“To love,” he agreed, with a nod. “And the people who remind us to be brave.”
She took a sip. Kira let the chocolate melt slowly on her tongue, spread warmly in her mouth. She closed her eyes.
Whoa.
Maybe it was because they were sitting in the bistro chairs in the shop and looking out the window. Maybe it was because she was sitting in a place that was so familiar to her, but Kira thought that the chocolate tasted like home. Something familiar, only just sweet enough but still comforting and delicious. There was a tapang to the chocolate, but only in the best ways.
But was it marketable? Did it have to be? Kira liked it, but would other people? Was that taste of home something only she knew, or would others recognize it, too?
The shop bell rang, and Kira looked up just in time to see Ate Nessie rush in looking completely frazzled, Mikaela close behind her with an equally worried expression. Mang Roldan immediately stood up from his seat and offered it to Nessie, and Kira was glad to see that Ate Nessie didn’t shy away from the gesture, instead smiling at him. Mang Roldan grabbed the extra batibot chair one of Kira’s staff handed him and offered it to Mikaela, before he stood behind Ate Nessie’s chair.
“If you’re going to tell me that Labander and Papermint decided not to take the space next door, I already know,” Kira said with a little smile, because the tsokolate had put her in a good mood. “Sayang though, the labanderia/print shop idea sounded intriguing.”
“No,” Ate Nessie said, taking Roldan’s mug and looking at him for permission. When he nodded, she took a deep gulp of the thing. “Wow. Mmm. Sarap.”
“Ate Nessie,” Mikaela said with a tiny voice. “We came here to...”
“Right! Hija!” Ate Nessie said, suddenly taking Kira’s hand. “Does he have a plan? Tell me he has a plan!”
“Huh?” Kira asked in confusion. “Who has a plan?”
“Si Pogi!” she exclaimed, gasping when she realized Kira had no idea what she was talking about. “You don’t know. Hesusmaryosep. San Sebastian.” She made the sign of the cross and turned to Mikaela, who looked equally worried. “She doesn’t know.”
“Ah,” Kira said, her shoulders dropping. “Santi.”
“I said si pogi, right?”
“My mom works at Villa,” Mikaela explained. “She told us about you, and Santi’s family at the Villa lobby.”
“Yes, well, it wasn’t my finest moment.” Kira winced. “No regrets, though.”
“Good.” Ate Nessie nodded, before she told Mikaela to continue.
“We also know about the memo,” Mikaela said like she was bracing for impact. “The one where he was giving all the chocolate sales to Altair Chocolates.”
“What? I should go to Villa,” Mang Roldan suddenly said from behind Ate Nessie. “Speak to Boss Santi.”
“I’ll call Alfred!” Mikaela exclaimed. “We’ll tell everyone to stop going to the breakfast buffet!”
“I’ll join you,” Ate Nessie agreed. “I’m also going to tell his Lally, he’s going to be inso muchtrouble—”
“No, no, wait.” Kira held her hands up to get them to stop.
Kira Luz believed in the universe. She believed in the alignment of the stars, in the positions of the moon having power over how the seemingly random moments of her life came together. But all of that was meaningless unless she actually chose to do something about it. There was only so much the universe could do. Right now, she had no doubt that Ate Nessie, Mang Roldan and Mikaela all came back for a reason. And Kira wasn’t going to let the moment go to waste. She felt a surge of love for all of them, how they came back when they needed her.
“I know about the memo,” she told them, prompting more confusion, but she assured them with a shake of her head that it was fine. “Santi has some things to figure out with his family, clearly. But I could use some help on this.”
She remembered Santi standing in her kitchen laying out a plan with a pen and paper. Kira grabbed the same and outlined her own plan. She was going to throw half her presentation out the window, but bahala na. Especially when this could turn out much better than any deal she had with Carlton.
During their family dinner forever ago (it was last month, god timeflewby), Kira’s family had outlined Gemini’s two options—increase her sales, or lower her costs. While Santi continued to work on increasing sales, Mang Roldan’s gift was the perfect way to lower her costs.
She wrote down a list of all the things she needed to find out, of all the tasks that needed to be done. By the time she finished, Ate Nessie was looking at her like she was a completely different person, Mikaela was already processing the information, and Mang Roldan was waiting for instruction.
“Mang Roldan,” Kira said. “I need to talk to Sam Tomas. Is she at the farm?”
“Yes.”
“Good. Can I hitch a ride with you? Ate Nessie, I’m sure my parents have gotten wind of this, can you—”
