Moving Places

David Kim

          I checked if the painting was slanted or not, the painting was a picture of the moon with the sun, almost touching each other.

         When I saw that it was good and perfect, I looked around my new house, napapalakpak na lang ako sa tuwa, hay! Finally nakatapos din.

          "woah! Finally finished moving in! That was really tiring..." I said.

          Tinignan ko ang cellphone ko kung may mga messages or calls ako na hindi nakita, I saw a message from my grandmother, it was from 2 hours ago, it was a picture of her with grandpa drinking wine on the beach. She said they were having fun there, and that she was thankful for my gift for their 43rd anniversary.

            'you deserve it, nana! Just enjoy there, and don't worry about me here, I can manage by myself, nighty night! Heart~' I sent a message to her.

            Yesterday was actually my grandparents 43rd anniversary so I treated them a trip to their dream destination, which is Maldives.  They took me in when I was orphaned when I was thirteen, this was the least I could do. Since they left I also needed to move to Manila to attend to some trivial matters, at tsaka yung bestfriend ko since bata pa lang ako sa Manila nag-aaral. So out of nowhere, I just decided to transfer university, you know for a change of view.

           "oh, nag-start na pala ng school year yung former school ko..." I read a post from the my former university's blog as I was looking through my timeline in twitter.

           *ting

            A phone notification popped up on my screen, my bestfriend texted me.

Jun♥️: hey! I'm going there!Pakihanda ng foods mo

David : what? Out of nowhere? If you're just going to annoy me, please don't come, I'm tired from all the work I've done today. At ang kapal ng mukha mong encyclopedia ka, makikikain ka lang pala.

Jun♥️: HAHAHA you don't really have choice, I'm already on the way, btw! I'm bringing some friends from the uni, at tsaka ilang taon din tayong Di nakita kaya pag bigyan mo na!

David: woah, can you remind me why you became my friend again? Pahingi naman ng kakapalan, may use ako diyan

Jun❤️: yieehhhh! HAHAHA! I LOVE YOU TOO ㅋㅋㅋㅋ

           I just didn't care about it anymore and put down my phone on the table, and started to get ready. You can't really stop Jun once he decided to do something. I'm just going to take a bath.

AFTER 30 MINUTES

          *ding dong

          'sila na kaya yun? Nakadating din, Di na masasayang yung binake ko..' I thought, I stood up and walked to the door.

           *ding dong

           *ding dong

           *ding dong

            "YAH! JUN PARK! STOP RINGING THE DOORBELL!" I shouted, this is not the only time he did this, we've known each other for a long time, kilalang-kilala ko na tabas ng bituka nitong hinayupak na'to.

           *ding dong

           *ding dong

           *ding dong

           " PPALI, DAVID KIM, IT'S COLD HERE! WE'RE FREEZING ALREADY!" He shouted back. Aigoo! This guy really makes me doubt how we became friends.

           "OH YOU FUCKING BASTARD, WAIT 'TILL I GET MY HANDS ON YOU, YOU' LL REGRET BEING ALIVE FOR REAL!...." I shouted as I felt my blood pressure rise from the pits of hell to the outer space because of the dimwit outside my door.

           *ding dong

           *ding dong

           *ding dong

           I finally reached the door and opened it. My hand flew towards the familiar Face in front of me. Jun fell to ground clutching his cheeks in pain.

          "YOU SHITTY ASS BITCH, IKAW NA PUTANG INANG HAYOP KANG NADIRIDEMONYO NA OSONG AKALA MO BINIGYAN NG BLACK EYE NG SHUT----Hi? " I exploded the moment I opened the door, to the point that I only saw the other two guys standing near Jun right now. Pahiya tayo dun pri, nakalimutan ko may kasama nga pala to.

          I quickly composed myself, and smiled at the other guys to look polite.

Kelangan natin ng good impression, social life ko'to no!

          "please come in my house, it's cold out here, there's some coffee in my house, titimplahan ko kayo para medyo mainitan mga sikmura niyo, I make really good coffee, you know! " I said with a very welcoming tone and winked at them jokingly at the last sentence, napatawa naman sila sa ginawa ko.

       As I was going in, I saw Jun still holding his cheeks in pain on the ground, I just kicked him weakly while I was walking back in to the house. Hmph! serves you right...

       "pasok kayo dali, pabayaan niyo yan, nagpapabebe lang yang baklang yan.... " I said pertaining to jihoon.

       "o-okay...." they said and followed me in, they really looked at Jun with pity, after all, they saw how my fist almost broke Jun's jaw. They might be a little scared. Napasobra ba yung ginawa ko? Well nebermaynd na nga lang.

        "Upo muna kayo, pasyensa na medyo makalat kakatapos ko lang din kasa mag-ayos ng gamit..." sabi ko.

        I went to kitchen and started to make coffee. Open floor naman yung house so kita yung kitchen from the living room, so it's not hard to communicate with them.

         "Hyung, okay lang, your house is really cozy, I especially like what you did to the interior, fave color mo siguro white no?" sabi nung isang mukhang aso, don't get me wrong! Mukhang aso in a good way, okay?!

         Oh yeah, almost everything in the house was color white, I really like white it looks so calming.

         Nakita niya siguro na nag-aalangan ako kung anong itatawag ko sa kaniya kaya nagpakilala na din siya.

        " sorry for the late introduction hyung, I'm Kevin , Kevin Yoon, we're going to be in the same uni, 1 year ahead nga lang kayo nila Jun hyung at Jaden hyung, I'm only in my 3rd year , I study business management" he said. Kevin Yoon?, parang naikwento na ata to sakin ni Jun.

        "nice to meet you kevs, I'll call you kevs it's shorter, I'm David, I'm sure you heard from Ji, I'll depend on you when we start school, okay? " I said then I smiled at him, while waiting for the coffee to finish brewing.

        "Hi, I'm Jaden, Jaden Kim, I'm half-Japanese, I transferred here from Japan on my first year since my dad lived here once before, I study Architecture, I'm also born on the same year as you and ji according to him, you can talk comfortably around me.. " The fierce looking guy introduced himself who's surprisingly soft spoken but manly at the same time. Eto din naikwento na din sa kin ni Ji.

        (In Korean culture, people who were born on the same year are dongkabs 동갑 or same age friends, while people younger are dongsaengs 동생 or little sibling and older people are called hyung 형  or noona 누나)

        "oh, we're dongkabs? Nice! You're going to be my first ever foreign friend then, nice to meet you, Jaden..."

        " kevs right? How did you become friends with Jun, I mean he's one year ahead of you, pano nakaabot yang loko na yan sa 3rd year dept.?" I asked.

         "ahhh, kilala mo naman yun hyung, napakakalat nun, kala mo walang pasok, makikita mo na sa harap ng room namin." sabi ni kevin, napatango naman kami ni jaden sa sinabi nito.

         Napatawa na lang kami sa kakakalatan ni Jun.

          After some time, natapos na din yung coffee na tinitimpla ko, kumuha na din ako ng ilang slices ng blueberry shortcake na binake ko before silang dumating.

           "Here, I brewed some coffee, drink it while it's hot, I also made some dessert before you guys came.." I said then put the tray where the coffee and  the blueberry shortcake was placed on the center table in living room.

           Kevin tasted the cake first, namilog ang mata nito pagkatapos niyang isubo yung kutsara. That's good.... Right?

          Tinignan ko naman kung anong reaction ni Jaden sa ginawa kong kape. His eyes was closed but he was smiling.

          "woah, hyung you're really good at baking, ang sarap nitong cake na gawa mo. I heard from Jun hyung that you're taking culinary arts, but you're better than we thought!" Kevin said excitedly. I smiled to compliment. Enebe!

          " David, this coffee really good too, what are these called by the way?" Jaden asked and took a sip of the coffee.

            " The cake is a blueberry shortcake of my own recipe, while the coffee is my own blend too called terra's tears." I said, trip ko kasi talaga ang baking at love naman nila grandma at grandpa ang kape so I had time to make and experiment on my own recipes.

          " if I'm hungry, I'll go to you hyung, okay? You need to make me more foods... " Kevin said jokingly which made us laugh. But I don't know why jae was looking like he was about to say something na nasa nadulo na ng dila niya pero di niya masabi kung ano.

          We were just chilling when Kevin suddenly exclaimed. Bipolar ba to?

          "ahhh! Naalala ko na!" he shouted while pointing at the cake.

           He looked at me then asked "hyung, have you ever worked on a 'The Kave' (reads as cave) café branch somewhere?"

         Oh, that, akala ko pa naman ligtas na ako. I hesitated answering him.

         " I mean, this cake, when I first tasted it, parang ang pamilyar niya, yung kape din, parang natikman ko na kase, then naalala ko kumain kami sa The Kave  nung pumunta kami sa Lipa before ng classmates ko, tapos isa to sa mga inorder namin, I mean what you gave us is really similar to what we ordered and their recipes are originally made by the founder.."he said.

       " wait—you mean 'The Kave' café? Now that you said it, this really taste like that, I just went to Lipa some time ago too, my friend ordered similar coffee to this. Did you work on a branch of a 'The Kave' café? " Jaden added. Wala na bang atrasin to mga pri? Sure na talaga?

       Biglang dumating si Jun, nakarecover na sa bangas niya, coming from the direction of the kitchen with three whole slices of cake on his plate, napatitig kaming tatlo sa kaniya.

       " sinong nagtatrabaho sa 'The Kave'? Ikaw Kevs? Kelan ka naubusan ng pera??? Di naman pede si Jaden lol, rich yan, alangan naman si Dave, impossible yun, so ikaw nga kevs? In advance, waley akong money, wag ako utangan mo si Dabid na lang, mas madami yan saking pera..." Jun asked, habang may cake pa sa bunganga, bagla naman nito...

      "huh? Jun hyung, No! Not me! We were asking if David hyung worked on 'The kave' café, his coffee and cake really tasted similar to the food there....and also I'm not broke, tsk! " he answered with a tiny bit of annoyance in his voice.

         A moment of silence, ayun biglang bumanat ng pangmalakasang tawa si Jun.

        "funny ka din Kevs no? Hahaha! David? Working? On a The kave branch? Puta! Funny, nakakamatay.... Hoo!" parang tangang banggit ni Jun.

        Napahilot na lang ako ng sintido out of nowhere, I was just silent the whole time, ayaw ko na lang mag talk.

       " huh? Is David hyung that rich? He can buy the recipe from The kave's management? " tanong naman ni Jaden, while Kevs is just confused af.

       " HAHAHA! puta! You're looking at Kave himself, the 'K' in kave is from Kim, The 'Ave' is from dave which is David's nickname, so kave is just Kim David combined!!! HAHAHA, ANG OBOB NIYO MINSAN NO? Purihin niyo ko, ang talino ko" sabi ni Jun while still laughing so hard.

        The two were just frozen on the spot, looking at me like they saw a ghost, a very handsome one at that, lagi namang ganiyan ang nangyayari everytime na malalaman ng kahit sino na ako ang may-ari ng The kave.

        "hyung, you're Kave? The owner of the biggest café chain in Asia? You mean you're K fucking Ave, kave!?" lutang na sabi ni Kevin, habang nakanganga pa rin si Jaden .

        "hehe, oo eh, surprise! I gu-guess??" I said. Awkward for real. Teungina naman, note taken, next time, don't bake and make coffee from the menu of the cafe. Anong katangahan kase ito dabid!!!

        "can I get some water first, hyung? I'm still processing, I'll help myself..." Kevs said.

        "yeah, me too..." lutang sila, potek! Tinitigan ko ng masama si Jun, ang daldal kase nitong kumag nato eh.

         " I can get it for you, if you want to.." I said. Hala! Parang silang zombies, walang buhay at namumutla....

         "no, please, we can do it ourselves, you can just chill there, just point us to where the water is...we can't have one of the richest person in the world serving water to us.... AGAIN" Jaden said.

          "umm, okay?... it's in the kitchen just grab it from the fridge..hehe" I said.

            Pagkaalis nila papunta ng kusina, agad kong siniko si jihoon sa tagiliran.

            " putik ka! Ang daldal mo kase!" pagalit kong turan.

           " hoy! Bakit ako? Tsaka no choice ka din namang sagutin sila kasi buking ka na, tinulungan lang kita!.." sumbat niya.

           At yun nag simula na nga po ang round one, nagbugbugan kaming dalawa.

           Sakal-sakal ko na si Jun nang biglang may magmura sa kitchen ng napakalutong... Which is Kevin btw.

           We ran to them and asked, "what happened?!"

            The were just standing there, shookt by something, who knows what.

             "is this a literal walk-in fridge? I knew walk-in closets existed, but damn hyung, you really took it to another level.." Kevin said.

       This is going to take a long time of explaining.

       "I mean it's not that big of a deal, in his house in his hometown, the walk-fridge was as big as a warehouse,hahaha" Jun said.... Fuck! Dude, read the room! Kadaldalan talaga nito!

Travis Cho

        "dad just rest, okay? Don't worry about me.." I said to my dad on the phone. He was at it again, trying to force me to get a relationship.

        " oh! You kid, just bring anyone to see me and introduce my soon to be in-law, okay? I don't even care even if it's a girl or a guy, just bring somebody to see me with before I die... That's my last wish..." my dad said sounding so pessimistic.

       "dad! Don't talk like that! You're going to live okay? Doctor Clyde will arrive there tomorrow, he's the best neurologist out there...okay, I'll see you with somebody soon, I promise" I said. Yeesh! This old man, really....

       "you promised, okay? Don't worry about me, I won't die until I see the person who melts you ice kid, no matter what happens, you can't show up here without anybody with you, I'll throw you back out , and also enjoy college, you're in your prime, experience the world.." he nagged suddenly sounding so happy. I smiled hearing that he was doing okay for now.

       We talked for a while before he had to go to bed.

       "I promise I'll find that guy and make him pay for what he did to you dad, Mark my words.." I said with force word per word.

       I got so irritated by the thought of that animal that I punched a hole through the table near me.

       Whoever you are, you're as good as dead.

YEHEY! My first story to publish here, Please vote and comment, it would really be great if you do.