Epilogue - Part 2

"Congratulations," Mom said rather proudly.

Vito snorted. I looked at him and frowned. "What?" I asked.

He shrugged. "Nothing. Tita was just so proud—we all are," he said in that patronizing tone that I was all too familiar with. I just flipped him off and he laughed before he said goodbye because he'd be joining his family for what I'd bet was an awkward family dinner.

My family and I went to a restaurant to celebrate my graduation. I knew my mom was so proud because for the first time in my educational career, she didn't have to donate a building to get me a diploma. I seriously think it was because I actually enjoyed what I was studying. You couldn't expect me to excel in class when all they asked me to do was to find the value of fucking x and to discuss the histories of countries I really didn't care about.

"So..." I said as I was cutting my steak. "Do I start from the bottom or what?"

Mom creased her forehead. "What?"

"The business," I said. "Do I start working from the bottom? Or do I already get a seat on the table?" I asked.

I mean... there's no use in fighting this. This was my destiny. And it's not like I had other plans, anyway. I just really wanted a comfortable life and I already had it.

"You wanna work?" Mom asked.

I laughed. "Yes. I don't plan on being a bum my entire life."

She nodded. "When?"

"As soon as possible, I guess?"

"And you don't have any plans with your friends?"

"What plans?"

Mom shrugged. "I don't know... when I graduated, I traveled around the world for a while," she said and then reached for Dad's hand and held it. "Met your dad," she continued. "Brought him home with me," she said as she stared lovingly at my father who obviously was forcing a smile on his face. I just smiled, too, as I reached for a glass of wine and downed it in one gulp.

"When you start working, there's practically no rest, Nikolai," Mom said.

"So... are you saying you don't want me working?"

"What? No, of course not. I just want you to enjoy your life because once you start working for the company, there's no turning back."

I laughed. "You make it sound like working is some kind of prison," I said and then Dad choked on his drink. Mom quickly grabbed a tissue napkin and handed it to him.

I stared at them.

Well... as much as I didn't approve of my Dad's philandering ways, my Mom's really in love with him, so who was I to get in their way?

* * *

"What's your plan?" I asked Vito.

"Plan?"

"Now. Post-graduation plans," I said.

We were in the country club playing golf. Sancho's in Isabela trying to milk a cow or whatever. It's actually been quite lonely because Vito here got himself a girlfriend, who I was quite certain was a devil in disguise.

"I have no idea," he said as we were walking across the golf course.

"Family business?"

"Not if I have a choice."

"That bad, huh?"

"You have no idea," he replied.

"So, what? Politics?"

"What? No."

"Then why are you dating that devil?"

"She has a name."

"I refuse to remember."

He rolled his eyes. "What about you? What are your plans?"

I shrugged as I tried to hit the ball as hard as I could. "No fucking idea," I said. "Tried to tell my mom that I was ready to join the business, but she told me to travel. Weird, huh?"

"Travel?"

"Yes. Remember I told you that after graduation before, she backpacked through Northern America?"

"You wanna backpack?" he asked like I just told him I wanted to swim across the Ganges river with an open wound.

"No, not really," I replied because I knew that there's no way I could convince Vito to come join me in the dark side if it includes us traveling the world in our backpacks. "I've read about this Semester At Sea," I said before I continued to explain to him what that was.

* * *

I was convinced that the devil broke up with Vito one more time because he just called me one night, told me to pack my stuff because we're going to kidnap Sancho from their hacienda.

"You're single again?" I asked as I hopped in his car, but I was ignored. I guessed he was pissed yet again. I really didn't understand the charm of Trini. I mean, I understood at first... kinda. He said the sex was mind-blowing, but I told him it was because she was insane. But my good friend here didn't listen, and now, he's deep in her hooks and claws.

We road tripped to Isabela. We arrived at 4 in the morning, but the guards already knew us so we were let in.

"What... the fuck?" Sancho asked as we hovered at him while he was sleeping.

"Let's go," Vito said.

"What?" he asked, still confused because it was 4 in the morning.

"Let's go," Vito repeated, pulling the sheet away from his body and my eyes widened when I realized Sancho was sleeping naked. I looked away even though I already saw his dick before.

Sancho sat on his bed. "Bakit kayo nandito?" he asked, still visibly confused... and I thought he thought he was dreaming.

"Pack your bags. And your passport," Vito said.

Sancho blinked. "Again... what?"

But Vito was persistent that he was the one who grabbed Sancho's things. We finished packing at around 5 in the morning. We passed by Rome who looked like she was preparing to jog.

"Where are you three stooges going?" she asked.

"Vacation."

"Where?"

Sancho looked at Vito for confirmation, but he got none. He looked at his sister and said, "I'm gonna email you."

"Bye," I said, winking at Rome before we headed out.

We went back to Vito's car and headed to the airport.

* * *

We first flew to Japan and then started the semester there. We traveled around Asia and then to South Africa, and then to Brazil, back to Morroco, headed to Spain, and then ended the semester at Germany. It was actually quite enjoyable. We made lots of friends and experienced lots of things.

If I thought Sancho was famous back in the Philippines, he's a lot more famous abroad. That asshole.

"I'll sleep at the penthouse," Sancho stated.

"Sure, whatever," I said because I was honestly too tired to even argue with him. We just arrived back at the Philippines and as much as I enjoyed the past 6 months traveling, I was also tired from all the traveling. I was already looking forward to sleeping in my own bed and just bumming at the country-club.

We proceeded to the hotel. Sancho and Vito were too tired that they left me when we saw my Dad.

"You're back," he said.

I nodded. "I was about to call Mom."

"You're staying here?"

I slowly nodded. "Uh... yes? Is someone staying at the penthouse?" I asked because as far as I was concerned, that's mine. That's my bachelor pad although I really didn't bring anyone there with me except for my friends.

"No," he quickly replied. "You better call your mom to inform her."

I nodded. "Of course," I said before I told him that I really needed to go up and get some sleep.

"Great," I said when I saw Vito sleeping across my bed and Sancho who was already sound asleep on the couch. What the fuck? Was I supposed to sleep in the fucking tub?

I got up to Vito and kicked him out of my bed.

* * *

"Aren't you going home?" I asked Sancho because it's been a few weeks and he's still in Manila. "No offense... just seriously curious."

"Soon," he replied.

"Why?" I asked because he's always excited to go home to bond with the cows.

"My loving sister didn't tell my mom about our trip, so she assumed that I either got kidnapped or left home. Rome also bribed the guard not to tell mom that it's you two who kidnapped me. It's a whole story."

Our lips parted. "What the hell? And you didn't tell us?!"

He shrugged. "Will ruin the vacation."

Vito and I were speechless.

Sometimes... he's so unpredictable.

"But she knows you weren't kidnapped, right?"

"Yes."

That was all I got.

God, he's so bland.

The next few days were still spent in either the country club or clubs. Vito was still adamant on not working for his father and I was just waiting for further instructions from my mom. Sancho still didn't want to come home, so I proposed that instead, we just build a bar since we practically live there nowadays.

In the middle of one of the meetings, I took a break and saw Yago's story on Instagram. It had the caption 'She's not my girlfriend.'

"Look at this idiot," I said as I happened to come across Yago's story on Instagram. There's a girl who was quietly eating while Yago's phone was pointed at her. It took a few seconds before she realized that she was being filmed.

'Ano na naman 'yan?' she asked.

'IG,' Yago replied.

'Kaya tayo nachichismis!' she said as she tried to grab Yago's phone.

I heard him laughing before he flipped the camera and said, 'She's not my girlfriend. Still very single,' before quickly ending the story.

"Yeah, I know. I think her name's Rory," Vito replied.

"You know her?" I asked because I really didn't watch Yago's stories, anymore. I mean, we're friends and all, but I just... feel a little big hurt that he's not contacted me since he returned. The immature part in me wanted to just ignore him although the mature part of me knew that he's free to do as he pleased.

He shrugged. "Saw her a couple of times in Yago's account."

"Girlfriend?" I asked, curious, because the last time I talked to Yago, being committed made him want to run the opposite direction. He even told me that it would probably take a gun against his temple before he'd ask someone to be his girlfriend because as far as he was concerned, that's as good as being married in his book.

"Heading that way," Sancho replied. I thought he was asleep because there was a book covering his face as he stayed on the lounger.

"Nah... Can't be," I said.

"Can be," Vito replied. "She's like always in his account. Can't be a coincidence."

I mean... yeah. Yago almost never posts. Like sporadically only. Once a year? But from the way Vito describes it, it seemed like he's always posting stuff about this Rory.

Now, I was curious!

I went to Yago's profile and began scrolling. "There's no picture of Rory."

"Because he doesn't really post–only in stories," Vito said.

"I can't see those stories anymore!"

"Stop obsessing," Sancho said.

"I'm not."

"Just answer your online quiz," he said as I frowned because I told him I didn't know what I wanted to do next. Our businesses were doing well and with the investments, we really didn't have to do much. We just graduated from college and we already finished out Semester At Sea. I was lost for what I'd do next that's why Sancho sent me a couple of links that I needed to answer so that I could find out what's the right direction for me. Mom's still not giving me the heads up with the business, so there's that.

"You leaving?" I asked as Vito stood up.

"Trini," he simply said as he left.

Tsk. What a bummer.

The next days were us finalizing the details. We're about to invest in 3 businesses and that meant investing serious money.

"So... are we doing this?" I asked Vito and Sancho.

"Sure, what the hell," Vito replied before we signed the contract with the contractor for our new business.

The contractor we got was very efficient that we finished ahead of schedule. Sancho, being very popular, managed to invite some famous people online. The club was doing really well that we opened another that was more... chill. I didn't know if it was signs of aging, but I really didn't appreciate the noise as much as I did before.

"Let's get some food first," I said while we're in the middle of studying the business proposal for another business we were planning on opening.

"We have food here," Sancho replied.

"I know, but I'm tired of the food here, plus I wanna see other faces," I said and they both rolled their eyes. It's true, though! I've been seeing their faces for a week already and I needed a break. We've been investing in a lot of businesses for the past months. At first, it was just for fun and a way of delaying the inevitable, but later on, we realized that we were actually good at that. So, we've been reading proposals and deciding on where we'd put our money in. We're personally managing the 2 clubs and a bar, but the other, we're silent partners.

"I'm thinking... ramen," I said.

"You had ramen yesterday," Sancho said.

"In my defense, I can never have too much ramen."

"Can you have another ramen when you go back to Japan?"

"What do you suggest, then?" I asked but even before Sancho could suggest on where we'd eat, we saw a familiar face.

"Rory," Vito said... but more like trying to remember if he remembered the name correctly. It was weird looking at her, though. They'd seen her face a couple of times in Yago's account, but she's more... beautiful in person.

Yago looked at us. I fought the urge blind him with my two fingers.

"My friends," Yago said, pointing at us.

Vito laughed. "We have names."

Yago rolled his eyes. "Fine," he said. "This one's Vito," he said, pointing at Vito. "Nikolai," he continued, pointing at me. "Sancho," he finally said.

We—and by we, I meant I—were standing there awkwardly. I kept on reminding myself not to be a little bitch. So what if Yago's found himself some new friends? He could shove that Jax up his ass for all I cared.

"H-Hi."

Yago rolled his eyes as he saw Rory staring at Sancho. "I'll just text you."

"We know you won't text us," Vito said, stating the obvious. "Let's have dinner right now."

Yago stayed silent.

"If it's okay with you," Vito said to Rory.

"O-Okay," she said, much to Yago's disappointment.

"Great then," Vito said, then he turned to us to ask me where I wanted to eat.

We ended up in some restaurant. It was weird because Rory just kept on blushing the entire night. We all ignored it because she looked embarrassed enough.

My phone vibrated in the middle of them discussing something about law school. It was my Dad calling, so I immediately excused myself to answer it. It was just him asking about the contractor I hired because apparently, he was interested enough when I was telling Mom about how efficient the contractor was.

I told him I'd give him the details. I was about to go back inside when I stopped when I saw Yago standing behind me.

"Are you trying to give me a heart attack," I said as I clutched my hand against my chest.

"Didn't think you're so jumpy."

I rolled my eyes. "It's been 3 years—a lot has changed."

He sighed. "I'm sorry."

"What? No, it's fine," I said because I didn't want to sound like a little whiny bitch. "You were busy and I was busy. Life happened."

"I wanted to contact you when I returned."

"It's cool," I said because I really was in no mood for conversations such as this.

"But you knew I'd go to law school after college, right?"

"Actually, I forgot about that," I honestly said. When he first left, I was bummed out because he was my closest friend, but I grew closer to Vito and Sancho, as annoying those two were. I seriously think I already outgrew Yago—not that I was mature or shit, but that we're different now. It's not high school anymore, and that's totally fine.

"Law school's just really insane."

"Look, you don't have to explain," I honestly said.

"Niko—"

I laughed because it felt so weird. We seemed like we're having some lover's spat. It was ridiculous.

"It's really fine," I said as I leaned my back against the railings. "How was law school?"

"Hard."

"Really?" I asked because Yago's all things but school comes easy for him.

"Yeah. Lots of smart people."

I nodded. "Will you still go back to Seattle after?"

He shrugged. "Probably not."

I remained silent for a while. "Let's go back," I said before I started to walk. Yago caught up and walked beside me.

"So, we're good?"

"Definitely."

"Sure?"

I bumped my shoulder against his. "Yeah, dumbass. We're good," I said before we returned to our seat and saw Rory staring at Sancho. I glanced at Yago and laughed when I saw him frowning real hard.

* * *

"You know what... I think we should go to law school."

"What?" I asked, suddenly feeling the chills at the thought of me going to law school.

"I think it would be fun," Vito continued. "Yago's doing well—he can even go drink at night."

My lips parted at the lengths Vito would go to just to avoid working for his father. I didn't answer because I just got out of school! There's no way I'd go back to that hell!

But fuck it! Sancho agreed! My god! What in fresh hell was I about to get myself into!

**
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