass."

"Go home, tell her you'd talk to her when you made up your mind."

"Pass."

"Find a condo unit with sound security for her."

"Pass."

"Then just let it be!"

"I'll leave her hanging-"

"Eh ano pa ba'ng gusto mo?! Anak ka rin ni Lord, I'm sure may utak ka rin para mag-isip! Shuta, ano?! Ako lahat?! Eh 'di sana ako na lang nagbahay ro'n sa bata para tapos 'tong usapan natin!"

"I don't know, okay?!"

"Therefore, you're also into her! Because if you're not, you wouldn't be here getting wasted, nagging me with what to do and what to tell her, turning down all my suggestions in a beat, and not knowing what to do because you're denying your feelings for that kid with you being a gay and her being a woman as your excuse! You hate homophobic people, yet there you are, being an inch alike with them for acting like a heterophobic gay! Quit that!"

"Ano?! Tutulala na lang tayo?" Yari broke Uno's sudden hark back on their talk over bottles of beer yesterday. "'Pag ako nainis, ako makikipagusap d'yan sa batang 'yan! Sasabihin ko in denial pa siya, beh, wiz niya pa lang ma-take na betchi ka rin niya."

"No! You wouldn't do that!" Uno yelled, alarmed and frantic.

"Try me!" his best friend yelled back, annoyed. "Magbibilang ako hanggang sampu-"

"I'm leaving!" He cut him off, hurriedly took his scattered pair of shoes from the floor, and fled from Yari's unit in fear.

Uno ended up standing in front of his pad's door in a cold sweat, torn between creaking it open or not. But then, the door opened even without him tilting the knob.

"You're home," Dos said with a sweet smile pasted on her face, her right hand holding the doorknob. "Have you eaten?"

She was wearing an oversized shirt, and her hair was in a messy bun. Obviously, she hasn't freshened up. But to hell with the goddess of beauty, Uno suddenly swallowed a lump on his throat as he lingered his gaze on her being.

"I...I...did....Yes...I did," he replied.

Yet the loud churn coming from his stomach falsified his words, making Dos chuckle.

"I don't think so." She opened the door wider for him to step in and beckoned at him as she took the path going to the kitchen.

"You ordered?" Uno asked when he saw several boxes of McDo meals on the table.

"If it isn't obvious." She chuckled, taking a seat on one of the chairs. "Have a seat. I'm starving na, eh. It's just that I waited for you so that I wouldn't be eating alone."

"I'll just brush my teeth. Failed to do it at my best friend's pad since I was in a hurry to come home."

Without waiting for her response, he trotted off to the restroom to freshen up quickly and returned to the dining area.

The way Dos looked at him made his pulse race and his cheeks burn. "W-what are y-you l-looking at?"

"I just want to know your say about me liking you," she said as if what she asked wasn't meant to be delivered with holdback. "I knew my unsought confession kind of caught you off guard. That was why I didn't bother you for half the day when I confessed and for a whole day yesterday. I thought maybe you needed some time and thought just now that maybe you already had enough time to discern over what you're going to tell me. May I hear it now then?"

He tightened his grip on the plastic utensils he regretted using right there and then. I should have used the stainless ones, he thought, inwardly screaming for a sturdier something to hold on to as he felt them breaking into two on his palms.

"I....I....-"

"No explanations needed, Uno. Just a plain yes if the feeling is mutual or a resounding no if the feeling isn't mutual will be just fine," she cut his words short. "I told you, didn't I? I'm up for a positive or an unwelcoming response. Tick which is which among the two."

Even over the loud pounding of Uno's chest, his shaky intake of breath didn't fail to cast out the stillness that had fallen between them.

"That was one hell of a deep breath," Dos noticed.

Uno opted to shut his eyes with might as he readied himself to speak. "No. I don't. I won't. I'm so sorry."

And no, after saying that, he didn't feel the relieving feeling of getting away from a thorn on the throat as one eats a bony fish.

He didn't feel his pulse beat evenly.

Didn't stop himself from taking in and out sharp breaths.

Didn't want to open up his eyes and see how Dos reacted.

Didn't want to hear anything from her, but he did. Loud and clear he did.

And it pained him.

"Oh, okay," she said, her voice calm and resolute. "That's perfectly fine. I've heard worse—no apologies should surface on this one. I prefer letting bygones be bygones. So, as friends, we shall be pretty Uno."