LAST year, the couple—Don Crisologo and Donya Ramona died because of a car accident. The clan of the victims then had the opportunity to gather after a long time staying abroad. After the funeral, Isabella’s family—the couple’s oldest child, decided to return to Los Angeles, California. A night before their flight, Andrius went out of the hotel to entertain himself.

Andrius is the youngest son of George and Isabella Novitch. Like the older siblings, Andrius was born and raised in LA. However, he still has the characteristics of a Filipino—he was polite, religious, and assiduous. Though he was a bit mulish, he knew his limitation. After taking a four-year college course, he set up his own business.

When it comes to every man's physique, the man was not out of trend. He’s good-looking with an oozing sex appeal. He’s a man a woman could die for. Six feet tall, and natural blonde hair.

Andrius went out that night because he was also longing for his usual night in LA. Metro Manila reminded him of LA—noisy and seemingly sleepless even in the depths of the night.

He went to a bar and after having a few shots of vodka, he went to a bookstore to buy a Filipino-authored book as a present to her girlfriend—Beatrice.

After buying some books, Andrius decided to visit his long-time friend—Hilton. He met the guy four years ago in a Taekwondo class when he had his vacation in the country. He met Hilton because of his cousin, Antonov. His cousin loves martial arts and it happened that Hilton and Antonov were schoolmates during their college days.

Before the long hand of the clock hit twelve and the shorthand hit ten, Andrius bid his goodbye.

Few blocks from Hilton’s house was a twenty-four-hour grocery store. Feeling thirsty, he went inside to buy a big bottle size of water but the store was out of stock. So, he just grabbed two small bottles and went to the cashier. It was already ten in the evening but the store has a lot of customers, thus he has to wait.

A woman follows him in line. She’s tall, mestiza, and slim. She has long and straight burgundy hair. She wore a backless blouse and worn-out denim pants—he can see her white and smooth flesh out of its round thighs. The way she dresses, it makes no difference among the girls in LA—modern and not stagy to show some portion of her skin.

The woman laid the feminine napkin she was holding on the shelf on the side. There Andrius noticed that the shelf displays condoms. He hemmed. The girl turns to his side and he got the chance to scrutinize the face of the girl.

She has a sharp nose. A hazelnut eye that can drown a guy who will look straight to it and it shouts a glow of happiness. And the interesting part was… she has a kissable lip. Andrius gulped.

On the other hand, the woman gasped as she looked at him, seems like she saw a Greek-God-like man. Andrius hemmed again and smirked. She then just shrugged her shoulder and verged to open her bag. She took the wallet inside. She glanced at the price tag of the item and grabbed a twenty-peso bill and a five-peso coin.

Suddenly the man next to Andrius seems in a hurry and accidentally pushes him. Unaware, Andrius bumped into the woman in front of him. The coin from the woman’s hand flew and ended up in the box of condoms. The woman sighed.

“Sorry,” Andrius said, hesitantly.

The woman turned to his side and glared at him.

“I didn’t mean to do that,” he said.

The woman just rolled her eyeball. The line moved but the woman didn’t follow. She was looking at the box of condoms. Andrius was not dumbed not to anticipate what the woman wants to do. He tittered. Instead of putting down the bottle of mineral water, he gave it to the woman. He walked closer to the shelf and searched at the box of condoms where the five-peso coin landed.

“Mint flavor! Strawberry…” he sounds like he was mocking.

“Are you kidding me?” the woman dropped the two bottles of mineral water next to the box where the condom was. Unfortunately, the box fell and its contents burst on the floor.

“Shit!” the woman cursed. Everyone in the store looked at them. The woman glared at him seems like she wanted to knocked him off. Before the woman could create chaos, Andrius moved ahead of her.

“THANK GOD that you’re here.” Ritch seemed relieved when Samantha arrived. She was standing in the doorway. “That old man keeps on pestering me.” She’s referring to Mr. Lee—the owner of the club where Samantha works. She’s the singer of the club.

“He went to my office, and when I came home, he keeps on calling me every minute as I don’t bother to pick the call up. He’s annoying.”

Samantha just gave a bored looked and stepped inside. She placed her bag on the center table. She took off her jacket that was tied at her waist and threw it on the corner. She walked and lay down on the sofa. She closes her eyes as he massages her temple.

“Hey. Are you listening to me?”

“Yeah,” she reluctantly replied.

Ritch heaved a deep sigh and walked towards the kitchen. “Eat first, it seems like you’re not feeling well or something.” She scooped the vegetables inside the casserole and place them in the small bowl. She then put it on the dining table. She glanced at Samantha as she pulled out the fried fish in the pan, and scooped some rice. “Come here and eat,” said, Ritch.

Samantha stood up and went closer to the kitchen. She stopped in front of the refrigerator and poured cold water into the glass.

“What does Mr. Lee need?” she asked and sat down.

“I think, you’re the one who needs him.”

“I’m not going back to the club.”

“You mean, you will continue your plan in going to Las Vegas?” asked, Ritch. She grabbed a spoon and fork and give them to Samantha.

“Yes. I’ll just wait for a few days.”

Ritch sat across from her. “I’m afraid for you, Samantha.”

“I need to do this, Ritch.” She shredded the fish with a fork and eat it.

“What if your job is not just dancing?”

“I know Helen and I know she won’t fool me.” She already worked with Helen. Two years ago, Helen flew to Las Vegas and worked as a dancer. Now Helen returned to the Philippines and she offered Samantha the same job as hers.

“Okay. Whatever your decision is, I will support you.”

Samantha held her friend’s hand. “Don’t worry, I can take care of myself. Besides, I finished a degree. They can’t fool me.”

“Las Vegas is a huge place, Sam.”

Fear and sadness crept into his heart. Her friend has a point. She looked down and focused her attention on the gold locket. It was the only thing she inherited from her late mother. And the courage and hope to see his father came to her senses. Inside her locket was the picture of her mother and father.

“I can find him. I will make sure of that. I will ask him, why does he need to abandon us.”

Her parents met at a resort on Mactan Island. Her mother was a cashier of a resort way back then and her father is a tourist. In a short span of time of knowing each other, a sudden spark has been made and suddenly, they fell in love with each other. Until the day that her mother got pregnant, without sudden information of her pregnancy to her own family. His father promised that he will marry her mother when he returned from Las Vegas, where he allegedly lived. But months passed by… he didn’t give a call or at least a single letter to her mother. And before his mother's parents know about her condition, her mother went to Manila. And with the help of a friend, her mother was able to work as a receptionist.

Her mother didn’t hide the truth from her. Even her surname is in accordance with his father. Her mother worked alone to pay for her education but due to her asthma, she died early and Samantha needs to stand alone on her feet and work hard to finish her studies. For all the determination and being a hard worker, she finished the course, Computer Science.

“Anyway, why do you look pissed when you came home? I keep on thinking that something went wrong with the agency.”

She shook her head. “Yeah, I am. Imagine that you are picking up condoms on the floor. What will be your reaction?”

“It’s fine.” Ritch laughed out loud. She even looked at her from head to toe.

“Stop it. I know what you’re up to. So, what if I look like a whore because of what I wear?”

“Hey, I didn’t say anything.”

“Huh! I know what you’re thinking. And Helen said I should be sexy. This is the sexiest attire that I have in my closet.”

“Okay. Just tell me why did you pick up condoms.”

“I went to a grocery store to buy some feminine napkin and as I’m getting my money, the guy following me pushed me. Then I dropped my five-peso coin and it flew on the box of condoms. The guy volunteered to find my coin.”

“Then?”

“And he started mentioning the different flavor of the contraceptives and glanced at me with his playful smile. I was annoyed, so, I dropped the bottles of water he handed me and it happened that it fell on the box and it burst, the condoms fell on the floor.”

"And you're the one who picked of those?"

“Exactly. And he left me there with a dose of embarrassment.”

"Gentle dog!" Ritch exclaimed.

“Indeed.” Samantha sighed. “Well, he’s handsome, though.”

"Really?"

“Yeah. He smells like dollars. He has blonde hair. And there’s more that makes me more pissed. People inside that store laughed at me.”

“Oh. Damn! That was embarrassing.”

“True. And if we crossed each other path again, I will make him pay for what he did.”

***

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