The next day, Gerald knocked at Kim’s door at around 10 A.M., waking her up.

     “Enter,” she mumbled, sleepily.

     “Tulog ka parin?” he asked incredulously.

     “Apparently,” she said, smiling at him.

     “So, up you up for that park date today?”

     “You wanna go for that today?”

     “Absolutely, definitely, positively today.”

     “Okay,” she said, getting up once again in a happy mood.

     “And this time, I’ll wait for you in the living room so that I don’t fall asleep,” he said making his way towards the door.

     “You go do that,” Kim said, getting into the bathroom.

     Thirty minutes later, the happy couple walked to the park a few blocks from the Chiu mansion. Kim has never been to that park, because she was always stuck at home or hanging out at the skate park.

     “I’ve never really been to this park before,” Kim then told Gerald, who at the time was hugging her, slightly pulled back to look at her.

     “You’ve lived in that mansion—“

     “—house—“

     “—for the past 22 years and you have ‘never really been to this park before?’”

      “Yeah, you got it about right.”

     “You are unbelievable.”

     “That’s one of the things I love about me!”

     “Hah! Me, too,” Gerald said, hugging her again.

     They spent hours at the park: by the swings, on top of the slide—when there were no kids—in the sandbox, just being little kids again. They were building a tiny sandcastle when suddenly—

     “Gerald!”

     The couple turned their heads to the direction of the voice and there they saw a woman who looked like she was in her early twenties. She had long brown hair, wearing nothing but short shorts and a tank top.

     “Nina,” Kim heard Gerald say.

     “Babe!” the woman who Gerald called ‘Nina’ said. “There you are! Oh, my gosh! I haven’t seen you in weeks!” she said as she tried to hug him, but Gerald stepped back.

     “Nina,” Gerald said again, holding her arms away from him. “Stop it.”

     “Why? I missed you.”

     “Nina!” Gerald said firmly, pushing her away. That’s when she noticed Kim.

     “Who are you?”

     Kim shifted her gaze from Gerald and back to the girl and said, “Kim.”

     “’Kim,’” Nina repeated. “And why are you with my boyfriend, ‘Kim?’”

     ‘Boyfriend?!’ Kim though to herself. ‘Son of a !’ “Nothing. I was just leaving,” Kim said out loud.

     “No, Kim, please!” Gerald said, holding onto her arm.

     “What?!” she said, violently shaking him off.

     “She’s not my girlfriend!”

     “Yes, I am!” Nina interrupted.

     “No, you’re not! Kim is!”

     “No!” Kim said aloud. “I’m not. I’m his ex. At least now I am,” she said leaving.

     “No, Kim! Please. Let me explain!” Gerald kept calling out to her, but Nina kept on clinging onto Gerald like magnet.

     Gerald pushed Nina away and she fell to the ground. “There is nothing going on between us! Do you understand? Nothing! There never was and there never will be!” Gerald said as he ran after Kim, leaving Nina in tears.

     “Kim!” Gerald knocked on her door when he finally got home. Kim was far ahead of him and was on her skateboard. “Kim, please open up.”

     “Gerald?” someone asked from the end of the hallway. “Are you looking for Kim?” It was her mom. “She hasn’t come home yet. I thought she was with you.”

     This made Gerald worry. ‘Where could she be?’ he thought. He racked his brain for where she could be. Suddenly, it hit him—“The skate park!”

     Gerald ran out, past Kim’s mother saying, “Thank you, po,” on his way. He rushed to the local skate park and there he saw Kim grinding. Her looked at her beautiful face and saw that the frown was back—the real frown. The frown he saw when he first met her by the pond.

     He then saw that Kim landed it and guys around her looked back to admire her and her work. Gerald was jogging down the steps, eyes still on her, when he saw that a guy about their age rolled over to where she was and started talking to her. Kim responded with a grin and they took off. Gerald knew without a second thought that the guy was hitting on her and she was completely open to it.

     By the time he got there, he saw that Kim was on the half-pipe and the guy was on the other side. They dove down at the same time, did a kick flip and switched boards. The both ended up on either side of the half-pipe and he saw Kim grin when everyone applauded them.

     As they got ready to do the trick again, Kim nodded and they went for it again. But halfway down, Kim lost her balance and fell, face first, onto the hardwood floor. Gerald rushed to her aid. “Kim. Kimmy, are you okay?”

     Kim was bleeding from her forehead, but she dismissed it as well as Gerald. Without saying a word she pushed Gerald off of her and climbed the half-pipe again. “This chick doesn’t know when to stop,” Gerald heard the guy say. “She’s hot, man.” He got back up on the other side.

     Gerald’s insides were twisting with jealousy. He wanted to just take her with him and go back home, but he knew he couldn’t do that—not yet.

     Kim and the guy dove down again and this time, the guy grabbed Kim’s arm taking her down, standing, with him. Then and there, he tried to kiss her, but Kim was too fast and swiftly moved out of his way. “No, dude.”

     “Why not, Kim?”

     “Coz I barely met you,” she said. “And you’re not really my type.”

     “’Not really your type’?” the guy repeated. “Girls throw themselves at me. You are a lucky, lucky girl.”

     “’Lucky?’” she asked. “You do know that what you’re saying it bull, right? Whoever those desperate girls are throwing themselves at a pathetic loser like you are nothing like me.”

     “No, no, no. See, I don’t get turned down,” he said grabbing her.

     “No,” Kim said pushing him away. She succeeded a few times, but he was persistent. Gerald just couldn’t take it anymore; he got onto the hardwood and beat the crap out of the guy. Kim was shocked for a moment but then recovered and helped Gerald kick his . “You just did!” she spat at his bleeding face.

     “Are you okay?” Gerald asked Kim later on.

     She looked at him and dismissed him as if he wasn’t even there. “Kim, please,” he pleaded. “Let me explain.”

     But Kim took no heed. He put himself in front of her to force her to look at him, but instead of facing him, Kim got on her board once again and rode home. Gerald chased after her the whole way.

     Kim got home only a few second ahead of Gerald. “Kim, wait,” Gerald called out to her as they entered the living room. Kim’s parent’s heads turned to the couple’s direction and looked at each other questioningly. They followed them up to the fifth floor where Kim and Gerald’s rooms were.

     They were coming up the hallway when they heard a door slam and Gerald calling out, “Kim! Open up, please!”

     “Gerald what’s wrong?”

     Gerald looked apologetically at the two. He then narrated what happened at the skate park.

     “Well, why does she seem mad at you?” they asked him.

     “Umm, there was sort of a misunderstanding at the park, too,”

     “Well—what happened?”

     “Well…” When they saw that Gerald was hesitant, they decided to tell him what they knew.

     “We know you and Kim are together, iho,” her mom said.

     “We were just waiting for you to tell us,” her father added.

     “I am so sorry,” Gerald said, looking at them.

     “It’s okay. Now tell us: What happened at the park?”

     When Gerald told them about Nina, Kim’s parents knocked on her door. “Kim? Kimmy? Open up, iha. Please.”

     When they saw that Kim was not going to open the door, they called the locksmith who built it. He was the only one who could open it the only way other than Kim’s voice. It was a hard process and took several hours—during which Gerald tried talking to Kim who took no notice of him.

     After about 4 and ½ hours, they finally got the locks opened and the locksmith bid them goodbye, promising to come back the next day and redo all of the locks.

     Gerald rushed inside as soon as the door opened just to find an open window and bed sheets hanging out of it.