Diana was walking towards the gate of the school when she saw Albert standing on the gate. She
frowned but went straight to where Albert is.
"Hey, Albert! What are you doing here?" she asked when she arrived at where he is.
Albert looked at her and smiled.
"Hi! I didn't notice you. I came here to fetch you. By the way, happy birthday." He said and handed
her a small paper bag.
"Thank you. What is this? You shouldn't have bothered, but thank you, anyway." She said and smiled a bit.
She opened the small paper bag. There's a small box in it. She opened it and there's a pair of gold leaf earrings in it. She looked at Albert, surprised. She handed him the paper bag.
"1 can't accept that." She said.
"Come on, it's my birthday present to you. Don't think of anything about that, just a friendly gift
from me to you for your birthday. Just accept it, please?" he smiled and handed her the paper bag again.
She sighed. She took the paper bag from Albert. He held out the helmet and she took it and put it on. They both got on the motorbike and they drove to Diana's house. When they arrived, they both got off the motorbike and they both removed their helmets.
"I actually forgot it's my birthday but you can still come in. I will just ask my brother to buy some
pizza so we could celebrate." She offered.
"Sure! I would love that. Maybe l and Janwill could go and buy some pizza and soda." He suggested.
"Let's go inside first." She said and they walked towards the door.
Albert called Nez to signal her that they were coming. Diana turned the doorknob and as soon as she opened the door...
"HAPPY BIRTHDAY!" they all greeted loudly and a party popper was popped overhead.
Diana was dumbfounded. Her jaw dropped because she didn't expect any of this.
"So, do you like it? 1 know you like it! We prepared all of this to surprise you and I think I'm not
disappointed with your reaction. Happy birthday, best friend." Nez said and hugged her. She hugged her back.
"Thank you. I wasn't expecting anything today actually but I got two surprises." She said. Nez
pushed her gently.
"You got two surprises? Who surprised you first???" she asked as if she was betrayed, Diana
laughed.
"My advisory class. They surprised me this morning." She said
"Ohhh.. I thought someone, like a TRAITOR, would surprise you WITHOUT my KNOWLEDGE." Nez
said, and glanced at Albert.
"1 am innocent, Nez." He said.
"Thank you for the effort, Nez, pa, and sissies. I love you all!" she said and hugged them all.
"So, let's go to the kitchen so we could say our graces and have some party?" Nez said.
"Lead the way." Diana said to her best friend and they went to the kitchen.
They said their graces for the food and they said a short prayer to thank God for another year
added to Diana's life. She actually wished that something wonderful would happen to her and to her
family. After saying their graces, they lit the candle on the cake and sang a happy birthday song for her.
"Make a wish now, sissy." Grace said.
She closed her eyes and made a wish. She opened her eyes and blew the candle.
"Let's eat!" Janwill said and they all started to eat.
While eating, Diana, Albert, and Nez were on the kitchen table, talking.
"So, why did you plan this birthday celebration, and when did you plan it?" Diana asked Nez.
"It's actually unexpected. I didn't plan anything. When I woke up this morning, I was shocked to
see the date so I immediately went to the city to buy some decorations. And I went immediately here. It was an ambush, really, so we don't have time to cook anything so everything was ordered." Nez explained.
"So why did you plan this, again?" she asked Nez again.
"Nothing. just to celebrate your birthday."
"1 don't buy it. Albert tell me now." She demanded.
Albert looked at Nez. Nez looked at him with wide eyes.
"It's her despedida party and to pamper you because she's going to be out again for a couple of years."
He said straight faced.
Nez held her forehead and sneered at Albert. Diana nodded.
"So, when is your flight?" she asked her best friend.
"No hard feelings?" Nez asked.
"I know you need that for your future. I am not that selfish." She remarked.
"1 know. I will be staying at Tuguegarao until my flight. I'll travel on Saturday." Nez said.
"This Saturday? she asked.
"Yes. That's why I am entrusting you to Albert. Don't worry l'm not selling you out. I just asked
him to look after you while I'm gone." Nez smiled.
"With Diana's consent, of course." Albert added.
"Come on, you two. I'm not a child! I know I am a bit short but we're just the same age, so stop treating me like I am a young kid." She pouted
"We know that. But you know, we cannot be too careless." Nez said and looked at her meaningfully.
"Fine." she said and rolled her eyes
And they talked some more. After a few more hours, Nez and Albert said goodbye to Diana and her family.
"We should get going, it's getting late. Tito, we'll go ahead. Anne, Grace, Mel, and Janwill" Nez
said and waved goodbye
"Goodnight Tito. Bye guys!" Albert said
"Bye! Thank you for the foods, Nez! And thank you for the cake, Albert" Anne said.
"I'll just show their way outside." Diana said.
When the three of them were already outside...
"Be careful, guys. Thank you both. I had a very intimate birthday celebration because of you."
She said and hugged them both.
"You're welcome, dearest." Nez said and rubbed her back.
Albert just hugged her back. She pushed them away gently.
"You should go now." She said and waved at them.
They both wore a helmet each and they got on the motorbike. They waved goodbye to her and
they drove off. She went inside and went straight to her bedroom. She turned on her mobile data and she
immediately received a video call coming from the DJARS group chat. She accepted the call.
Instead of seeing her friends' faces, she saw HAP on Justine's screen, PY on Shane's screen, BIRTH
on Ailee's screen, and DAY on Rhian's screen.
"Happy birthday, Diana!" they greeted her in chorus.
"Thank you girls! What an effort!" she said with sincerity.
"Of course! That's how we love you." Shane said and removed her signboard.
The others followed her and they were all smiling.
"Thank you girls. I appreciate it so much." She said and smiled.
"We apologized for not being there, but it's Monday and we have
works to do so, maybe next
time, okay?" Justine said.
"Don't worry, I understand. Let's just meet some other time. Okay?" she said.
"Agreed." Ailee said and showed a thumbs up
They spent the next hour talking about anything that comes up until they all decided to hang up.
"It's nice chatting with you girls but I need to sleep now. I still need to go to school early tomorrow."
Justine said.
"Same for me, Just." Diana agreed
"Well, we are all busy tomorrow so we should hang up now." Rhian said.
"Yeah, I agree. Bye girls." Shane said
"Bye! miss you all!" Ailee stated
They all smiled and did a flying kiss towards the screen. They hang up the video chat at once.
Diana browsed for a few minutes on her sns and uploaded some of their pictures taken today. A few
pictures were taken during the surprise given by her advisory class. A lot was taken during her celebration at home, and a few screenshots from the video chat she had with her squad.
She was about to turn off her phone's mobile data when she received a chat from Arjay. She
immediately opened the chat.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY! I DIDN'T KNOW IT WAS YOUR BIRTHDAY TODAY. I JUST SAW FROM THE PHOTOS YOU UPLOADED.
She was dumbfounded. She just uploaded the pictures and Arjay saw it already? She replied.
THANK YOU, SIR. I ACTUALLY FORGOT IT'S MY BIRTHDAY TODAY BUT THEY ALL REMEMBERED
AND SURPRISED ME.
She waited for a reply. After refreshing the sns twice, the reply appeared.
THEN YOU'RE ONE LUCKY LADY FOR HAVING SUCH A CIRCLE OF FRIENDS AND FAMILY. YOU
DESERVED IT. ANYWAY, MAY ALL YOUR WISHES AND DREAMS COME TRUE, AND MAY YOU HAVE MORE
BIRTHDAYS TO COME. :)
Diana bit her lip to stop herself from smiling. She replied back.
THANK YOU FOR BEING SO THOUGHTFUL SIR.
'1 JUST WISHED YOU WERE HERE TO CELEBRATE WITH ME' she continued in her mind. She sent
her reply.
"I THINK I AM BEING A BOTHER NOW. YOU SHOULD TAKE A REST NOW IT'S ALREADY GETTING LATE. GOODNIGHT. :)
She heart reacted on his message. She should probably sleep now so she wouldn't become delusional.