Free Fairy Tale Fail by Mina V. Esguerra

an illustrator
for comic books, and he's always dreamed of writing that comic
himself when he finally had enough cred. I got three tattoos based
on our original designs to remind him to go do it one
day."
    "That's nice of you," I said. "Where
are the other two?"
    He tilted his head a little and
grabbed the empty siomai cup from my hands, replacing it with my
own dessert. "You know what? I think now is not the perfect moment
for you to see the other two. Eat your ice cream."
    I grudgingly accepted the
cup. "You are mean. "
    Lucas looked pleased with himself.
"This is what playing by your rules feels like."

Chapter 13
     
    "No , Eleanor!"
    I rolled my eyes and
instead concentrated on teaching Dylan the colors of the rainbow.
Maybe it was a mistake, telling Ate Gladys casually that Don and I were planning to
have dinner. I had forgotten that she was one of those people who
wanted me to stay away from him.
    "And this is orange , Dylan, like the
fruit. Orange. "
    "Are you fond of punishing yourself or
something?" Gladys' eyes were wide and she looked like a suggestion
away from slapping sense into me. "Don is a bad boyfriend. I
thought you'd gotten over this!"
    "He's not a bad
person, Ate Gladys, stop it."
    "You should be watching out for
yourself."
    I used to get really
annoyed when my big sister acted all big sisterly. She was only two
years older and in my opinion, that didn't make her that much wiser. "I did
watch out for myself. Didn't I stay away from him on
purpose?"
    She handed her son another crayon and
eyed me suspiciously. "And he's had girlfriends since you, right?
What did Charisse say about them?"
    Charisse didn't like to tell me about
Don anymore, but some things did slip out. I got hints here and
there. Don's latest relationship didn't seem to be a happy one, and
when I tried to ask why, Charisse only shrugged and said that she
was seeing a pattern. She was becoming an expert at changing the
topic when I tried to press further.
    "She says he's not happy," I said.
"Which I think is very interesting."
    "Do you really think you can handle
it? What if he fails you again?"
    That wasn't fair of her. It
was more than a year since we broke up, and things changed. He
broke up with me not because he wanted someone else, but because I
wasn't living up to his expectations of me, right? Well I was my
confident and happy self again. This new job, and hanging out with
people like Sandra and Lucas, meeting Lucas' cool friends… I felt,
well, refreshed. It was the best time for me to reconnect with him; I was
ready.
    "Yes I can handle it," I said. "I need
this."
     
    ***
    When I got to the office, a minute
before eight-thirty, Sandra was standing by her desk instead of
sitting. On her face was the biggest smile I had ever seen (at
least on her).
    "We're going to Bangkok!" she
squealed, jumping up and hugging me. "I'm sorry. It was in an email
from Herman this morning. I should have let you read it first but I
couldn't wait. Yay!"
    "What? Why me?" I said, smothered a
little by her aggressive hug.
    "Um, because you're
assistant manager now and your travel plans were the most efficient
and best-reviewed of all Client Services teams in the region ? But I'm giving you
spoilers, just read the email!"
    I never paid attention to the Regional
ExCom before... but it was because I never really thought I'd go
there. I used to help my boss at Marketing prepare for things when
she attended, but other than that I didn't even know when it was
held. Apparently, the following week.
    We all were supposed to leave for
Thailand next Sunday evening, which meant we had only a few days to
help Herman with all the things he wanted to bring. Half the time I
didn't know whether to panic or stay calm... I just had the
distinct feeling that I was in over my head, and wanted to laugh at
myself.
    On Wednesday, I was walking back to my
desk from a trip to the copier and saw Don waiting there for
me.
    "You need something?" I asked
absently, thirty other things