In the bustling heart of Manila, amid the vibrant streets lined with food carts and the intoxicating smell of street barbecue, two different lives intertwined like threads in a tapestry. At the center of this intricate weave stood Carly Vergara and Annika Arceta, friends since their carefree high school days.
Carly was a whirlwind; a famous race car driver whose heart raced as fast as the engines she commanded. With her fierce brown eyes and signature silky black hair, she was a sight to behold, both on and off the racetrack. Her commitment phobia was well-known among her friends, resulting in a series of brief but intense romantic entanglements, none of which lasted longer than the time it took to change a tire.
On the other hand, Annika was the calm amidst Carly’s storm—a kind-hearted pediatrician who preferred nurturing fragile lives over speeding cars. With her gentle brown eyes and a warm smile that put children at ease, Annika was well-respected in her field. She was a woman of simplicity but with a heart so large it could encompass the world.
The two were inseparable, often joking that they were each other’s last resort. "Pag 34 na tayo tapos single pa rin tayo.." Annika had declared one balmy summer night when they were just eighteen, "we should marry each other!" Carly laughed in disbelief, rolling her eyes. “Yeah, because that’s a great plan,” she teased, “tapos we’ll just raise a pack of cats and maybe a dog together instead of kids!” But as laughter faded into the night, they made a pact, sealing it with a pinky swear, the kind that only best friends could fathom.
Now, at 32, Annika was happily single, immersed in her work. The corridors of St. Luke’s Medical Center were her second home. The place radiated a sense of warmth and hope, where children’s laughter mingled with the beeping of medical equipment. Each day, she navigated the busy schedules of the pediatric ward, attending to the needs of her little patients.
In her office, adorned with colorful drawings from children she’d treated—crayon masterpieces depicting everything from stick-figure families to smiling suns—Annika thrived. As she organized her patient files, she recalled the time little Basti, aged five, convinced her he had superpowers. “Doctor Annika,” he insisted, looking very serious, “Alam nyo po may magic po ang yakap ko!”
“Actually parang need ko nga yata ng magic ngayon!” she replied with a soft chuckle, enveloping him in her warm embrace. It was moments like these—where small acts of care made a monumental difference—that filled her heart with purpose.
It was only natural that Carly and Annika, despite their career pursuits, played matchmaker for each other, much to the amusement of their friends. Carly had a keen eye for scratching her friends' adventures, even if the outcomes were almost comically disastrous.
“Okay, Annika. Meron akong ipapakilala sa'yo! I think bagay kayo ni Miguel!” Carly declared one afternoon, her voice dripping with enthusiasm.
“Hopefully matino yan, ah? Hindi kagaya nung nakaraan!” Annika retorted, raising an eyebrow in disbelief.
“Actually, isa daw siyang computer hacker,” said Carly, mischief dancing in her eyes.
“Oh my goodness, Carly, wala bang iba?” Annika quipped sarcastically.
Setting off on their much-anticipated blind date, Annika arrived at the café only to discover that Miguel had somehow mistakenly thought he was coming for a car-themed dinner. He greeted her wearing a ‘Fast and Furious’ T-shirt, with a hot sauce bottle in one hand and a racing magazine in the other.
“Hey girl! Tara na?” he exclaimed, his voice booming.
“Sabi ni Carly, you drive a sports car daw?” Annika wondered, trying to gauge whether the date was salvageable.
“Oo! Pero pag Biyernes lang!” he replied proudly, spilling hot sauce down the front of his shirt.
It wasn’t until they reached dessert that the situation went south. Miguel leaned in, eager to impress. “Alam mo, noong makalawa lang, nakipaghabulan ako sa mga pulis! Sobrang saya!” He then humorously mimicked the siren sound but clumsily knocked over his chair as he gestured too wildly, landing with a hefty thump on the ground.
Annika laughed nervously. “Yeah, that sounds… uh… thrilling,” she said, her smile stretching to assuage her bewilderment.
“Ano bang naisip ni Carly at dito ako sa weird na ‘to i-sinet up?” Annika asked herself amused.
By the time she summoned up the courage to excuse herself, she was scurrying away with the sound of his chair scraping against the floor and his hot sauce-stained shirt in her memory.
“Nakaka-inis ka bakit ba doon mo ko sinet-up?” Annika later interrogated Carly over dinner, tears of laughter streaming down her cheeks. “Parang okay naman si Miguel, ah? May pagka-weirdo nga lang!” Carly put down her fork, laughing uncontrollably.
Then it was Carly’s turn for a date. “For sure, magugustuhan mo si Marcus, Carly! He’s a local photographer tapos… tapos fan daw siya ng motorsports!” Annika winked, perfect mischief written all over her face.
However, on the evening of their much-anticipated outing, Carly arrived to find her date, Marcus, sporting flip-flops and a Hawaiian shirt. Instead of a charming dinner, he insisted on taking her to an ‘artistic’ underground race. “It’s guerilla racing! Eto ang in ngayon sa mga kabataan!” he urged eagerly.
“Pero hindi na tayo kabilang sa kabataan, Marcus! At saka gabi na para sa racing!” she barked back, confused. “At isa pa, bakit ka nag-dadrive ng naka tsinelas?!” Carly said while strapping her seatbelt on tightly.
“Bakit naman hindi? Ang komportable kaya!” he objected, trying to look cool despite a loose strap on his sandals.
To Carly's horror, the event was held in a parking lot where a dozen cars were speeding around a worn-out circuit with absolutely no safety measures. She watched in disbelief as Marcus whooped and cheered for the drivers while holding a camera out, intent on capturing the chaos unfolding before them.
“Bakit ba ko nandito? Lagot ka sa akin mamaya, Annika!” she wondered aloud, trying to wrestle free from his arm as he pulled her further into the throng.
The night of “guerilla racing” turned into Carly running after their dinner—literally—because it rolled right off the makeshift food stall bench as Marcus excitedly pointed to a driver.
"Hindi ako makapaniwala na hinabol mo talaga yung hot dog!" Carly laughed, breathless when they finally sat back down in a more subdued corner of the parking lot.
“Dedicated lang talaga ko sa mga bagay na ginagawa ko!” he grinned, brandishing his camera as though to prove his point.
“Dedicated or baka naman delusional?” she smirked, rolling her eyes.
—
“Carly, what if this time we try setting each other up again?” Annika suggested one day, knitting her brows with mock seriousness, even as a hint of excitement danced in her eyes. They often found themselves in the same old cycle of disastrous matchmaking, but this time felt different.
Carly rolled her eyes, leaning against the counter, her smirk blossoming. “Hindi ko pa rin nakakalimutan yung huli mong sinet up sakin! Tapos gusto mong umisa pa? Papayag lang ako kung double date! That way we can help each other makatakas if it ends up a disaster nanaman!”
“Fine. But let’s just say, our track record isn't the best anyway,” Annika quipped, feeling her heart flutter with a wicked anticipation.
In the days that followed, they both independently set up dates with men they meticulously selected—efforts no doubt poised for calamity.
On the chosen night, they met at a trendy restaurant in Bonifacio Global City, dressed impeccably and ready to embrace the chaos of dating once more. Annika wore a fitted navy dress that accentuated her figure and complimented her auburn-hued skin, while Carly donned a chic black jumpsuit that exuded her classic style with an edge.
As the men approached the table, it didn’t take long for the initial pleasantries to fade into sheer awkwardness. Most conversations teetered on the edge of discomfort as Carly cut witty remarks to mask her growing impatience, revealing her commitment-phobe side more than she realized. Annika’s attempts at breaking the ice with her date, an overly earnest lawyer, resulted in several cringe worthy jokes that fell flat like warm soda.
Yet amid the humorless exchanges, an unexpected current of genuine emotion began to swell between Carly and Annika, altering the atmosphere at the table. Carly’s eyes would dart to Annika's face, noticing the way her laughter lit up the room, even as her embarrassment flared brighter than the flickering candles at their table. Annika caught herself smiling at Carly when she leaned in to help pull her chair slightly, her movements laced with an unintentional intimacy that didn’t go unnoticed by the guests at the table.
She watched in bemusement as Carly, effortlessly attentive, cut Annika’s steak with precision, removed the offending vegetables she knew that Annika loathed, and even gently brushed against her shoulder when they reached for a glass, innocent touches that made a flutter chase around Annika’s heart. Inside, a dawning realization unfolded—she felt more alive than she had in recent memory, swept away on familiar waves of friendship morphing into something she never truly accepted.
After what seemed like an eternity of enduring polite half-conversations laced with awkward pauses, it became apparent that neither of the dates sparked anything. When their meals were finally finished, Carly and Annika exchanged fleeting glances, each silently communicating the desire to leave, to escape this forsaken evening.
“Let’s get out of here,” Carly said with an exasperated sigh as she tossed a few bills down for the check, signaling to Annika the moment they could reclaim their night.
“Agreed,” Annika replied, feeling her spirits lift upon their escape.
In Carly’s sleek black sports car, the hum of the engine blended with the music pulsing through the speakers as they sped out of the city into the open roads. The moon hung low in the sky, plastering the world in silver, casting warm glows over everything it touched. This, Annika felt, was more her tempo.
As they drove, Carly turned to Annika, her trademark grin transforming into something softer, a genuine reflection of how she always felt when around her. “Naisip mo ba ever na hahantong tayo dito? Two thirty-somethings, who can’t seem to find proper men?”
“Hindi,” Annika chuckled, her laughter infectious. “I thought by now I might have met someone who could handle the chaos of my work and responsibilities. But maybe there’s something to our promise. You did agree to marry me…”
Carly turned her head, arching her brow pointedly. “Hold on, Annika! I know what we said, pero hindi ba, isang silly high school joke lang yun noong bata pa tayo?”
“Oo nga! Pero kasi… tignan mo tayo ngayon? 32 na tayo pareho. We were supposed to be having wild adventures by now, and instead, we find ourselves here with creepy guys on awkward dates,” Annika shot back, half-joking but with an earnest lilt that resonated deeply within her.
The conversation paused, leaving the engine's hum to fill the silence. Carly glanced at the road ahead, an incoming fork piercing her thoughts as she glanced at Annika. “Yes, may point ka naman,” she confessed softly, her pulse quickening at the realization.
They feigned laughter about their impending double-date disastrousness, yet behind each chuckle lay a hidden tension, a pulsing undercurrent that lingered unnoticed until now. With each word exchanged, both began to sense that their bond—crafted over years of friendship—was something far more substantial than either had ever allowed themselves to believe.
Carly pulled the car into a secluded park, allowing the soft glow of city lights to drown in a sea of stars above them. They stepped out of the car, the air cool yet comforting, and fell into a shared silence, staring at the constellation-painted sky, unveiling heartbeats and dreams.
“Paano kung…?” Annika murmured, breaking the stillness with a tone laced with curiosity.
“Paano kung ano?” Carly leaned into her, accidentally brushing again against Annika, a fleeting warmth making the moment electric.
“Paano kung i-reevaluate natin yung promise natin sa isa’t-isa? I mean, we both know you’re not the settling type, and I…” She hesitated, emotions tangling within her gut, presuming her heart might break should this moment reunite implausible hope with the friction of reality. “I don’t know. I’ve always thought you would make a great partner through all the chaos. Our compatibility might just surprise us. There are other forms of love, you know?”
“Hindi ko naiintindihan, Annika. Anong ibig mong sabihin?” Carly’s voice was low, a tremor in it that echoed into the unspoken. She held her gaze steady on her best friend, has she come to realize her own feelings, tangled amongst the threads of camaraderie and past promises?
Annika turned to Carly, her heart hammering against her ribcage. “What if we explored a different kind of relationship? Just…maybe we can start right now. We could do this together—not as a chance, but as a choice.”
Carly’s world spun as she absorbed those words, a flicker of newfound understanding lighting up her chest. Could it be possible? The weight of the world felt lighter as they stood together beneath the stars—two souls willing to tread into the territory of what they knew and funneled into the promise they once made.
“I… I’ve always cared about you, Annika. Alam mo yan,” Carly finally said, drawing closer, breaking barriers of long-held trepidations lingering between them.
Annika nodded, feeling a rush of warmth, and took a step towards Carly, allowing the world surrounding them to bask in the gentle glow of a burgeoning reality. “And I care about you. More than I realized until just now.”
Carly reached out, intertwining her fingers with Annika's, tethering their hearts with a newfound connection forged in laughter, love, and promise. In that quiet moment, under the night sky, the two friends vibrated with something new—the first tentative steps toward a relationship that would be their greatest adventure yet.
Days turned into weeks, and they reveled in this newly-defined relationship, exploring the boundaries of their companionship, opening their hearts to honest conversations, wild adventures, and moments shared just as friends had done for years— but now intertwined with affections that felt inherent to their souls.
Carly started to let Annika into her life beyond the glamorous parties and racing circuits, inviting her into her world of speed—teaching her to sip from the cup of adrenaline and fear she had always savored. Their intimate bond burgeoned as they explored each other's depths and differences, all while sharing long drives along empty roads beneath twinkling stars.
On one particular evening, after a thrilling ride that sent their hearts racing faster than the engine beneath them, Carly pulled up outside Annika’s apartment. As the engine idled soft in the background, she turned to Annika, awareness of her emotions dancing sparkling behind her eyes.
“Alam mo, hindi ko i-nexpect ito,” Carly said softly. “I thought I was always going to have to choose between who I wanted to be and whether to let anyone close. Pero sobrang gaan ng pakiramdam ko na alam kong nandito ka sa tabi ko.”
A warmth blossomed within Annika as she leaned closer, energized by each moment of vulnerability they embraced. “I feel the same way, Carly. You've challenged what I thought I knew about love and commitment. Ang sarap malaman na I’ve let someone in who truly gets me.”
The night swallowed them in silence, understanding ripped through every inch they shared, and she held Carly's gaze like a spell, mine-hosted by sincerity.
“Kung saan man ito patutungo, I want us to keep pushing each other and to keep exploring,” Carly ventured. “I never imagined I’d find my way to this partnership, pero sobrang saya ko ngayon na kasama ka.”
With that, Annika closed the distance between them, capturing Carly’s lips in the sweetest kiss, electric and full of promise. It was tentative at first, the kind of kiss that built dreams and ignited fireworks. Carly melted into Annika, her heart racing as their lips moved in perfect harmony.
The world around them faded into obscurity. The stars above twinkled in approval as if celebrating their newfound love. Carly wrapped her arms around Annika’s waist, pulling her closer, deepening the kiss as if the universe had conspired to bring them this moment.
When they finally pulled away, both breathless and dizzy with joy, Carly rested her forehead against Annika’s. “Wow,” she murmured, a soft smile spreading across her face.
Annika grinned, her eyes alight with happiness. “Pwedeng isa pa?”
Carly's smile widened, capturing Annika’s lips once more under the starry sky, feeling as if time stood still just for them, filling the night with their laughter and the sweet echo of budding love, that lay just beneath the stars.
What had once been a playful pact carried through high school had morphed into a bond blessed by honest love—an entangled journey that swirled into newfound dimensions they would navigate together like champions borne of the curves of life, cities full of starry reflections, and the constancy of love.
As their two-year anniversary approached, Carly looked abandoned in the soft glow of the night, feeling a stir of emotions that somehow hadn’t dimmed in the passage of time. Waking up each morning next to Annika felt like coming home, anchoring her heart to a feeling she believed she never would allow.
Standing in front of a mirror preparing for an elegant dinner—the very dinner that would unveil a twist in their narrative—Carly glanced back at her reflection and it smiled back, a developed completion woven into becoming someone unafraid of love.
At the dinner, an elaborate terrace under the stars at their favorite local eatery set the stage. As the evening unfolded, candles flickered; restaurant chatter blended with soft music, and their heartbeats harmonized seamlessly.
Carly’s heart aimlessly dragged through moments of heartfelt vulnerability, all brewing in her mind as she drew a breath amid subtle laughter they basked in. “Annika, gusto kong malaman mo na binago mo ang mundo ko sa magandang paraan,” she began, her voice cracking just slightly with emotion.
Annika's brow arched at the tone, her heart momentarily arresting as she leaned in closer.
“Alam mong hindi ako magaling sa mga commitment na yan, and I know we’ve talked about our promises before,” Carly continued, her hands fidgeting around the silverware set before them, “but you’ve made me feel something I didn’t think I could handle. You’re not just my best friend. You’re the love of my life.”
In that moment, time paused, holding its breath as Annika’s gaze searched Carly’s billions of unspoken promises and years of growing affinity. “Carly, what are you trying to say?”
Calmly, Carly reached for a small velvet box from the table hidden under a star-shaped napkin. “Ayoko ng maghintay na mag thirty-four pa tayo,” she said, the box opening to reveal a simple yet elegant ring—an outward expression of the love that had bloomed between friends. “Will you marry me?”
Tears gathered in Annika’s eyes as she clasped Carly’s hand, her heart bursting with nuance. “Yes! A thousand times yes!” she whispered, the weight of truth and ownership cascading around them sparkling through the night air—a climb of promise they couldn’t restructure nor part from.
Thus, beneath the blanket of stars, they crafted what would become their life—freely loving and deeply committed. Fueled by trust and exploration, Carly and Annika forged onward into their shared destiny. With love as their guide—a journey they would undertake together in partnership—a testament to promises evolving from youth into a beautiful, rich reality that neither of them could have ever anticipated.
And so, on a stellar Manila night, two souls buoyed by laughter intertwined, choosing love intentionally over fate, racing toward their future—together.