Chapter 1
2018.
September 15, 9:27 pm
At first glance, San Gregorio does not look like a town that’s particularly anything out of the ordinary. There are, of course, the basic spots that one would find in any other Philippine town – a plaza, a grocery store, some drug stores, several fairly cheap hotels, and essentially anything else one would need from a town. A fair first impression would be: “I don’t know why people would fly from other provinces to this one, just to come to this seemingly unimportant town.”
Well, it is located just next to the nightlife district, but that place is not worth saving up for weeks to buy a ticket.
The main reason would be that there is a grandiose resort paradise just one tricycle ride away from the town proper. Inside, there are a million different attractions. There are swimming pools, wall climbing challenges, rides, statues of fictional characters, a spa, a movie theater, and many, many more. However, the cottages inside cost a fortune, so tourists would often book a hotel near the town proper before coming in. And when they’ve had enough, they go back to their cheap hotel rooms right after.
There’s panic in the third floor of the G5 Hotel tonight – the one located near the national high school. There were pesky little footsteps sounding off every now and then. Occasionally, it’ll sound like people are talking. There were also some hints of shouting going on. The occupants from different rooms didn’t realize it, but they were all thinking the same thing: Aren’t these rooms supposed to be soundproof?
Of course, it’s not like these people running out and about were aiming to disturb anyone, and nor were they expecting to be disturbed about the sudden disappearance of their companion in the first place. They were simply here to have a good time and celebrate a birthday, but someone going missing wasn’t on the itinerary.
“He’s not in our room,” Sage informed the group when they all gathered in front of the reception desk.
“He’s not in the rooftop either,” Josette added, breathing heavily.
“Oh my God,” Ken sat on one of the couches and frantically buried his face on his palms. Guilt-ridden and worried, he took out his phone and speedily typed: “Where the hell are you, Hugh? I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean that. Please come back here. I’m so sorry.”
“He’s not gonna reply, Ken. He left his phone to charge in our room,” Sage muttered.
“Why’d you have to say that anyway, Ken? That was really harsh,” Seb commented, sitting on the couch in front of him and massaged his temples.
“I know, okay? I just… I wasn’t able to keep myself from saying it. But I’m going to say sorry as soon as we find him,” Ken replied. “If something bad happens to him, I’ll never be able to forgive myself.”
“Fuck this. I just wanted to have a bit of a getaway for my birthday. Someone going missing wasn’t part of the plan. Thank you very much, Ken,” Sage spat out, making sure to inject as much venom and sarcasm as he can to that last sentence.
“Okay, everyone, let’s just calm down for a bit,” Josette sighed.
Ken sat up straight. “I promise I’m gonna fix this as soon as we find him.”
Sage couldn’t help but walk towards him, pointing an accusing finger. “You very well know that it took us everything to get his parents to let him come with us. It’s not his fault he was taught to ask permission for everything.”
With teary eyes, Ken looked Sage in his eyes. He wanted so badly to defend himself, but Sage was right. This really was his fault, at the end of the day. “I just wanted him to come out of his shell. It came out harsh. I’m sorry. I’m going to control my mouth from now on.”
Sage didn’t even let another second pass after that sentence before digging into him again. “See? You called him boring, and now we’re panicking. Are you still bored, Ken?”
“Sage. Ken. Let’s focus on looking for Hugh for now. Fighting like this isn’t productive,” Josette stepped in. “And it definitely won’t help us find him. Let’s split up and look outside.”
“Okay,” Sage turned away. “I’ll take a look at the pool. He may just be doing a back float there. He sometimes does that at my house when he’s dealing with stuff.”
“I’m sorry, everyone,” Ken says once again.
“Don’t apologize to us. Save the apologies to Hugh for when we find him later,” Seb rubbed his back and accompanied him as they split up to cover more ground.
September 15, 9:53 pm
Shit. Yuck. Gross. This isn’t working. No. Fuck this. I’m never doing this again. The moment I go back to the hotel later, I’m going to gargle a bucket of mouthwash and I’m not going to sleep until there’s no aftertaste anymore. What was I thinking?!
Hugh mentally cursed those words as he uncomfortably coughed up smoke. He didn’t even have any idea that a pack of cigarettes can cost that much, much less that it’ll taste and feel awful on his throat. It made him wonder why people in his neighborhood buy at least one pack of this every day from the store across this house. People really spend more or less than a hundred pesos for this? Is a hundred pesos even really worth this experience? Seriously?
“Ow, owowowow! Son of a—that hurts!”
In surprise, Hugh ended up swallowing whatever he was trying to cough out when he heard a man screaming near him. He wanted to vomit. When he turned, he saw a man wincing in pain, holding his arm as he stomped on something repeatedly. When he took his foot away, Hugh saw the very cigarette that he used just now.
Shit.
“Dude, what’s your deal?!” the man yelled at him. Hugh gulped. He didn’t even realize that there was any other person around here, especially at this time of night. The streetlight near the waiting shed outside the San Gregorio Plaza barely had a working bulb illuminating the area, and so he decided to hang out here for a while to watch the cars pass by (and to make it harder for his friends to find him).
Another thing he didn’t realize that just happened was that he accidentally threw his lit cigarette aside while he was coughing for his life.
And it landed on this man’s arm.
“Oh my God, I’m so sorry! I didn’t realize that I’d accidentally thrown it!” Hugh bowed repeatedly in apology and thought about the nearest pharmacy while he did it. “Um, there’s a Mercury Drug right over there. I’ll buy you an ointment. I’m so sorry.”
“Have you never smoked before?” the man muttered, then walked in front of him.
“I’m sorry.”
September 15, 10:13 pm
“That would be 277.50, Sir,” the cashier cheerily says after computing the total for the ointment and the mouthwash. Hugh took out the exact amount from his wallet, to the cashier’s appreciation. The man with him was still holding on to the burnt spot on his arm as he walked around the snacks section of the pharmacy.
“D-do you want to buy something else? It’ll still be on me,” Hugh nervously asked him.
“Nope. Just put the ointment on me already,” the man replied in irritation and walked out. Hugh followed. The man didn’t even hold the door open for him, but that was fair.
They sat down on one of those long blocks on the parking lot just outside the pharmacy. Hugh sat on one end, and the stranger scooted to the other end. Seeing that Hugh had opened the tube, the man let go of his arm, and Hugh winced as he saw that the burn looked pretty bad. Although not a very large burn, part of the stranger’s arm was swollen and had all the different shades of the first three colors of the rainbow on it.
Again, he whispered an apology, and at this point he’s done it so many times that the man couldn’t help but let out a chuckle.
“Fico,” he simply says.
“Huh?”
“Fico’s my name. You?”
“Oh. I’m Hugh.”
“Okay,” he replied nonchalantly and started whistling. Hugh could see Fico acting like there was no stinging pain on his arm as he rubbed the ointment on his burn, but the heavy breathing was telling a different story.
“Why were you coughing like that earlier, by the way?” Fico asked, trying to keep his mind off of the sting. “It’s like you don’t know how to smoke or something.”
“That’s because I don’t. That was my first time. And the last time,” Hugh admitted, putting the cap back on the ointment’s tube.
“Why’d you do it then?”
“New experiences?”
“Wow. Your immediate idea of a new experience is trying a new vice? You’re something else,” Fico sarcastically praised him.
“Please don’t judge me. I’ve had enough judgement for tonight already.”
“I don’t mean to pry, but it sounds like you just had a quarrel. Was that why you were sitting alone in the dark earlier?”
“Why are you making small talk with me? Didn’t I just burn your arm?”
“You’re the one who started opening up! So now, I’m already curious. Tell me what happened.”
Hugh sighed in defeat. This guy is weird. Just a few minutes ago, he could feel this man looking at him with so much hatred. Hatred strong enough to motivate him to go to a mambabarang after today and ask to lay a curse on the next generation of his family. And now he’s making small talk.
Weird.
“A friend called me ‘boring’.”
“Why?”
“Because I always ask permission from my parents before doing anything. My friends even had trouble to convince them to let me come on this trip with them. Earlier at the hotel, my friends brought out alcohol, and I’ve never tried it before. But it was already 8 and my parents were probably already asleep, and I wouldn’t dare text them to ask for permission. As a result, one of my friends got irritated because he saw that I really wanted to try but I just couldn’t bring myself to do it without them knowing.”
“Just because of that, he called you ‘boring’?”
“Yeah. In his defense, I think he’s right.”
“Nah, I think it’s just called ‘being a good kid’. They shouldn’t judge you for that.”
“But I do want to try new things,” Hugh sighed. “I was just not brave enough to try them without asking my parents first.”
“And you really chose cigarettes as a way to break out of that,” Fico shook his head. “Okay, let’s go.”
“’Let’s’? ‘Us’?”
“Yes.”
Hugh gulped. This just went in a completely different direction.
“Um… look, I know virginity is a social construct but… I want my first time to be… you know, with someone I love. Sorry,” Hugh says, slowly scooting away from where he was sitting – away from Fico.
Fico blinked for a few seconds, trying to register what he’d just heard. Then, he started to intentionally clear his throat to stop himself from laughing out loud.
“Why are you laughing?!”
Fico turned away and let out the loudest laugh he’s had in a long time. Hugh rolled his eyes and opened the mouthwash he’d just bought and gargled on it, irritated, as Fico continued to laugh. When he’s had enough of cleaning his mouth and made sure the remains of nicotine smells were gone, he spat the bubbles out somewhere, but Fico still wasn’t done laughing.
“Anyway, I’m going home. Get well soon with that burn,” Hugh said, picking up the plastic bag and handing the laughing man his ointment.
But before he could go any further, Fico grabbed his wrist. “Wait.”
“What?”
“Just so you know, I didn’t have any plans of having a one-night stand with you.”
“Good, me neither.”
“But you did say that you want to try something new, right?”
“…Yeah?”
“Well, let’s go to a karaoke bar.”
“What part of that is a new experience. I’ve been to a karaoke bar before!”
“But have you ever done karaoke with a stranger.”
“…No.”
“Then let’s go. My treat.”
Hugh raised an eyebrow, trying to connect why exactly this man whose arm he’d just accidentally burnt with a cigarette would want to help him get new experiences.
“You’re trying to get revenge on me for burning your arm,” he concluded.
“What? No!” Fico denied, waving his hands.
“Then what the hell are you planning?”
“Nothing, maybe I just want to let loose tonight too! It’s my last day today and I’m going back to the city tomorrow but so far nothing worth remembering has happened. So, I’m gonna help you have a memorable trip yourself.”
“Fico, I swear if you—”
“Give me that receipt,” he cut him off, grabbing the piece of paper stapled on the plastic bag and walked towards the pharmacy’s security guard to borrow a pen. Then he ran back to where Hugh was. “There. Put that in your wallet. In case they find your dead body in a ditch, at least they’ll have a name they can use as a suspect.”
Pacifico del Valle Jr.
“Is this really your name?”
“Yes,” Fico rolled his eyes, taking out an ID card from his wallet to show him. “There. Contented with the proof?”
“It’s not that. I just didn’t think your name would be Pacifico,” Hugh giggled. “I should have known, though.”
“You got a problem with my name?”
“Nothing. You just don’t look like you’d be named Pacifico.”
“I’m not sure if that’s a compliment or an insult.”
“Take it how you want it to be,” Hugh shrugged. “Now, where’s the nearest karaoke bar?”
