"Happy birthday Jennie!"

Masaya akong binati ni Seulgi as she gave me her trademark eye-smile.

Sunod-sunod na rin akong binati ng mga kaibigan niya from Elbi - si Wendy at si Joy. Then Lisa and Rosé hugged me, tapos yung naging kaibigan ko na rin from Arreneo who I'd get to introduce to Seulgi for the first time.

My birthday's less than a month earlier than Seul. Dati sabay na lang kami mag-ce-celebrate. A Capricorn and an Aquarius who'd find jocundity over good, shared meal and shared conversations about life.

Pero nitong birthday ko na 'to, sabi ni Seul, i-celebrate natin separately to mark an adulting milestone too - first job, para sa aming dalawa.

To think na naka-graduate pa ako on time ay isang bagay na dapat na nga i-celebrate, kung tutuusin. Kahit naka-scholarship ako, ang hirap mag-aral sa Ateneo simula nung nawalan ng trabaho tatay ko.

Parte siya ng isang e-commerce platform. Rider. Napagtripan na siya before - yung mag-oorder tapos pagdating niya, i-ca-cancel bigla. Ilang beses ko na nakita umiyak tatay ko kapag nagkakaganun. 

Nung height nung pandemya, he was one of those laid-off, kahit na boom actually ang e-commerce industry nun. I was enraged. But Seulgi was actually angrier than me.

"Ito yung mali e, Jen. Nung nagka-pandemya, billionaires got richer - Jeff Bezos of Amazon earned $10 billion in a day alone nung July 2020. Yumaman siya habang yung workers ng Amazon walang additional na benepisyo while working 'round-the-clock habang may pandemya. Sila yung nasa frontlines tapos ni isang katiting walang nadagdag sa binabayad sa kanila.