2 ~ Luna6
The best thing a girl could ever ask is a best friend who knows her inside and out without a breath of word. Having one is a blessing, having five is a miracle…but not when they are out to pester you. That was what I thought two days after I arrived from India.
As per usual, my girlfriends swarmed my flat when they knew I was already at home. One look at me and they bombarded me with a million and one questions pertaining to one particular matter.
“How dare you have a boyfriend without even sending us an SMS about it?” Honey, the loudest among us said.
“And an Indian for that matter! You’ve gone absolutely mad!” Celestine added on her as a matter of fact voice. She was actually the prettiest among us and sadly, the most clueless in fashion too.
“Exactly! In a month? You won’t even give a poor guy’s a chance in a year!” It was Sia, our youngest and the most number of ex-boyfriends in the group.
I looked at them one by one. They haven’t changed a tiny bit from the last time we saw each other almost 2 months ago except for being a little crazier and their complexions. Honey and Katrina were tanner from Bahamas while cousins Celestine and Abie were paler from Ireland and Sia from closeting in the Law Library.
“Thank you so much for your concern. I arrived well and fine. Now, do you want pen and paper for your questions? How about the two of you?” I asked Kat and Abie who were still silent that time. We arrived in my bedroom as they rained me with questions and we sat on the floor futons and bean bags. They huddled on the other side while I was alone on the other. “Do you want to add your dissertations to the interrogation?”
Katrina shrugged her shoulders and smirked while Abie was turning her eyes around, thinking.
“Is he gorgeous?” she added.
I dramatically exhaled aloud before speaking. I focused on Honey. “First, let me remind you that we decided to forget our phones for that month which, I think, I was the only one who succeeded. And that reminds me to collect my winnings later.”
I turned my eyes to Celes and said, “What’s wrong with Indians? Their eyes are to die for, I tell you.”
I sounded annoyed but actually I was quite excited to tell them. I was bursting to tell them everything.
“Actually, I knew him for about half a month,” addressing Sia. “I’m still not sorry I didn’t give them a chance, especially now."
And finally, turning to Abie I said, “Yes, darling, he is ‘gorgeous’. But how did you know about it?”
I didn’t tell them about Amon when I was still in India. We had a bet on not contacting each other while we were away and shun our cell phones, a little experiment if we could live without messing with each other's lives for a while. I honestly had mine because my mum went ballistic when she learnt about the bet but I would never tell them that or I’d pay double. Besides, I didn’t contact any of them like what we talked of.
That was the alibi I had but truth was I really forgot about it and I was feeling guilty for not sharing probably the perfect moment in my life with my best gals. It was my first time to enjoy a trip without them and needless to say, I was distracted.
I was quite clueless of how they knew about it ‘cause I haven’t talked to anyone about it just yet. It was either I was very obvious or somebody learned Oclumency from their vacation. I was chewing on that matter it was after a while before I noticed their shocked faces. Katrina pulled out her earbuds and gaped at me.
What was the matter with them? What the heck did their vacation do to them?
“Wait, wait wait…so, you’re saying, you ‘do’ have a boyfriend?” she asked and moved closer.
“Yeee…ah…” I wasn’t sure how to answer that but I was beginning to have an idea. Like I said, they didn’t change a lot.
“Oh my God!” Abie shouted almost at the same time when Sia said, “We were just pulling your leg!”
I got them there! We’re normally weird but they were acting beyond normal so they must be cooking something. We all paused for a second before all hell broke loose.
“Okay, now I’m gonna kill you!” Honey threw at me the throw pillow and stood up to choke me. Sia, Abie, and Kat followed suit on pulling every part of my body while Celes digested my news.
Don’t get me wrong, that was how normal we behave. When we get together, other people would think we hate each other a lot but actually it’s the other way around. And that day, they fooled me and I shocked them. I have to add that we’re not easily fooled or shocked. We could only do that to each other.
While they were trying to take the life out of me and it finally dawned on Celes to join in the party, my caller ring tone from the PC grabbed my attention. I was in tune to its sound the whole day so maybe that was the reason why I heard it amidst our commotion.
I hurriedly extracted myself from our tangled mess on the floor before anyone of them hears it and decided to answer it.
“Hi babe!” I said as soon as I hit the answer button.
I must have looked hideous with my messy hair and flushed face he had to draw back before answering me reluctantly.
“H hi…what happened to you?” He was already laughing as I pulled the tangles from my hair.
“Hurricanes and tornadoes are currently my visitors.” They were immediately on my back and stifling ‘oh my goshes!’ and pushed each other closer. I introduced them to him one by one as I tried to comb my hair with my hand and they enthusiastically waved.
“This is Kat...” She waved flirtatiously on my poor boyfriend who looked so confused.
“Hi, Mr. Eyes to die for.” I tried so hard not to giggle when Amon visibly went red but they didn’t have to smother theirs.
“Uhm…hi…” his hand automatically shot to the back of his head like when I fluster him.
“This is Sia...” who waved and smiled but thankfully didn’t say anything.
“…Celes…”
“Do you have a brother?” she cheekily asked which Amon, still flushed, shook his head as an answer.
“…Honey…”
“How about a friend?” she asked and fixed her hair behind her ears. If they weren’t my friends, I’d definitely condemn them for embarrassment but since I am, I just had to laugh at their antics. Thankfully, Amon was getting the hang of it even if he was still as red as a beet.
“Yeah, sure.” He was smiling now to the delight of my crackpot friends.
“…and Abie.”
“Nice to meet you,” my boyfriend said.
“Oh, you’re so nice to my eyes too.” I had to pinch her and look at her with widened eyes.
“Mine, okay? Signed and sealed: Kara’s.” I spoke to them with my eyes to let me speak with Amon alone for a while. They moved back to the cushions after snubbing at me, waving to the camera again and shouting, 'Nice to meet you!'.
“So…” I started but when we looked at each other we broke into a fit of laughter. He shook his head. He couldn’t believe what just happened.
“So…” I began again, “those were my best friends. I was telling them about you when you called. That was spontaneous reaction.”
He nodded, a smile still on his lips. “Now, I know why you’re crazy.”
“Oh, thank you so much!” I said, acting offended.
“Yeah. I like them, they’re good.”
Who wouldn’t want to hear that from your boyfriend?
"I think they like me too." I knew that aside from being shocked, he was also nervous about meeting them. I told him about them once and I think he knew they have very important say on my life.
"Oh, they like you physically." And I couldn't fault them for that. "You saw it yourself. Other than that, I couldn't be sure."
"Yeah. It's okay. I can work on that." He knew it was not easy to get their approval especially that they didn't know him a month ago.
I just stared at him. A month before that, I would kick myself for saying this but I already miss him I want to go back to India right then. It was amazing and almost unbelievable that I met someone like him and that we're actually dating. I never dreamt of that. I just wanted to have someone I could be crazy with like my friends, someone I could talk to about anything from something obscene to something national emergency kind of serious.
I got that and a lot more. I still feel like shouting and rolling on my bed from giddiness whenever I think about him. He stared back at me and I could feel his warm big hands caressing my back. The physical distance was killing me. We stayed like that until somebody at my back cleared her throat.
He apparently heard it too because he chuckled as I made an exasperated sound.
"I guess I'll call you back later," he said.
"Yeah..." But we didn't move.
"I miss you," he quietly added.
"I miss you more..."
"I don't think so..."
I beamed at him. He would never let me win on that argument anyway. "Call me back."
"Yeah," Amon murmured.
I recognized the look immediately. They were containing themselves to shower me with questions and they were on the brink of failing. So, I took mercy on them.
"Spill it out." I let myself fall on the bed.
"When did you meet him? How did you convince him to date you? What did you do to him?" Celes took the opportunity to speak first.
"Are we friends or what? Believe it or not, I didn't witch him to date me or even like me. I just shouted at him on the side walk and he kidnapped me to his Dad's house. Basically, that's how we met."
But before I could add the most crucial part of their meeting, Honey interrupted.
"We won't accept short cuts! Tell us the whole story! We have the whole day here."
So I did. They sat around me like eager toddlers listening to a story telling. I told them that we met briefly before 2 years ago and he apparently didn't forget me but I did. We met again and we argued in the side walk when my camera broke. And then I told them about Amon's dad and their reaction was unanimous.
"No way! Enough fooling already! You win, hands down," Katrina said.
"I'm not kidding!" But they would never believe me.
"Fine. I'll show you." I moved to my PC and googled images.
Their surprise was unanimous as well. Delighted by their reaction, I sat back and let them absorb the idea. They took over the computer chair and scrolled on the pages, occasionally adding 'gosh!' and 'Oh my God!'. It was Sia, being the lawyer soon to be, who continued her inquiry.
"You're dating a celebrity, you lunatic!"
"I'm not! Amon's not a celebrity, his dad is. He's not even interested."
Sia knocked my head with her knuckles. "He's still a celebrity." She pulled me beside her and turned solemn. "Are you serious about this? Your own words, you just knew him for 2 weeks. What happened to getting to know more?"
I felt warm by their concern. And it also brought up the fears I had on our relationship. I thought of those things too. I was never an impulsive thinker. It was exactly why I didn't have any past relationships since I think too much of the consequences. But with Amon, I admitted that I went by instinct and feelings. I forgot to think when I heard him confess and it scared me.
"I honestly don't know. You know me, I don't easily get myself tangled up. I don't know what happened, Si, but I never felt the way I did with him before. It's not just the looks."
"No, you're not in for the looks. You never are. And you rarely listen to your feelings." We shared a comfortable smile between friends who knew each other inside and out.
"Exactly. But I didn't use my brain this time. And it feels good."
"Falling in love feels good, dear."
"Take it from her, she's an expert at falling in love." Honey joined in. The light atmosphere was gone. In the middle of the excitement and commotion, we felt the gravity of being involved with someone publicly known. Dating a foreigner was okay, exciting even, but a foreign celebrity or more accurately said, celebrity related changed the whole aspect.
"Do you love him?" Katrina didn't believe in men although she didn't have any objection on our boy ogling activities. It took her years to accept her difference and for us to know about it but they didn't make an issue about her preference. It didn't change the fact that they were good friends.
"Of course I do." She was taken aback by her instant answer but she meant it.
Celes sat on the bed too and cradled her chin on Honey's shoulder. "I asked you this before, how do you know?"
"I still don't know how to answer that. All I know is that it feels different. It feels comfortable with him. I feel happy, angry, irritated... alive. It's like I never have to think of propriety whenever I'm with him. And when I'm with him, I learn something new; I discover something I never thought of before."
I saw the amusement in their eyes. The private knowing grins were plastered on their faces as they stared at me.
"What?"
"You got it bad, girl. We never saw you like this before. I guess you really are in love." said Abie who remained seated on the PC chair.
"And we can't blame you. He is hot!" She fanned herself with her hand. Feminine laughter filled the room.
"Well, if you're happy, then we're happy. We're always here for you, you know that." Sia put her hand over mine. Touched, I gathered my best friends into a group hug. They may be nutty but they were the best in the world for me.
They wanted me to continue telling my story. The room filled with squeals and teasing as I recalled all the things I could remember we did in India. I could sense that they were slowly and discreetly getting to know Amon through my stories. My friends' brains work like psychologists' in dissecting personalities and behavior but I wasn't concerned. I wanted them to see what I saw in him.
"From what you told us, his dad is a big man in Bollywood. Amon may not be a celebrity but apparently media people are still after him or we'll never find him in google." Celes just confirmed my worst concern.
"Actually, we were photographed kissing in the airport before I left. I'm not sure what happened after that." I bit my lower lip when they gave me 5 versions of incredulous look. Kat suddenly stood up and sat in front of the monitor.
"Let's find out then." She typed in 'Amon Kahn's girlfriend' and our pictures flooded the screen. We didn't see it earlier since they opened a different one.
"Well..." She eyed me and went pale. It was shot from the back showing an intimate pose, Amon dipping his head, arms around me, and I reaching up to entangle my hands on his hair.
"I'll bet my life that you didn't notice them. In fact, you didn't notice anyone at all." Abie put her hands on my shoulder as I was still appalled to see myself on the news link that Kat opened.
"Zuma's boy no more..." it said. What the heck! They just noticed that?
"Why didn't Amon tell me about this?" Fishing out my phone from my bag, I dialed Amon's number, not caring that it was an overseas call. He answered after the 2nd ring and I didn't give him a chance to say hello.
"Why didn't you mention to me that we're in the news?"
"What news?"
The quintet listened to the conversation silently. They went there to visit their best friend and hang out but the day was turning out pretty interesting.
"The airport pictures, they're in the news!" Their eyes followed me as I was pacing the floor back and forth.
"Hold on, babe..." I heard shuffling on the other line and Amon bellowing to someone named Akash. I couldn't follow the next words since it was in Hindi. The next thing I heard were strings of foreign words which sure sounded like curses.
"Love, don't cuss at me."
"I'm not swearing at you. But how the hell are we in the papers? I didn't know about this, K. I need to talk to dad's publicist. I'll call you later. I love you and I'm sorry..."
"It's okay. I love you too..."
"He didn't know about it. He'll talk to his dad's publicist," I relayed and put down my phone.
"Did you talk to your parents about him?" Honey always insisted on our parents’ approval on anything that we try to do which was good. She never had a problem on telling her parents about anything.
"Not yet. You're the first to know."
"I suggest you tell them soon."
I dropped myself yet again on the bed, this time, lying completely, smothering my groans on the pillow.
Chuckling, Celes caressed my hair. "Need help on that?"
Looking up from her pillow, I gave her a pleading look. “Even if I have to beg."
Completely laughing now, Kat pulled me up. " Nah...just feed us."
Having them around made me feel at ease. Whatever I had to face on this new chapter of my life I was sure the five of them got my back. With them, everything would be fine.
I hoped.
As per usual, my girlfriends swarmed my flat when they knew I was already at home. One look at me and they bombarded me with a million and one questions pertaining to one particular matter.
“How dare you have a boyfriend without even sending us an SMS about it?” Honey, the loudest among us said.
“And an Indian for that matter! You’ve gone absolutely mad!” Celestine added on her as a matter of fact voice. She was actually the prettiest among us and sadly, the most clueless in fashion too.
“Exactly! In a month? You won’t even give a poor guy’s a chance in a year!” It was Sia, our youngest and the most number of ex-boyfriends in the group.
I looked at them one by one. They haven’t changed a tiny bit from the last time we saw each other almost 2 months ago except for being a little crazier and their complexions. Honey and Katrina were tanner from Bahamas while cousins Celestine and Abie were paler from Ireland and Sia from closeting in the Law Library.
“Thank you so much for your concern. I arrived well and fine. Now, do you want pen and paper for your questions? How about the two of you?” I asked Kat and Abie who were still silent that time. We arrived in my bedroom as they rained me with questions and we sat on the floor futons and bean bags. They huddled on the other side while I was alone on the other. “Do you want to add your dissertations to the interrogation?”
Katrina shrugged her shoulders and smirked while Abie was turning her eyes around, thinking.
“Is he gorgeous?” she added.
I dramatically exhaled aloud before speaking. I focused on Honey. “First, let me remind you that we decided to forget our phones for that month which, I think, I was the only one who succeeded. And that reminds me to collect my winnings later.”
I turned my eyes to Celes and said, “What’s wrong with Indians? Their eyes are to die for, I tell you.”
I sounded annoyed but actually I was quite excited to tell them. I was bursting to tell them everything.
“Actually, I knew him for about half a month,” addressing Sia. “I’m still not sorry I didn’t give them a chance, especially now."
And finally, turning to Abie I said, “Yes, darling, he is ‘gorgeous’. But how did you know about it?”
I didn’t tell them about Amon when I was still in India. We had a bet on not contacting each other while we were away and shun our cell phones, a little experiment if we could live without messing with each other's lives for a while. I honestly had mine because my mum went ballistic when she learnt about the bet but I would never tell them that or I’d pay double. Besides, I didn’t contact any of them like what we talked of.
That was the alibi I had but truth was I really forgot about it and I was feeling guilty for not sharing probably the perfect moment in my life with my best gals. It was my first time to enjoy a trip without them and needless to say, I was distracted.
I was quite clueless of how they knew about it ‘cause I haven’t talked to anyone about it just yet. It was either I was very obvious or somebody learned Oclumency from their vacation. I was chewing on that matter it was after a while before I noticed their shocked faces. Katrina pulled out her earbuds and gaped at me.
What was the matter with them? What the heck did their vacation do to them?
“Wait, wait wait…so, you’re saying, you ‘do’ have a boyfriend?” she asked and moved closer.
“Yeee…ah…” I wasn’t sure how to answer that but I was beginning to have an idea. Like I said, they didn’t change a lot.
“Oh my God!” Abie shouted almost at the same time when Sia said, “We were just pulling your leg!”
I got them there! We’re normally weird but they were acting beyond normal so they must be cooking something. We all paused for a second before all hell broke loose.
“Okay, now I’m gonna kill you!” Honey threw at me the throw pillow and stood up to choke me. Sia, Abie, and Kat followed suit on pulling every part of my body while Celes digested my news.
Don’t get me wrong, that was how normal we behave. When we get together, other people would think we hate each other a lot but actually it’s the other way around. And that day, they fooled me and I shocked them. I have to add that we’re not easily fooled or shocked. We could only do that to each other.
While they were trying to take the life out of me and it finally dawned on Celes to join in the party, my caller ring tone from the PC grabbed my attention. I was in tune to its sound the whole day so maybe that was the reason why I heard it amidst our commotion.
I hurriedly extracted myself from our tangled mess on the floor before anyone of them hears it and decided to answer it.
“Hi babe!” I said as soon as I hit the answer button.
I must have looked hideous with my messy hair and flushed face he had to draw back before answering me reluctantly.
“H hi…what happened to you?” He was already laughing as I pulled the tangles from my hair.
“Hurricanes and tornadoes are currently my visitors.” They were immediately on my back and stifling ‘oh my goshes!’ and pushed each other closer. I introduced them to him one by one as I tried to comb my hair with my hand and they enthusiastically waved.
“This is Kat...” She waved flirtatiously on my poor boyfriend who looked so confused.
“Hi, Mr. Eyes to die for.” I tried so hard not to giggle when Amon visibly went red but they didn’t have to smother theirs.
“Uhm…hi…” his hand automatically shot to the back of his head like when I fluster him.
“This is Sia...” who waved and smiled but thankfully didn’t say anything.
“…Celes…”
“Do you have a brother?” she cheekily asked which Amon, still flushed, shook his head as an answer.
“…Honey…”
“How about a friend?” she asked and fixed her hair behind her ears. If they weren’t my friends, I’d definitely condemn them for embarrassment but since I am, I just had to laugh at their antics. Thankfully, Amon was getting the hang of it even if he was still as red as a beet.
“Yeah, sure.” He was smiling now to the delight of my crackpot friends.
“…and Abie.”
“Nice to meet you,” my boyfriend said.
“Oh, you’re so nice to my eyes too.” I had to pinch her and look at her with widened eyes.
“Mine, okay? Signed and sealed: Kara’s.” I spoke to them with my eyes to let me speak with Amon alone for a while. They moved back to the cushions after snubbing at me, waving to the camera again and shouting, 'Nice to meet you!'.
“So…” I started but when we looked at each other we broke into a fit of laughter. He shook his head. He couldn’t believe what just happened.
“So…” I began again, “those were my best friends. I was telling them about you when you called. That was spontaneous reaction.”
He nodded, a smile still on his lips. “Now, I know why you’re crazy.”
“Oh, thank you so much!” I said, acting offended.
“Yeah. I like them, they’re good.”
Who wouldn’t want to hear that from your boyfriend?
"I think they like me too." I knew that aside from being shocked, he was also nervous about meeting them. I told him about them once and I think he knew they have very important say on my life.
"Oh, they like you physically." And I couldn't fault them for that. "You saw it yourself. Other than that, I couldn't be sure."
"Yeah. It's okay. I can work on that." He knew it was not easy to get their approval especially that they didn't know him a month ago.
I just stared at him. A month before that, I would kick myself for saying this but I already miss him I want to go back to India right then. It was amazing and almost unbelievable that I met someone like him and that we're actually dating. I never dreamt of that. I just wanted to have someone I could be crazy with like my friends, someone I could talk to about anything from something obscene to something national emergency kind of serious.
I got that and a lot more. I still feel like shouting and rolling on my bed from giddiness whenever I think about him. He stared back at me and I could feel his warm big hands caressing my back. The physical distance was killing me. We stayed like that until somebody at my back cleared her throat.
He apparently heard it too because he chuckled as I made an exasperated sound.
"I guess I'll call you back later," he said.
"Yeah..." But we didn't move.
"I miss you," he quietly added.
"I miss you more..."
"I don't think so..."
I beamed at him. He would never let me win on that argument anyway. "Call me back."
"Yeah," Amon murmured.
I recognized the look immediately. They were containing themselves to shower me with questions and they were on the brink of failing. So, I took mercy on them.
"Spill it out." I let myself fall on the bed.
"When did you meet him? How did you convince him to date you? What did you do to him?" Celes took the opportunity to speak first.
"Are we friends or what? Believe it or not, I didn't witch him to date me or even like me. I just shouted at him on the side walk and he kidnapped me to his Dad's house. Basically, that's how we met."
But before I could add the most crucial part of their meeting, Honey interrupted.
"We won't accept short cuts! Tell us the whole story! We have the whole day here."
So I did. They sat around me like eager toddlers listening to a story telling. I told them that we met briefly before 2 years ago and he apparently didn't forget me but I did. We met again and we argued in the side walk when my camera broke. And then I told them about Amon's dad and their reaction was unanimous.
"No way! Enough fooling already! You win, hands down," Katrina said.
"I'm not kidding!" But they would never believe me.
"Fine. I'll show you." I moved to my PC and googled images.
Their surprise was unanimous as well. Delighted by their reaction, I sat back and let them absorb the idea. They took over the computer chair and scrolled on the pages, occasionally adding 'gosh!' and 'Oh my God!'. It was Sia, being the lawyer soon to be, who continued her inquiry.
"You're dating a celebrity, you lunatic!"
"I'm not! Amon's not a celebrity, his dad is. He's not even interested."
Sia knocked my head with her knuckles. "He's still a celebrity." She pulled me beside her and turned solemn. "Are you serious about this? Your own words, you just knew him for 2 weeks. What happened to getting to know more?"
I felt warm by their concern. And it also brought up the fears I had on our relationship. I thought of those things too. I was never an impulsive thinker. It was exactly why I didn't have any past relationships since I think too much of the consequences. But with Amon, I admitted that I went by instinct and feelings. I forgot to think when I heard him confess and it scared me.
"I honestly don't know. You know me, I don't easily get myself tangled up. I don't know what happened, Si, but I never felt the way I did with him before. It's not just the looks."
"No, you're not in for the looks. You never are. And you rarely listen to your feelings." We shared a comfortable smile between friends who knew each other inside and out.
"Exactly. But I didn't use my brain this time. And it feels good."
"Falling in love feels good, dear."
"Take it from her, she's an expert at falling in love." Honey joined in. The light atmosphere was gone. In the middle of the excitement and commotion, we felt the gravity of being involved with someone publicly known. Dating a foreigner was okay, exciting even, but a foreign celebrity or more accurately said, celebrity related changed the whole aspect.
"Do you love him?" Katrina didn't believe in men although she didn't have any objection on our boy ogling activities. It took her years to accept her difference and for us to know about it but they didn't make an issue about her preference. It didn't change the fact that they were good friends.
"Of course I do." She was taken aback by her instant answer but she meant it.
Celes sat on the bed too and cradled her chin on Honey's shoulder. "I asked you this before, how do you know?"
"I still don't know how to answer that. All I know is that it feels different. It feels comfortable with him. I feel happy, angry, irritated... alive. It's like I never have to think of propriety whenever I'm with him. And when I'm with him, I learn something new; I discover something I never thought of before."
I saw the amusement in their eyes. The private knowing grins were plastered on their faces as they stared at me.
"What?"
"You got it bad, girl. We never saw you like this before. I guess you really are in love." said Abie who remained seated on the PC chair.
"And we can't blame you. He is hot!" She fanned herself with her hand. Feminine laughter filled the room.
"Well, if you're happy, then we're happy. We're always here for you, you know that." Sia put her hand over mine. Touched, I gathered my best friends into a group hug. They may be nutty but they were the best in the world for me.
They wanted me to continue telling my story. The room filled with squeals and teasing as I recalled all the things I could remember we did in India. I could sense that they were slowly and discreetly getting to know Amon through my stories. My friends' brains work like psychologists' in dissecting personalities and behavior but I wasn't concerned. I wanted them to see what I saw in him.
"From what you told us, his dad is a big man in Bollywood. Amon may not be a celebrity but apparently media people are still after him or we'll never find him in google." Celes just confirmed my worst concern.
"Actually, we were photographed kissing in the airport before I left. I'm not sure what happened after that." I bit my lower lip when they gave me 5 versions of incredulous look. Kat suddenly stood up and sat in front of the monitor.
"Let's find out then." She typed in 'Amon Kahn's girlfriend' and our pictures flooded the screen. We didn't see it earlier since they opened a different one.
"Well..." She eyed me and went pale. It was shot from the back showing an intimate pose, Amon dipping his head, arms around me, and I reaching up to entangle my hands on his hair.
"I'll bet my life that you didn't notice them. In fact, you didn't notice anyone at all." Abie put her hands on my shoulder as I was still appalled to see myself on the news link that Kat opened.
"Zuma's boy no more..." it said. What the heck! They just noticed that?
"Why didn't Amon tell me about this?" Fishing out my phone from my bag, I dialed Amon's number, not caring that it was an overseas call. He answered after the 2nd ring and I didn't give him a chance to say hello.
"Why didn't you mention to me that we're in the news?"
"What news?"
The quintet listened to the conversation silently. They went there to visit their best friend and hang out but the day was turning out pretty interesting.
"The airport pictures, they're in the news!" Their eyes followed me as I was pacing the floor back and forth.
"Hold on, babe..." I heard shuffling on the other line and Amon bellowing to someone named Akash. I couldn't follow the next words since it was in Hindi. The next thing I heard were strings of foreign words which sure sounded like curses.
"Love, don't cuss at me."
"I'm not swearing at you. But how the hell are we in the papers? I didn't know about this, K. I need to talk to dad's publicist. I'll call you later. I love you and I'm sorry..."
"It's okay. I love you too..."
"He didn't know about it. He'll talk to his dad's publicist," I relayed and put down my phone.
"Did you talk to your parents about him?" Honey always insisted on our parents’ approval on anything that we try to do which was good. She never had a problem on telling her parents about anything.
"Not yet. You're the first to know."
"I suggest you tell them soon."
I dropped myself yet again on the bed, this time, lying completely, smothering my groans on the pillow.
Chuckling, Celes caressed my hair. "Need help on that?"
Looking up from her pillow, I gave her a pleading look. “Even if I have to beg."
Completely laughing now, Kat pulled me up. " Nah...just feed us."
Having them around made me feel at ease. Whatever I had to face on this new chapter of my life I was sure the five of them got my back. With them, everything would be fine.
I hoped.