24 Summer Sepanx

Alexis, Via and Marion were busy on their cell phones when Justine and I found them in our hide-out. The smart TV was streaming news updates on the earthquake. I watched it horrified by the extent of the damage. My phone beeped. It was a text from my Father telling me that he was okay. He also attached pictures of what they were doing in the evacuation site. As Grandpa told me, the structures that they targeted to build were nearly done. I showed the pictures to Justine.

"Wow! Uncle Amor's team is really fast. By the time I get there tomorrow, I can already help in the kitchen." Justine remarked.

"You'll have a mountain of dishes to wash." I told him hoping he would get discouraged and change his mind.

"Nice try, Nina" Justine said. "I don't mind washing the dishes but I can cook, you know."

"Whoa. You can cook?" I asked pleasantly surprised.

"Yeah, he's a good cook." Alexis seconded. It was the first time I heard him praise his brother.

"You can really cook, huh?" I again asked not quite believing it.

"Yes. Your boyfriend is not just drop-dead handsome you know. I can cook and I can also do other productive things which I will surprise you with someday." Justine said, teasing.

The girls laughed with Justine's ribbing. They joked that I may have hit the jackpot with Justine. The latter saluted them. We continued to check on our socmed accounts. We got engrossed in it.

"I just know something that will relax us all. Wait for me." Alexis said. I looked at the girls and Justine. They just shrugged indicating they had no clue what Alexis was talking about. He came back and proudly showed us: packets of facial masks. He gave a packet to each one of us.

Justine looked at it like it was an alien thing. "Condom?" he deadpanned. I pinched him until he begged me to stop. I got his packet from him. I opened it and put the facial mask on him. He did the same thing for me. Soon all of us were on our backs relaxing with facial masks on while we checked our cell phones.

"Nina…" Justine nudged me. I didn't realize I fell asleep. "You and the girls can go to sleep in my room. I'll just do a clean-up here then I'll say goodnight to you in a bit."

I peeled off the mask from my face as well as from the faces of the two girls who were softly snoring. I dragged them to Justine's room. His room had the biggest bed (it maybe the reason why he always asked us to use it) The girls settled on Justine's bed. I took out some fresh blankets from his closet and covered the girls with it. I was about to fall asleep too when I heard a soft knock.

"Come in." I said. Justine entered the room.

"Can you help me pack my bag, Nina?" he asked.

"No. I don't want to." I said, pouting. Justine threw some clothes at the foot of his bed and I proceeded to fold them. I also got some toiletries from the bathroom. We stuffed everything in his backpack including the emergency kit that Gary gave us.

With the above task done, Justine took my hand and we tiptoed to the balcony. He wrapped his arms around my waist and rested his head on my shoulder. We breathed in the fresh farm air. We stood like this for a long time while I absentmindedly caressed his arm with feather-light touching

"I'll miss you." I turned to face him and looked at him. He looked at me intently. My heart skipped. He caressed my lips. I bit his fingers playfully.

"I hope you miss me doing this." He lowered his face and kissed me long and hard. We ended our kiss with a tight hug. He tucked me in bed and quietly left.

The memory of our last kiss was still on my mind when I was having coffee the next morning. Despite me protesting Justine going away to help the company's relief efforts, I shamelessly woke up very late. I was alone in the kitchen. Even Marion and Via went home to reunite with their families. Alexis was nowhere to be found either. He texted me that Victor invited him to check the motor pool with him.

It was the first time that I would be away from Justine. It felt empty. I missed Justine so much. The pain that hit me was terrifying. I thought, "So this is how it would feel when he finally goes back to New York!" I started to panic. I suddenly couldn't breathe. Thankfully, my phone rang.

Me: Hello.

Mel: Good morning. Are you okay? (She must have noticed my forlorn state)

Me: Morning… (I started crying)

Mel: Hey, what happened?

Me: I miss Justine. So much!!!

Mel: What? Why? What did he do?

I updated Melody of what transpired last night. We talked for several minutes. She advised me to brace myself for Justine's eventual departure. She scolded me for succumbing to despair. She reminded me to count my blessings instead and to remember a lot of people were facing more difficult situations. I calmed down after our talk. I prided myself for having a mature best friend.

I decided to make myself useful. The household staff in the White House was reduced to replace the farm cafeteria staff who joined the disaster response team headed by my father. So I volunteered to clean the rooms of the two brothers and our headquarters. I didn't clean Grandpa's room and his office. That assignment was exclusively for Auntie Anita or Uncle Jan when he was not accompanying Grandpa on his travels.

It was late afternoon when I finished my chores. Having accomplished something, I actually felt good. I was leisurely sipping juice in the garden when Justine video called.

Me: Hello. (Justine was wearing an apron.He still managed to look so handsome in it. He was in a kitchen with some people. He told them to say hello and went outside.)

Justine: Hi Baby! I miss you.

Me: And who are those girls? (Justine laughed)

Justine: No I-miss-you-too? (Justine laughing out loud) Those girls are students from a nearby college. They'll help serve the food later.

Me: Hmp. Those girls are better off than me. They get to be with you and I don't.

Justine: Hahaha! (some kids approached Justine and were waving at me. "Hello Ate!")

Justine: Let me speak with my girlfriend first, okay. She's angry with me because she's jealous (He said this to the kids in Filipino. The kids went away but not before making faces and making teasing noises).

Me: (pouting, giving him sharp glances)

Justine: Hahaha! You're so adorable. I'm falling in-love with you again.

Me: Hmp. You're such a player. (I sighed) How's Father?

Justine: He's okay. He's somewhere supervising some other works. The kitchen is functional now as you saw. I'm gonna send you pictures later. How's your day?

Me: I helped clean the White House and helped Auntie Anita in the kitchen.

Justine: That's my girl. Where's the gang?

Me: Alexis is with Victor. The girls went home. Karlo didn't check-in yet. Mel is in their home.

Justine: Ah, okay. I miss you so much, baby. But I really have to experience this you know.

Me: I know. I hope you are learning a lot.

Justine: You bet I am. I swear, I regretted all those times that I whined for the most mundane reasons. I didn't realize how privileged Alexis and I were until I came here.

Me: You thought your life was the norm, right?

Justine: Not really. But I have not seen such poverty. Even in New York, we were sheltered by our parents. The resilience of the people here is amazing. I get to learn the word bayanihan*.

Me: Awwwww. That's so nice, Baby. I'm happy you get to experience that too. Well, except those girls.

Justine: Hahaha! (there were voices of people calling him in the background). Baby, I gotta go. They said the water's boiling. I need to get back to cooking. I love you, Baby (He made kissing sound).

Me: You behave Mr. Rodriquez!

Justine: I will, Miss Alejandro. Love you! Bye.

Me. Bye. Love you!

I took a deep breath. I missed Justine but after talking to him I was genuinely happy that he was there serving some evacuees. I was proud of him. I smiled to myself when I remembered my almost fit of jealousy. Hmnn. Honestly, I didn't think I was the jealous type of a girl. I was just messing with Justine. 'It was not his fault to be handsome, right?'

---------

*bayanihan is a Filipino word that means a spirit of unity and cooperation among Filipinos in times of difficult situations or crisis.