20 ✒ SINULOG SPECIAL CHAPTER III

SINULOG SPECIAL CHAPTER PART THREE

SINULOG festival...

It was almost lunch and Khein's mother almost knocked the door out of his room.

"Hey Khein! aren't you going to the festival?" Khein's mother shouted outside his room. Khein was still lying on his bed since he spent late last night playing video games. He even forgot about the festival. He suddenly remembered Rei who hasn't been around for a while. He thought maybe the psycho guy had gotten tired of him and decided not disturb him anymore. Another loud knock on the door echoed through Khein's room as his mother shouted, "Someone is looking for you on the phone!"

Khein rolled to his side and finally managed to get off from his bed and headed towards the door. He opened the door and saw his mother's smiling face while talking someone on the phone.

"You're looking for Khein? Yeah?" Khein's mother said on the phone as she looked at Khein who was frowning at her.

"You're asking if he would go to the festival?" his mother looked at him and Khein gestured to turn off the phone call but his mother ignored him.

"Yes! He will be there at 2pm. He said he would see you around!" Khein's mother said out of excitement and bid goodbye to the caller.

"Who was it?" Khein asked. Though Khein obviously knew it was the psycho guy trying to bother him agaim.

His mother smiled and said, "It was Kyle". Khein furrowed his brows but he didn't let his mother see that disappointed reaction. He expected it was Rei since Rei was the only one who bothers him all the time. Kyle was the owner of the drumsticks that Khein borrowed last time. He was not able to return them because of the accident. Khein even with a sleepy face, decided to go to the festival. He was wearing fancy nerdy glasses to hide his dark circles around his eyes. A simple loose white shirt and a black loose shorts. He prepared his roller blades and checked if nothing was damaged. His other skater friends agreed to jammed together during the festival. They agreed to skate in the city and have a colorful and wild paint war on the streets. Khein put on his roller blades while he sat on the stairs outside their door. He put on a white head band and wore a dreamcatcher necklace. His phone rang and he answered it.

"Kyle! what's up?" Khein answered with a smile on his face. The background on the phone was noisy and festive.

"Everyone's waiting for you!" Kyle spoke on the other line. Khein didn't bring money. Why? Because most of his friends would spend a lot for him. And even if he needed money, girls would willing to pay everything for him.

"I'll be going, mom!" Khein shouted so his mother rushed towards the door and shouted "You forgot your wallet!"

Khein smiled back and waved his hand to his mother and gestured an 'okay' sign as if he was telling he would be fine without his wallet.

"What a stupid brat! Don't blame me if you'll get hungry!" Khein's mother shouted as the rebel boy drifted away.

•••

"Khein! over here!!" Kyle called Khein in the middle of the noisy crowd and dragged the rebel guy towards the group. Khein saw his wild friends gathered around, some had their girlfriends. Kyle yanked Khein in the neck and dragged him towards the corner.

"I want you to meet our new fella here!" Kyle said and grinned. Kyle pointed the familiar guy's back. The tall guy was busy talking with the girls while sitting on his bike. Khein recognized the guy even if he wasn't facing him yet.

"Hey Rei! Come over here!" Kyle waved his hand as the guy turned his head to see who was calling him. He smiled at Kyle who was currently hanging his arm around Khein's neck. It was Rei. Khein looked at Rei, puzzled. Rei's eyes darkened when he saw Kyle clinging on Khein tighter but he didn't let it show. Rei waved towards Kyle and smiled at him. Khein could sense Rei's dark aura surrounding the him so he guiltily removed Kyle's hand around him.

"Who's this?" Rei jutted his head towards Khein which made the rebel guy gasped in disbelief. He thought, 'How could he not recognize me?'

"This is Khein! Our youngest member before you" Kyle introduced Khein to Rei. Rei nodded and said coldly, "Hi Khein"

Khein's mind went blank as he saw Rei walked away from him. He thought Rei was playing tricks again. Khein couldn't accept that. He skated away from the team and went to the crowd. He thought Rei would boast about him. He thought Rei would say they already knew each other and that Rei was proud that Khein was the coolest person he ever met. Khein went on and didn't realize where he was heading to. He suddenly heard the rumbling sounds of the footsteps and the colorful group of people rushing towards him. Most of them were unique couples. Khein saw a lot if rainbow flags and colorful head dresses. An LGBT street party. The people were heading towards Khein's direction and he started to panic. What if he stumble on the ground and then someone would step on him. Khein immediately skated away to avoid them but unlucky enough to avoid all of them. His head went dizzy because of the colorful powder being tossed to the air and some of the people would randomly touch his shirt and left colorful paints there.

"Shit!" Khein cursed and he could hardly move. He decided to stay on his feet and waited for everyone to pass through but a pair of arms wrapped around him. Khein felt safe and secured that he remained bowing his head. The feeling felt familiar. He suddenly remembered those tiny pair of arms when he was a kid.

"Stay right there. Don't be scared. I am here, Kheiny" those exact words entered through Khein's ear as he raised his head. He saw an unsual feature. It was Rei yet he looked like he was not him at all. Khein looked at Rei who was constantly staring at the lesbians, gays, and homosexual couples passing by them. Most of the couples would look at them and smiled as if they saw some cute couple hugging each other in the middle of the parade. Khein saw that expression. Rei looked happy at how grateful those couples were, yet he looked sad since he wasn't part of the group.

"I wished we were part of this party!" Rei said loudly, but the music was loud enough that only Khein heard his voice. Khein's eyes widened as he saw Rei bit his bottom lip and smiled bitterly at him.

"I wish we were a couple!" Rei smiled at Khein and cupped the rebel guy's face.

"Too bad it won't come true" Rei whispered and kissed Khein on the forehead. Khein felt his heart was shattered as Rei left him in the middle of the street. The number of people decreased until Khein was the only one left unmoved. His heart was beating like crazy as he tried to move his shaking legs.

"Hey dumbass! come back here!"