Last chapter na guys but for the next chapter I'm going to drop a ticking time bomb with full of surprises. Oh yas! I hope you were still with me when I told you about the surprise. Thanks for the love and support. Good thing hindi ko nakakalimutang hindi magreply sa mga comments nyo. Aahha! I love you all.

EPILOGUE

Ivy's POV

Nine months after...

I've been in a lot of tragedies and frightful events. I even put my life in danger and guess what? My eighteenth birthday is the most memorable and perfect birthday in my whole life. My life after nine months already changed. Salvador and Montereal are on good terms again and I started handling my mafia business in the underworld and luckily, I nailed my name on the top rank.

Me and my friends still continued our gang fights every week. Syempre, no can defeat us. Even the Fire Blazers. They ranked second and were on the top, of course. 

Back to the topic, I'm going back to New York again for some kind of business trip. Hindi naman ibig sabihin nun na tatakasan ko ulit ang lahat. Actually, napangatawanan ko na nga lahat ng hirap eh. Moving on is such a hard process and it took a very long time but the result is always worth it. Mas okay na ang makalimot kesa mabuhay ng may sakit sa puso.

Maaga akong naligo at nagpalit sa isang black tshirt na i-tinuck in ko sa isang short white palda bago ako nagsuot ng mahabang jacket na parang maong na hanggang binti ko before I wore a pair of violet Chuck Taylors. I snatched my Iphone from the bed bago nagtext kay Ghil. I told her to pick me up in the house before nine at alam nyo ba kung anong oras na?

10:15. Kamusta naman ang salitang time-management diba? Well, hindi naman ako worried dahil exclusive ang flight naming dalawa. Private to be exact. Yes, tama rin kayo ng basa. Ghil is going to be with me with my business trip. No, scratch that. With our business trip. Nakipag-partners na ang kumpanya ko sa kanilang angkan. Finally.

Before I could send my message to her, biglang nagvibrate ang phone ko and it was her...calling.

Ghil calling...

"Damn Ghil! Where are you?!"

"Chilax there sistah. Nasa baba na ako and you're maids are starting to put your bags in the compartment. God! Five mallets? Dun ka na ba titira sa NY?"

Huminga muna ako ng malalim bago ko kinuha yung shoulder bag ko sa study table ko then I walked up to the mirror at tinignan kung maayos pa ba yung make-up ko. "Wala ka na lang pakielam. Just put them inside the car pwede? Pababa na ako."

Lumabas na ako ng kwarto before I ended the call. Nilock ko yung pintuan before walking downstairs. Wala na ang mga maleta ko pero tanaw ko ang kotse ni Ghil sa labas. I can also see her using her phone from the passenger seat. Obviously, ako ang magdadrive. She's too slow when driving. Hindi rin sya bihasa sa pagoover-take. Like duh! Mukha tuloy hindi kami magkapatid.

I bid my goodbyes and regulations to my maids bago lumabas ng bahay. Instead of going inside the driver's seat directly, I harshly opened the compartment at binilang ang mga maleta ko. Complete. I slammed the compartment's door down before pushing myself in the driver's seat.

"God Ghil! Bakit ang tagal mo? Are you out of your mind?! We're totally late."

Bungad ko sa kanya na sinagot lang ako ng walang kwentang tingin. "We can't turn back the time sistah."

I just rolled my eyes at her. Since late na kami, I need to do something fast...and damn furious. 

"Fasten your seatbelt bitch. We're late and I'm still going to put everything on time. Fuck!"

Agad nyang ibinaba ang kanyang hawak na cellphone at nagsuot ng seat belt bago humawak sa magkabilang gilid noong kanyang upuan. Atleast alam nya kung gaano ako kabilis magpatakbo ng sasakyan. Unfortunately, sasakyan nya ang gamit namin ngayon.

"Gawd Ivy! Don't you dare to do your thing in my car! Kakabili ko pa lang nito noong isang araw thus its worth half a billion dollars!"

I smirked first. "Wala ka ng magagawa, sistah." Then I stepped on the gas before driving the hell out of us in the airport.

 -------

Five minutes drive at nakarating na rin kami. Hell yeah, hindi namin ininda ang traffic sa EDSA dahil sa pagiging pro ko sa pagover take sa mga kupal na sasakyang nagkalat. I parked the car in the vacant lot bago kami bumaba ni Ghil sa sasakyan. Automatically, samin kaagad nakatingin yung mga tao. Hello. Ang pinakamayang magkapatid sa buong mundo, sinong hindi mamamangha? 

Agad namang tumulong ang tatlong security guard sa pagdadala ng aming mga bagahe. Pagkapasok namin sa loob ng airport, agad kong ipinakita ang I.D ko dun sa isang staff.

"Flight for Ivy Montereal. Exclusive plane 301."

Tumango naman ang babaeng staff as she lead our way to the airplane. Nung nakaakyat na kami, automatic akong pumunta sa unang row, sa tabi ng bintana at nagpasak ng earphones sa tenga. About my sister? Well wala akong pakielam kung saan sya umupo. Kahit doon pa sya sa CR, wala akong paki. Hey, dont get me wrong...we're on good terms already. Sadyang maldita lang ako ngayon.

After siguro ng mga ten to fifteen minutes, were already above the ground. I knew that this trip is going to be long again so I took a sleep first. Siguro naman gigisingin ako ng magaling kong kapatid once we landed back on New York.

-------

Nagising ako sa pangangalabit ng kapatid ko sa noo. Gawd! Can't she have a proper way to wake me up instead of poking me in my forehead. Nung nakapag-adjust na yung mga mata ko sa sinag ng araw at nung lumiwanag na yung mukha ng kapatid ko, instead of rubbing my new woken up eyes, agad kong sinampal si Ghil and she was not expecting it. Well I dont care.

"Gosh! You just slapped my holy face!" Sabi nya tapos tsaka hinimas yung kaliwang pisngi nya.

"Well you just poked my holy forehead too." Banat ko naman bago inayos ang damit and I made my way pababa ng eroplano. Sakto naman na makita ko yung naghihintay na black limo sa ibaba.

My sister catch up with me. "It was just a poke!"

"Its just a slap too." She just rolled her eyes in defeat. Maski sa pakikipagsagutan, hindi nya rin ako matatalo. Well, the one who would bring me down isn't born yet. I'm telling you.

Naglalakad na ako papunta sa black limo when someone bumped into me but I never mind that person. Nagulat na lang ako nung may biglang tumawag sakin. Awtomatikong lumaki yung mga mata ko. 

"Who's that?"

Tanong ni Ghil pero hindi ko muna sya sinagot but instead yung tawag ang sinagot ko.

"Hello? Gian--"

"Ivy. How did you get my number?"

"Wala ba talagang 'hi' o 'hello' from y---"

Awtomatikong umikot ang mga mata ko. Siguro halos isang daan na akong umiirap na ako ngayong araw na to at kulang na lang is umikot ng 360 degrees yung eyeballs ko. Napahimas ako sa sintindo dahil ramdam ko na yung pagkulo ng dugo ko. Bwisit talaga tong isang to.

"I said where did you get my number!!"

Sa biglang pagsigaw ko is napahinto din yung driver sa pagmamaneho at napatingin bigla sa salamin sa ibabaw nya at chineck kung ayos lang ako. Si Ghil din is napasigaw sa gulat nung sumigaw ako. 

"A-ayos lang po ba kayo, M-ma'am Ivy?"

Tumango ako sa tanong ni manong driver kaya bumalik na sya sa pagmamaneho ng kotse.

"Kay Tita. Ano, okay na? Nasagot ko na ba tanong mo?"

"Bakit ka tumawag?"

"I just want to say na pauwi na ako ng Pilipinas."

"So? Kailangan ireport sakin? Mukha ba akong TV Patrol sayo?"

I heard him laugh on the other side. "You're so mean, Ivy. Nung bata ka pa is sobrang bait mo pa. Ano bang nakain mo at---"

"You're talking nonsense."

"Will you please let me finish my words fi---"

"No."

I heard him grunt on the other line. "Wala ako sa Pilipinas."

"Tinatanong ko ba?"

Sa sagot nyang yun is agad ko syang pinatayan ng phone. I get it. Pareho kaming walang kwenta kausap pero mas malala naman sya. After seconds, tumawag ulit sya. Nagdalawang isip pa ako kung sasagutin ko dahil alam kong walang kwenta parin naman ang pag-uusapan namin pero wala eh, sinagot ko pa din.

"Hey, fine. Sorry na. Wag mo na ulit akong pagbababaan."

"Pake mo ba sakin."

"Holy shit, Ivy. You're so stubborn. BTW, nasan ka?"

"New York."

"Whoa. Okay fine. Ingat ka."

"Sige, insan."

Then he ended the call. 

That shit is named as December Mondragon. Anak sya ng kapatid ni Mama na si Violet Montreal-Mondragon. 

Yup, he's my pinsan.

 - END -