“OH, you’re going home already?” asked Maita.

Vince ran into Maita in the hospital lobby. She was his senior in med school and a colleague at St. Augustine Medical Center. He works as a doctor of Family Medicine, while Maita was the head of the Emergency Department.

She was almost like a big sister to Vince.

“Mmm, yeah.” He checked his wristwatch.

“Why hurry when your condo was just a five-minute walk away from here?” Maita clung to his arm. “Come, let’s grab some coffee. Your treat.”

“I’m sorry. But I need to pick up my cousins from the airport.” He smiled apologetically.

“Hmph! But be sure to treat me to coffee next time, okay?” Maita tapped him on the arm and let go.

“Sure. As long as you’re available, there’ no problem with me.”

“Go ahead, or you’ll be stuck in traffic.”

Vince head to his home first to change. But before he went inside his unit, he rang Lien’s doorbell first. He waited on her doorstep for minutes. But still, no one opens the door, just like yesterday. She didn’t come to his unit to get her wound treated. At first, he got worried that something happened while she was inside her unit. But when he asked the security, he found out that she went out of the building in the afternoon.

Where did she go?

“HYUNG!” Astron waved at Vince when he saw him at the airport’s waiting area.

Ford, Astron’s elder brother, walks after him.

“Welcome to the Philippines,” Vince said as he hugs his cousins one by one.

The two were his paternal cousins. They were close when he was still living in South Korea. Vince was grateful that the two communicated continuously with him even after years. They always visited him whenever they had time.

He ushered his cousins to his car.

“Shall we eat? Tell me if you’re hungry and I’ll drop off at the nearest restaurant. There’s no food at home.”

“Don’t worry. We ate while we were on board,” said Ford.

“A bottle of good wine will do, Hyung.” Astron grinned.

Vince opened his SUV’s trunk and helped them load their luggage. Then they all hopped inside.

“Hyung, why don’t you get yourself a wife? You need someone to take care of you,” Astron suggested.

“I will get married when the time is right,” he said.

“When is that?” Ford butt in. “You’re thirty-one. Definitely not getting any younger. Do you want to take care of sick people forever? Come on, you also need someone who’ll take care of you.”

“Look who’s talking!” He smirked. “You’re thirty-five, and I’m just thirty-one. You should get married first,” Vince told Ford, who was sitting on the passenger’s seat.

“Anyway, did you know that your father is getting married again after his fifth divorce?”

He gave Ford a side-way glance.

“I haven’t heard from him for a long time,” Vince said somberly. “The last time that we talked over the phone was when he was convincing me to come back to Ilsan to live with him. I was fifteen back then.”

He only heard the news about his father from his cousins.

“This time, he’s marrying a Filipina who’s the same age as me.” Ford shook his head. “If you’re living with him, she would be mistaken as your wife instead.”

“If that’s what makes him happy, let him be,” Vince said in a low voice. “I’m happy and contented with my life, and all I could hope for is that he’s happy and healthy.”

Astron gave him a light pat on his shoulder.

VINCE went to Sitio Ilaya on his day-off. It was Nanay Erlinda’s birthday that day. Whenever he wasn’t busy, and during special occasions, he visits them.

She was their nanny back in South Korea, the one who helped Vince and her mom when they ran away from his father. Nanay Erlinda was too kind that she took care of him when her mother passed away. His mother was an orphan, and no one wants to take him in. She treated him like her own child, and he was grateful for that.

“`Ma, Vince is here!” Mae, Nanay Erlinda’s only daughter, announced. She was a year older than him. “She thought you wouldn’t come. She was about to cry,” Mae whispered.

“My favorite son is here,” said Nanay Erlinda.

Vince met her half-way and gave her a tight hug.

“What took you so long to come home? I thought you’re not coming. I haven’t heard from you. Vince, you almost made me cry.” Nanay Erlinda pouted her lips.

“I’m so sorry, `Nay. I’m quite busy with work these days,” he said.

“Ate Tina! Ate Tina!” Nanay Erlinda called her elder sister. “My Vince is here.”

And then, Vince’s eyes caught a familiar physique entered the dining room. How come it didn’t enter his mind that Lien might be in Sitio Ilaya?

“Oh, Vince!” Lien said upon seeing him.

He smiled and sauntered towards her.

“All this time, you are here. I was wondering what happened to you when you didn’t come to me that afternoon,” he said.

Lien refilled the plate with spring rolls.

“I visited Grams.” She handed him a plate and utensils. “You should eat. The spring rolls disappear in a few seconds. It’s like magic.”

He accepted it with both hands.

“Thanks. How’s your wound, anyway?”

“Oh.” She raised her elbow. “It’s getting better.”

“When do you plan to come back?” He filled his plate with food.

“Why, did you miss me already?” Lien shoots a spring roll inside her mouth.

Vince looked away when he felt his cheeks burn.

“Oh, my, Vince! Long time, no see!” Jillian ran to him and clung to his arm.

“O-oh, hi, Jillian,” he greeted her.

He caught Lien twitched her lip and gave Jillian a once-over. She then rolled her eyes and stormed out of the dining room.

“I heard you saved my cousin Lien from the fiery pits of hell,” said Jillian. “That girl, if not for you, she’s dead by now. Thanks, anyway. Grams and I will forever be indebted to you.”

“You don’t have to,” Vince said and pulled his arm away from Jillian. “Excuse me.”

He followed Lien to the kitchen and found her having a monologue while washing the dishes.

“That Jillian! Is she a leech or what?” She scoffed. “Seriously, why does she have to cling on his arm like that? As if they were super close—but why am I feeling this way?”

“Perhaps you’re jealous,” Vince said.

“I think so—” Lien turned to his direction. “When did you get here?”

“Not so long ago.” He stuffed his mouth with food.

She threw the sponge on him, but Vince managed to dodge.

“Ya!”

“Don’t stand there! Go and find a seat and finish your meal!”

“You don’t have to shout,” he told her.

“I am not shouting!”

“You are.”

“Oh, come on!”

“Raise your voice on me again, and I’ll kiss you,” Vince warned.

Lien pressed her lips together.

He laughed and left the kitchen.