Chapter 3 The date

Chapter 3

"You guys are so noisy!" But even though the noise annoyed me, I couldn't help but smile because I could see they were happy.

Despite the noise, they followed what I said. As usual, they lined up and let the younger kids go first.

I sat in front of the first child, took out a packed lunch and a donut.

"Oh, here. A donut." I handed it over.

"Just a donut?"

"You should be grateful!" Fillan scolded the kid.

I handed over the packed lunch and continued distributing the food.

"Wait, you're done already, aren't you?" I asked one of them, whom I had already seen earlier.

"Ahh, hehe. I thought I could sneak another one."

"Get out of here!" Fillan scolded again.

I gave out all 200 packed lunches and even added more since some of the adults had also started eating.

"Thank you, May!" Tatay Gurong said with a smile.

"I told you, you're working in prostitution now, aren't you?!" Aling Lagring blurted out while eating the food I bought.

"Oh? Maybe she got herself an 'afam' (foreign boyfriend)?" Jessa, one of the local sex workers, raised an eyebrow.

"What am I, you? I'm not a hunter for 'afams,' okay?"

She just rolled her eyes and continued eating the food I gave her.

It felt like a fiesta in our neighborhood because I had bought out the local eatery's supplies just to have more to give away.

"I really don't know what would happen to us without you, May! A lot of kids would probably be dead from hunger by now!" said our community leader, Mang Capo.

"That's true!" I agreed. "Even some of the adults would probably be dead-not from hunger, but from laziness! All they do is gossip instead of finding jobs!" I shot a look at the gossiping women, who only smirked at me while eating.

They knew I was talking about them-I always did.

"You're absolutely right, May!"

I turned to see a group of men drinking nearby.

"You guys too! I have no idea where you got the money for alcohol when none of you even have jobs!"

They just laughed and pointed at the sari-sari store. "We put it on credit-under your name. After all, you're rich now."

Frustrated, I messed up my own hair and stomped off to the store to pay for their drinks.

"Just add five more cases of beer and five cases of soft drinks."

"Whoa!"

"May-may, you're something else!"

"Is it your birthday?"

I took out my wallet and grabbed a few bills to pay for everything.

"You have a lot of money now, huh?" Elmo asked, noticing the cash. "What happened?"

He leaned on the store's wooden post, raising an eyebrow at me.

I shook my head. I didn't want to talk about it here.

Then, out of the corner of my eye, I spotted a group of students passing by-Kulot and his friends, looking curious about the commotion. The street was packed with people, and a karaoke machine was already blasting in the middle of the alley.

"Kulot!" I called out to the student. I gestured for them to come over.

"What's up, ate?" They approached.

"What's going on here?"

"Are you drunk, te?"

"I'm not drunk!" I opened my wallet. "I didn't even know you guys were still studying."

"Ate, we might be tough at night, but we're students in the morning!" Kulot joked, and they all laughed, giving each other high-fives.

I pulled out a few bills and handed them over.

"Holy-"

"Sister?"

"What's this for?"

"For food. Want me to shove it in your mouths?" I teased, moving the money closer to their faces.

"Ate, we'll take it!" Kulot quickly snatched the cash and stepped back.

"Share it among yourselves!"

"Yes, ate!"

"Use it for school, you troublemakers!"

They cheered excitedly and decided to stay, joining in on the free food.

The night went on, filled with drinking, singing, and dancing like it was an actual fiesta. No one complained about the noise because everyone was having fun. I even ordered more food for dinner, and that's when the speculation about my sudden wealth began.

"I bet a millionaire took her in," Mang Jun guessed.

I raised an eyebrow and nodded as if saying, "Maybe."

"How would that even work? She's not even that pretty!"

"Shut up, Jess! She's way prettier than you, even if you got plastic surgery!"

"My turn!" Kulot raised his hand, already tipsy. "I think she found a stash of money!"

"Nope."

"Eh, nah..."

"Impossible!"

Everyone shook their heads at Kulot's wild guess.

"I think she slept with a bunch of men last night," Jessa smirked.

I rolled my eyes.

"Wow! So, if you sleep with multiple men in one night, you can feed an entire barangay?"

The whole group laughed at Tatay Gurong's sharp clapback at Jessa. She just rolled her eyes and took another sip of beer.

"Maybe she saved someone's life?"

"Oh! Or won the lottery? Are you into that, May?"

"Or maybe she got into some black market dealings?"

The smile on my face vanished at that last one.

I glanced at Fillan, who was beside me, already dozing off from too much alcohol. No one else seemed to have heard that comment, as they continued guessing.

"Is that true?" Elmo whispered, sitting on my other side. He and Fillan had me between them.

I shook my head and turned to face everyone.

"You're all wrong! My millionaire father finally took me in. Turns out, my real dad is rich, and he's taking me away from here." I grinned.

Silence.

Then, they all burst into laughter.

I laughed along and shook my head.

No one would ever believe that. We've all dreamed of being taken in by our long-lost rich families to escape this poverty.

I stood up and patted Fillan's back.

"I'm heading home. Fillan, let's go."

Fillan stirred awake and got up, and Elmo followed.

"You three are really leaving?" Kulot asked.

"They're gonna have a threesome," Jessa joked lewdly.

"Yeah, wanna join?" I smirked and walked away.

The two followed me until we reached my room.

"So?" They both sat on the plastic stools.

I grabbed the contract from my bag and placed it on the table in front of Elmo.

"They want me to marry Asher Thorne. In exchange, they gave me four million."

Elmo scanned the contract. "And you think they're not fooling you?"

I smirked. "What do you take me for? An idiot? I know they're hiding something-and I'm going to find out what it is."

CHAPTER 4: THE DATE

May's POV

"So? What's your plan now?" Fillan asked, holding his head as he nursed a hangover. "Are you really going to get married?"

He sat on the plastic stool in my room, and Elmo sat beside him. I had already told them about my plan last night, but Fillan was drunk, so he probably forgot everything I said.

"Maybe you should think it over first," Elmo said with concern. "We all know Giovanni has a plan, and I don't think it's a good one."

"It never is," I replied. Not once did it cross my mind that Giovanni had good intentions.

I grabbed the deck of cards from my cabinet and placed them on the table in front of them. As usual, they knew the drill. Fillan immediately picked up the deck and took out the cards. I grabbed a plastic stool and sat down. The three of us surrounded my small, round plastic table.

"Marriage? Sounds so easy, huh?" Fillan said sarcastically as he dealt the cards.

"It's easy for someone who doesn't believe in marriage," I smirked and picked up my first card.

This was our usual thing-it made our conversations more entertaining.

"But it's still a commitment, May," Elmo reminded me, his eyes fixed on his cards while occasionally glancing at the one I had discarded.

"What if it turns out terrible?"

I froze at Fillan's words, then suddenly shrieked as I remembered something. They both looked at me like I had lost my mind.

"What's wrong with you?"

"Oh my gosh! I totally forgot!" I squealed, tucking a stray strand of hair behind my ear in an attempt to look cute.

Dalagang Pilipina, ey!

"I saw him!" I stuck my tongue out playfully and grabbed Elmo's arm with my free hand in excitement. "He's so handsome! Even more handsome than Sam! He kissed my hand, and I haven't washed it since!"

"Eww!"

The two of them recoiled in disgust, dragging their chairs farther away.

"So that's why you haven't taken a shower?" Elmo asked, grimacing.

"No wonder it smells bad," Fillan added, dramatically fanning the air in front of him.

"You guys are the worst!" Even from a distance, I stood up and smacked their arms.

"Ouch!"

"Stop it!"

After giving them both a few good slaps, I sat back down and fixed my hair.

"Anyway, he's hot. Mysterious. You guys know that's my type, right? He's got those dreamy, sleepy eyes, like he's just chill about everything. He doesn't smile, but he's insanely handsome! And filthy rich!"

I grinned and started hitting them again out of sheer excitement.

"Rich?" Fillan's grin widened. "Jackpot!" He held up his hand for a high-five.

"Right?!"

"What's his name?" Elmo asked.

"The one and only Asher Thorne, owner of Heresy Estate!"

I squealed again.

Just thinking about it, I could already picture my life in a grand mansion-with air conditioning and housemaids!

"Huh? But hasn't his real estate business been failing for years?"

I rolled my eyes at Fillan's question. He was all excited a moment ago, and now he was giving me that skeptical look.

"Why is your dad marrying you off to him?" Fillan asked.

"Well, he finally wants to accept me into his family-wait, is this mine?" I asked Elmo when I noticed a card in front of me.

"Yeah."

I took it, saw it was useless, and discarded it.

"And you believe that?" Fillan asked, echoing Elmo's question from last night. They both knew Giovanni's true nature. He had never done anything good for me.

"No."

"Then why are you agreeing to it?"

I picked up a card and answered without looking at him. "Because Asher is hot."

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Elmo pause at my ridiculous reason.

"If you want a hot guy, I'm right here. You should just marry-"

"Do you have four million?"

"Huh?"

I put my cards down and looked at him seriously.

"Giovanni paid me four million to marry this guy."

His eyes widened. "What? Why?"

"I don't know. We're supposed to talk about it-"

My phone rang. I raised an eyebrow when I saw the name on the screen. It was Dominic, Giovanni's butler.

I answered and put the call on speaker, placing the phone on the table so my friends could hear.

To Be Continued...