“Cassie?”
“What’s a gibbous moon?”
Despite living in Singapore, Ate Kamilla, Kuya Harry and Kira’s one and only niece, Cassie, never missed Christmas in Lipa—much to the delight of Kira’s parents, who loved Cassie much, much more than their own children (they were happy to say every year). Between the Luz-Angs and Kiko’s boyfriend also in residence in Lipa for the holidays, it was a full house. It made thinking out loud very difficult.
“Um,” Kira said, tossing a pair of silver sequin pants, a pleated skirt and a satin maxi skirt on the bed next to where her niece was using Kira’s horoscope app of choice to see what the stars had in store for her this season. “Gibbous today our daily bread?”
“Ti-ta,” Cassie groaned.
“Do we like the silver sequin pants or the satin tangerine maxi skirt with the white shirt?” Kira asked, holding up both options from the bed to her niece, who seemed to give it serious thought.
“Depends,” she huffed. “Is this for your super-secret spy mission you don’t want me to go with you to?”
“Cass, I would love to take you out to dinner at the most romantic place in Lipa, I really would, but your tita is broke from the holidays, “ Kira explained. “La Spezia is like, Singapore expensive.”
Cassie winced, because even she understood the difference in value. Kira hadn’t really thought through volunteering to chaperone a date, when said date would require her to pay more than a thousand pesos to eat. So she might as well put on a great outfit, pretend she was taking herself out on a date in La Spezia. Which also, coincidentally, happened to be at the Hotel Villa, and was Santi’s restaurant, and just on the off chance that someone decided to finally show up—
No, no.Kira shook her head and reminded herself to focus. Santi wasn’t even in Lipa. He was in Manila, at least according to Gab and Sari. Kira was dressing up because she was about to spend a lot of hard-earned money on a meal, and she wanted to look good.
“Well, your nail polish is jelly red with glitter, so I would go with the tangerine,” Cassie said after a moment of careful consideration. “Then wear it with the brown sandals! Ooh, you will look so effortlessly casual.”
“I don’t know,” a voice said from the door. “I kind of feel like wearing a white shirt to eat out is asking for disaster when your boobs are as big as ours.”
“Ate!” Kira groaned, rolling her eyes at Kamilla Luz, fourteen years older than her and smiling in amusement as she leaned against the doorframe. “Knock naman? What if I was naked?”
The problem with blasting music and getting ready to go out like a lead actress in a rom-com was that none of those leads ever lived in the Luz house. The Luz house that was supposed to have enough room to comfortably fit a family of five was currently straining under the weight of nine people. Sure, she loved having the whole family over, but it just felt atadcrowded at the moment. Kira was perpetually running into someone in the hallway, having to explain to someone where she was going. Today was not going to be an exception.
“Why would you be naked in the house?” Kamilla’s brow furrowed, as if it was the most ludicrous thing she’d ever heard. “Anyway, you can’t go. Dad wants a family meeting since the Luz meeting is happening next month.”
Kira groaned and collapsed backward on the bed next to her niece, and crossed her arms over her chest, preventing her boobs from tilting back, for maximum drama. When your family consisted mostly of Earth and Fire signs (seriously, Kira had at least three cousins born on the Aries-Taurus cusp; it was a thing) every decision was made rationally and democratically, via vote. And since it was all so neat and tidy anyway, they decided to formally run things as a corporation—Luz Holdings, Inc. Very straightforward.
Kira thought it was cute, the way her father’s siblings—and actually, the entire family—flocked to Lipa to make a year’s worth of business decisions in one go, but her father was always quick to remind his kids that the Meetings were Serious Business. You had to know your shit to participate, and seeing as Kira was running two businesses—the Laneways, under the family corporation, and Gemini Chocolates, funded by the family under her single proprietorship—participation was mandatory for her.
It wasn’t unusual for the family corporation to fund the nephews and nieces’ projects (Kiko’s architecture firm started off under the family’s wing). But Gemini, at three years old, was still very much a baby bird to Kira’s mind. It still needed a little more time to dry its wings before she really flew.
Which meant she had to walk things through with her father before everyone else. It was fine, it was necessary, but did it have to benow?
“Where are you going anyway, dressed like that?” Kamilla asked, wandering over to Kira’s vanity and browsing through her nail polish collection.
“To the most romantic restaurant in Lipa,” Cassie sighed, as Kira wondered what was so provocative about a tee shirt and a skirt. Was it the slit? Maybe it was the slit.
“La Spezia?” Ate Kamilla asked, turning to the two sharply, and it said volumes about the restaurant’s reputation that her sister’s face was lit up at just the mention. “I read about it in the in-flight magazine—The Treasures South of Manila. Sosyal!”
“I’m actually chaperoning—” Kira started to explain, when Kamilla clapped her hands excitedly.
Kira and her sister may not live together anymore, but Kira was still very familiar with Kamilla’s “I’ve got a bright idea” face. Which led to things like Kira opening a chocolate shop, Kiko studying architecture and the three siblings knowing all the lyrics to “Read U Wrote U”from Drag Race.
“We should have the family meeting at La Spezia,” Kamilla spoke, and so it was going to be true. Kira groaned again. She loved her family, she really did. But there were just some things you needed to do yourself, like chaperoning other people’s dates and paying an exorbitant amount to do it. “I’ll pay.”
Okay maybe there weresomepros to having her family tag along.
“Yay! Fancy dinner!” Cassie exclaimed, getting up out of bed to start looking around for an outfit. Kira glared at her older sister, who was now spraying Kira’s perfume on her wrists.
“Must you spoil my fun, Ate?” Kira asked.
“Yes,” Kamilla said, laughing and taking another sniff of Kira’s perfume. “I’ll tell the others about the plans. Be ready in ten minutes, Kira!”
If you were to ask Kira to imagine a restaurant owned wholly by Anton Santillan, she would probably picture a conveyor-belt sushi place. Not because Santi was particularly fond of sushi (was he?), but because she was sure that the concept of food appearing by button and conveyor belt would appeal to him.
