PROLOGUE

The young man’s tuft of hair on top of his forehead got slightly disturbed as the chilly November winds
blew. He grunted at the movement, remembering how much effort he spent on perfecting his hairdo,
only to be messed up by the breeze. Good thing the upward-gelled hair only danced faintly. He sighed,
and then peeked at his wristwatch.

A sudden vibration from his pocket made the guy flinch. He immediately fished out what’s inside his
pocket, and pulled out an iPhone 6 smartphone with a basketball keychain. When his eyes landed onto
the phone’s screen, his eyes sparkled, and a sweet smile was quickly sewn on his lips. His right thumb
fidgeted on his phone in a swift manner, the keychain dancing along his finger’s movement, and after a
few seconds, he buried the gadget back to his pocket.

He stood up from the bench of the waiting shed, and then began walking a few steps. His head was
searching for something, with his eyes constantly travelling to and fro. His left hand was above his eyes,
protecting the latter from the already harsh morning light of six forty-five.

Unexpectedly, however, a peculiar movement near his thigh caught his attention and lifted up his skin
hairs. He shrieked at the sign of danger, and then turned to the back, with fists clenched and eyes
narrowed.

“Hey, you!”

As he saw the thing that evoked caution to him, he suddenly froze.

“Good morning!”

An average-height girl of her mid-teens giggled while waving an iPhone 6 with a basketball keychain on
her left hand. She was donned in a school uniform, with its design complementary to the one worn by
the guy with her. She continued chuckling, and the boy’s cheeks flushed red as he watched her laugh at
his awkward response. Finally, she handed the phone back to him, and the boy, with his left hand
scratching his nape and his right hand extended forward, took the phone shyly.

“Next time, don’t place your valuables everywhere, okay? Especially your new iPhone! You know that
thieves can be everywhere, especially here in Philippines. From officials to taxi drivers, we have to be—“

“Okay, okay. I get it,” he cut her statement, “I’m keeping my phone safe from now on. Happy?”

She rolled her eyes and crossed her arms, but as he held her shoulders and smirked at her, a smile
instantly registered on her glossed lips. The two then laughed together, occasionally stealing glances at
each other. Soon, awkwardness hovered between them, with the boy scratching his nape and the girl
tucking a few strands of her hair behind her ear.

Eventually, they hugged each other, whispering “I missed you” to their ears while giving and taking
warmth from one another’s arms. The girl then tiptoed and pecked the rather tall boy’s left cheek, albeit
bashfully, and he couldn’t help but smirk. However, they quickly let go of each other, fearing to be
caught by others, especially schoolmates, while displaying affection at a place used by the public.
After calming down, the two then observed each other from head to toe. After spending the whole
Semester Break not seeing each other, as he spent his vacation with his family at Baguio City while she
stayed at their place for the whole break, the two anticipated physical changes from one another. They
ran their gazes at each other from toe to head, excited of what to discover—whether changes in height,
skin color or build. When their eyes eventually met, and they saw each other’s heads, both of their
mouths opened wide.

“Wow! You—“

“Lily, why did you have some bangs?! It looks so . . . horrible! What did you eat last Sem Break for you to
decide on wearing bangs?! Seriously, it’s—“

The girl blinked her eyes upon having her sentence cut, “But . . . b-but I want to have a ch-change of my
look! You know, for the new sem—“

“But it’s ugly!”

She froze. Unconsciously, she took a step backward with her left foot. Her boyfriend’s hands were on
her shoulders, but instead of feeling warm and uplifting, they felt heavy and cold. His eyes were staring
at hers, a glint of disdain and disgust on them. She recalled how excited she was to show her new,
below-the-eyebrow blunt bangs to him, hoping that he would like it. Yet, he just slapped onto her face
the fact that her fringes were ugly. She felt like shrinking; it’s as if her boyfriend found her to be the
ugliest creature in the whole world.

She took her eyes off her boyfriend’s and moved her head away, slightly bowing it. He also dropped his
hands, and his expression relaxed.

“Hey, Marc,” she nervously spoke, “A-Are my fringes really that . . . ugly?”

While waiting for an answer, as well as hoping for the best and preparing herself from the worst, she felt
a warm touch on her trembling hands. Her hands were then gently pulled, and as she shifted her head
back to the front, the serious yet comforting face of her boyfriend welcomed her, and her chest
loosened a bit.

“It’s seriously bad. Let’s hide it, okay?” he answered with a sincere tone.

But she couldn’t decide what to feel. A part of her felt disappointed that her boyfriend didn’t like her
new look. She also felt irritated at him for finding fringes ugly, knowing deep inside that fringes were not
that bad at all and are actually fashionable. But a piece of her heart wanted her to listen to him and just
think about making him happy and more attracted to her.

“Do you have a clip there?” he continued, disturbing the girl’s thoughts. She glanced at him in
puzzlement, but then nodded. She then took off one of the straps of her Totoro backpack and swung the
bag to her front, opened the front zipper, and then dug into the bag’s pocket. After such, she pulled out
two black hair pins from the pocket, zipped the pocket to close, and then wore the bag’s strap back.

The boy grabbed the clips from her hands. He then moved towards her, and she stiffened at their
distance. Nervously, she watched him, confused of what he would be doing. With a focused expression,
he gathered her bangs together, and then flipped them upward and clipped them together with the rest
of her hair, revealing her prominent forehead. He smoothed some of her hairs a little, and then
ultimately stepped away. The young lady’s cheeks glowed pink.

“There you go,” he remarked, placing his hands on her shoulders again, “So much better. Way much
better. You’re so pretty! Ha-ha!” the boy started clapping his hands, “Look at that!”

However, she only looked at him, not really knowing how to react.

“Don’t remove the clips, okay? You look so much better with that. And please, don’t wear bangs
anymore. Seriously, who wears them anyway? Ok—oh, the school bus is here! Thank God, you finally
arrived.”

The squeaky sound of the bus’s wheels in contact with the concrete road as the bus stopped on the last
shed it was supposed to stop at resonated on the area, grabbing the attention of the two. She turned to
face the vehicle, and her boyfriend began walking towards the bus, passing by her.

Her ears itched as his statement got grasped by them. Her chest panged at his harsh remark. Seriously,
did he have to say that? Okay, I’m not having fringes now, but please cut the insults. Her eyebrows
furrowed as she said those words in her head. Instinctively, her right hand started reaching for her
above-the-waist-length hair strands, and her fingers then began combing her hair. During that, she
couldn’t help but wonder what made blunt fringes seriously bad.

“Let’s go!”

“Ah!” she snapped out of her thoughts. She lifted her head and caught his foxy eyes. Her boyfriend’s
right foot was already on the first step of the bus, and he was shaking his head. Quickly, however, she
disconnected herself to their stare, and then ran to ride the bus, passing by him. He smiled after
eventually seeing her get into the vehicle, and then proceeded to ride as well.

Upon the warning of the guard of the bus, the vehicle continued its paused trip, drifting forward to the
next street where it was supposed to fetch more students.

The couple sat at the third-to-the-last chair on the right side of the bus, with the girl near the window.
She placed her backpack on her lap, its front facing her. On the other hand, the boy also placed his
haversack on his lap, although he didn’t really care about its placement, as the bag just lied sloppily
there. He rested his back on the soft back of the chair and shut his eyes, and she couldn’t help but
admire him in the corner of her eye, despite him upsetting her.

To forget about what just occurred, she averted her gaze to the view displayed through the window,
with her hands gripping on her hair that was being tangled by the strong winds brought about by the
extreme speed of the bus. Meringue clouds floated on the light blue sea up above, with some parts of
them being torched by the sprouting daylight from the sun. The morning traffic was already at rush, and
establishments had already began another day of business.

“Lily!”

The girl rotated her head, and she was met with the handsome face of the guy beside her. He was not
sleeping anymore; his eyes were looking intently at his girlfriend. Their eyes interlocked, but she
immediately broke away, still feeling a little down at his harsh comment regarding her fringes.
Nonetheless, she still tried to face him, although her eyes were focused on his mane, as she couldn’t
endure an eye contact with him yet.

“Lily,” she heard him began talking, “I suddenly remembered. A while ago at the bus stop you were
going to say something, right? Sorry for cutting you that time. Wh-what was it that you were … saying?”

Upon the mention of the event, she automatically rolled her eyes and sneered. She then returned her
view to the picture outside, crossing her arms.

“Ahh, Lily …?”

“It was nothing, Marc. Never mind it anymore!” she faced him again and then answered him with a
smirk before looking back outside and rolling her eyes once more. The boy, who was left confused, just
rested back on the chair while scratching his head.

But truth be told, she was actually going to compliment her boyfriend’s new faux-hawk, despite its being
a common hairstyle for Filipino boys and her undying hate for stereotypes. However, after receiving
harsh comments from her venture for a new look, she decided to return her boyfriend the favor. She
smirked at the thought of her revenge.