Gal held my hand in a rushed manner kaya I looked up to her but I didn’t see her looking at me kaya I followed her line of sight and she was looking at Gi, she’s standing up by the bench we secured earlier, alone, without Ning, looking like she’s about to cry. She’s looking at her right and there I saw Ning at a distance, walking away from her without looking back or holding anything that she was holding earlier when we left their house.

What the hell is happening?

‘What…’ I lowly let go. We fastened our pace to reach Gi faster kahit pabalik balik yung tingin ko sakanya saka kay Ning na nakakalayo na, I was able to dodge every person in front of us because Rid was leading the way to her.

I have never seen her walk this fast before over something that doesn’t even fully concern her so to know that she’s acting this way because of the other two, I guess she’s right when she told me that there was something happening between them that I wasn’t involved with.

The question is, ano yun?

We rarely have fights and the thought na excluded ako sa nangyayari ngayon, it brings another level of fear toppling over the worry I just have for the both of them right now.

We never fight.

We always talk about things kaya nga ang bilis naming naging close over a couple of years.

What the hell just happened for this to happen in the first place.

     When we arrived next to Gi, Ning didn’t seem to be too far away from us at we could still see her silhouette thru the tons of other people outside of their houses right now.

Kinuha ni Gal yung hawak na food ni Gi at itinabi dun sa paper bag sa bench. ‘What happened?’ I carefully asked her. She was still following her with her eyes but she doesn’t seem like she wants to go after her. I’m getting a huge feel that this fight only happened between the two of them and it’s making me badly irritated to know what it is that happened.

Bakit hindi ko alam? Bakit hindi ko nalaman? Why didn’t I notice that something was indeed taking place?

‘Si Ning’ that was the only thing Gi was able to blurt out while her hand slowly pointed to our friend. Hindi ko naman din alam ang gagawin ko at dalawa sila, isa lang ako.

I want to know but I need to take a move first so I could know, but what should I do?

Should I follow Ning and leave Gi here? Or should I stay with Gi and let Ning leave?

I swallowed a lump on my throat and was thinking on what I want to do when Gal let go of my hand before putting the cup she was holding down to the bench before facing us again. ‘Susundan ko, dito lang kayo’ she caressed my arm before turning back. It’s a simple act of humanity but it seemed so much to me that she also wanted to follow her.

It’s the least she could do so I could be here with Gi and it made me feel understood for some reason. I’m an expressive person but when it comes to other people understanding me without me even talking, it’s a different feeling that only a few could make me feel, one of them is her. She endlessly makes me feel like I’m understood.

I snapped out of my trancelike state when I felt another hand going down to hold mine.

As expected it was Gi, her eyes are still looking at the direction the other two went to. She seems lost and incapable of doing anything other than to look for them quietly so I moved her to sit down next to our things before sitting right beside her instantly, not letting go of her hand as her head stayed looking at the same direction she’s been looking at.

I pulled her head by her cheek so she could look at me and not at anything but my face. I’m not a person who knows what to do when things like this happen kahit pa nga ako yung ‘mediator’ ng group but I want to do everything for her kasi seeing Giselle like this is so much unlike her.

It feels like another person, another alter ego, another personality that I am not aware of.

‘Ano, okay ka lang?’ I attentively asked. She might be looking at me but that doesn’t mean that she’s in the right state to answer me so I was open to receive anything from her, a short hum, a nod, a blink, anything just to know that Gi’s still here with me.

‘May nagawa ba akong m-mali C-Cat?’

Her voice was so shaky that it made me feel so surprised. Her face held no emotions but her voice showed everything I needed to see.

So, something did happen, and Giselle feels like she’s the one who made it happen. I raised my brows to give her a sign to continue. ‘Gusto ko l-lang naman na- na malaman niya na- na hindi- na ano’ she trailed off. Letting go of my hand before wiping her eyes after looking away from me.

Gi’s a fighter but she does cry when the things she fights about makes her feel bad. And seeing her like this made me feel bad for her.

I threw my other leg over the bench so I could move closer to her, keeping her between my legs since she won’t look at me until she is sure na wala ng kahit anong luha na meron sa mata niya. I slowly wrapped my hands around her, making her lean to me since I have always been the kind of friend that you could be vulnerable to.

I can face you in your worst times ‘cause I also know how it feels when it suddenly happens like this.

She leaned her side to me while she tries to steady her breathing, I can feel her body lightly shaking kaya I made my hug tighter at wala na akong paki kung may tumitingin sa’min from afar. ‘Hayaan mo muna si Ning. Mahihimasmasan din yun’ I assured her.

Look, we’re a group of friends that all have a high pride within ourselves. Inside joke pa nga sa aming tatlo na baka yun talaga ang dahilan on why we’re all so close but one of our secrets on being close friends, nothing is a secret, even our weaknesses. Kaya nga kami ma-pride eh kasi we could easily tell each other what makes us feel things we don’t like.

We know each other that much kasi we all had high pride and we felt like if we’re going to be vulnerable to other people, it