Chapter 1: The First Time
The night was alive.
Lights blinked in every color, music clashed from different corners, and laughter filled the air like it belonged to everyone. It was fiesta in their barangay—the one night where everything felt louder, brighter, and a little more magical than usual.
Charlie Mari De Guia sat alone on a worn wooden bench near the edge of the perya, her legs gently swinging back and forth. She wore a simple blue top and denim shorts, her hair slightly messy from the humid evening air. In her hands was her phone, though she wasn’t really using it—just pretending to, as she waited.
“Where are they…” she muttered under her breath, glancing around.
Her friends were late.
Again.
A group of boys passed by in front of her, their laughter loud and careless, echoing through the noise of the carnival. Charlie instinctively looked up, her eyes scanning them for just a second—
And that’s when it happened.
One of the boys, wearing a white sando, looked at her too.
It was brief. Just a second.
But long enough to make her look away.
Charlie quickly dropped her gaze back to her phone, pretending to be busy, her face suddenly feeling warmer for no reason she wanted to admit.
“Ang ingay,” she whispered to herself.
Minutes passed.
The music changed. The crowd shifted. The smell of street food drifted through the air.
And then—
They were back.
The same group of boys.
Still loud. Still laughing like they owned the night.
This time, they stopped right in front of her.
Charlie tried to ignore them, focusing on her phone again, but their voices were too close, too distracting.
“Hey, tulak mo ko kunwari!” one of them said, laughing.
Before she could even process what was happening—
Thud.
A body bumped into her.
Charlie froze.
The boy in the white sando stumbled slightly, then quickly steadied himself, turning to her with a grin that didn’t look sorry at all.
“Sorry,” he said—laughing.
Charlie blinked.
Once.
Twice.
Her eyebrows furrowed, clearly annoyed, but she didn’t say anything. She just looked at him for a second, then looked away again, brushing it off like it didn’t matter.
But it did.
Even just a little.
The boys laughed again, already moving on like nothing happened.
Charlie let out a quiet sigh.
“Ang kukulit,” she whispered.
Finally—after what felt like forever—
“Charlie!”
Her head snapped up.
Her friends came running toward her, breathless and smiling, immediately pulling her up from the bench.
“Sorry! Ang tagal namin!” Jamie said.
“Halika na! Let’s go!”
And just like that, the night began.
They went from one ride to another, screaming on the ferris wheel, laughing too loud at the game booths, sharing street food, and taking blurry photos they’d probably never delete.
Charlie forgot about the boy.
Or at least… she thought she did.
Hours later, the lights started to dim.
The crowd slowly thinned.
It was time to go home.
Charlie and her friends walked together along the dusty road, still giggling about the night, when suddenly—
“Hey.”
They stopped.
Charlie turned.
And there he was.
The same boy.
White sando. Same easy grin.
Standing just a few steps behind them.
Her friends immediately looked at each other—then at her.
Then back at him.
“Anong kailangan mo?” one of her friends teased, already smiling.
The boy scratched the back of his neck, suddenly not as loud as before.
His eyes landed on Charlie.
“Anong pangalan mo?” he asked.
Simple.
Direct.
Charlie blinked, caught off guard.
Her friends gasped dramatically.
“Uy! Tinanong pangalan mo!”
“Charlie, sagot!”
“May nanliligaw agad oh!”
“Tumahimik nga kayo,” Charlie muttered, trying to hide her embarrassment.
She looked at him.
Really looked this time.
He wasn’t laughing now.
He was just… waiting.
“Charlie,” she said finally, her voice softer than she expected.
The boy smiled.
“Paul.”
And just like that—
Something small began.
Neither of them knew it yet.
But that night, under cheap carnival lights and noisy laughter—
They had already met someone they wouldn’t forget.