"I am honestly so tired oh my gosh." I complained, pulling my luggage out of the baggage claim.

Louis who was a few feet in front of me doing the same with his second and last luggage turned to me, "You slept more than half the entire flight Ami." He stated as he joined me at my side.

"Yet I'm still tired." I gave him a sarcastic smile before turning back to the moving carousel, my eyes darting around for my last luggage.

"There it is!" Louis pointed to the light grey suitcase that was in between a zebra striped backpack and a nike duffel bag.

Louis moved faster than me, resulting in him reaching my luggage first, pulling it out of it's moving tracks.

I pulled all our luggage's together, slinging my backpack over my shoulder, "Thanks" I muttered, then taking my phone out to send Alex a text.

Ami
just landed, Louis and I will catch an uber to the apartment

Alex
hurry up

I laughed as I read the reply from Alex, before looking up to see Louis waiting for me with all the luggage's stored on top of a smartecarte. Joining him, we walked out of the airport, to be welcomed by the chilly L.A. breeze.

"I texted Alex that we're catching an uber home." I said as we waited by each other's side in the area where taxi's and ubers stay to pick up customers.

"What'd he say?" Louis interlocked our arms before we crossed a busy street leading us to a young asian lady who would take us home.

"Hurry up." I confessed, as the lady helped Louis put the luggage's into the trunk. I stood awkwardly to the side, unaware of what to do, Louis already telling me not to help because he's "got it handled".

"Oh sorry Miss, the doors are open you can go inside." The lady said, her accent noticeable.

"Salamat po." ( Translation : thank you ) giving it a try with the tagalog to see if she noticed. She did.

Her head snapped up to face me, "Bisaya ka ba?" ( Translation : are you bisaya ? )

"Yes po." I nodded at her before entering the car.

Louis and the lady joined in front, Louis giving her the directions back to the apartment.

As we exited the busy parking lot, inside the car it was quiet, the radio only tuning in noise at a low volume, the heater blasting, warming us up.

Outside it was around 5:30 pm, not late, but late enough for the sun to start dipping and the moon to come up. The sun was coming low into the sky, casting a orange/yellow and blue mixture in the airspace. It reminded me of the H.E.R. album.

"Excuse me? do you mind making a quick pit stop?" Louis asked the lady, interrupting my thoughts. She nodded her head at him.

"Can we go get boba?" I saw the lady smirk at me in the rear view mirror.

"Sure, just pull up the directions for me." She replied, Louis turning back to his phone, I'm assuming to get the directions, before I notice the lady in front of me adjust the rear view mirror to look at me.

"Alam ba talaga ng puting lalaking ito ang tungkol sa boba?" (Translation : does this white man actually know about boba?) A laughter bursted out of me, grabbing Louis's attention. His eyes darted between the lady and I.

"Nahuhumaling talaga, sita ang laging nagnanais na makakuha."  (Translation : obsessed actually, he's the one who always wants to get some.) The lady made an impressed face at him, making me laugh some more.

I looked out the window as I felt my phone vibrate beside me, unlocking it I saw I got a message from Louis.

Louis 🤍
are you guys talking about me?

Ami
not everything is about you lou

Louis 🤍
you're so mean to me 😐

Ami
i know 😛

Arriving at the shop, I offered to get the drinks Louis had ordered for us before hand.

"Thanks Bryan!" I called out, nodding my head at the boy at the register.

"Great to have you back in the city Ami!" I smiled at him, before getting back into the car. I gave the two people in front of me their drinks as we pulled out of the parking lot and on the way home.

It was a quick drive since there was surprisingly not a lot of traffic at this time. Louis and the lady got the luggage's out while I retrieved the apartment keys from my bag. Louis paid the girl before she left, walking into the apartment building, our luggage's  beside us.

"Is Willie's family still here?" I asked, sipping on my boba as we got into the elevator, I pressed on level 5.

Louis leaned against a wall, "No, I texted him yesterday, he said they flew out two days ago or something."

The elevator dinged and opened, walking down the hallway, I now realized how tired I was. The jet lag was catching up to my body.

Luckily I was able to put in the keys right the first time and I grabbed my suitcase and let ourselves in.

"Surprise!" Voices yelled out as I walked through the door. I jumped as I looked up to see Alex, Jo and Willie standing in a line, confetti poppers in the boy hand and a whistle in Jo's.

"Welcome home, Louis, Ami." Jo pulled us into a hug.

"Welcome home, you ugly kids." Alex piped up behind her. I flashed a middle finger in his way.

"Missed you guys." Willie came up to us after Jo rolled our suitcases away, I hugged Willie while he gave Louis a handshake.

After Willie let go of me he noticed the cups in our hands, "I freaking told you Alex!" Willie cried out turning to the man. ""They got boba! Without us!" He groaned before slouching into a islands chair.

"You dirty stinking bastards." Alex said before taking my cup and taking a sip.

I laughed as I set my keys down onto the table, taking notice of the wrapped presents sitting on top. "What are these?" I asked.

The four looked back at me, Louis coming up the table and grabbing one. "Oh those are for you Ami...sorry Louis." Louis rolled his eyes and walked away. "Feeling the love you guys, definitely feeling it."

"What's it for?" I asked before unwrapping one. Holy shit.  It was a CD player. The nice looking ones that you can set up on a stand or hang on the wall.

Grabbing the second one, Jo answered my question, "We just wanted to get our legal kid but not really our kid but technically our kid a gift." I stopped.

"Wait what?" I asked. Jo and Alex looked at each other before sitting down on the chairs beside me.

Jo took my hands in hers. "You don't know?" I shook my head at her, obviously confused.

Alex sighed, "Last night, your parents called us and said they give us consent to be your legal guardians while you're here in L.A., they sent us some papers which they had already signed. Timmy volunteered and was going to sign on it too, but we didn't let him since his schedule might not match up to yours while he's filming."

I looked at them still lost, "So what does that mean?" I opened the second one, a necklace with my name on it, silver.

Jo looked at me, "It means we're your parents here, it means you don't have to wait and ask for permission for anything for your parents across the ocean."

"So they gave me away?" I bluntly interrupted. I didn't let the two answer the question before I took the gifts and luggage's in my hand and walked towards my room.

I shut my door, locking it. "Ami, please let's talk about this." I heard Jo whisper from behind the door.

"I'm not mad or upset, I just need some time to digest this. Some time alone please." I think she nodded her head because I didn't hear anything come from her mouth, I only heard her footsteps become fainter and fainter.

I looked around my semi bare room, the only things were my bed, my dresser, keyboard and shelves, everything else still packed away in some boxes I didn't have time to unpack before we left, in the corner of my room and the suitcases beside me. I set down the cd player on my dresser, the almost unwrapped gift still in my hands and made my way towards my bed.

Sitting down, I finally unwrapped the present. It was a Call Me By Your Name CD. I turned it over to see a note.

Unraveling it, I read,

Dear my kapatid Ami,

I'm still your kuya, even if it's not on paper. I'm sorry to hear what had happen back home and even more sorry to what your parents had done without your input. Just know I'll love and protect you forever. Mahal Kita (some new words I learned while you were gone, you proud?)

love,
kuya timmy

I looked at the note, smiling, my mind now remembering the fact I didn't see Timmy when I arrived or anywhere in that matter. I grabbed my phone and my finger lingered our messages before I realized I should text someone else.

Ami
so that's it? you just give me away?

It wasn't long before 3 grey dots appeared.

nay
it's for the best

I stared at the text, not bothering to reply before an incoming call filled my screen, from my mom. I pressed decline and threw my phone onto my bed.

I took a deep breath as someone knocked on my door. I walked over and opened it, to see nobody. I was about close my door when I saw flowers on the floor.

Taking it into my room and setting it on the dresser beside the cd player, I read the note.

I'm sorry.

Didn't have to take a genius to figure out who it's from. I realized what flowers they were and rolled my eyes. They were Hyacinth flowers, specifically in the shade of purple. They were flowers usually sent to ask for forgiveness.

Classic mom.

A/N

this was my worst chapter yet 😀 i literally had so much trouble writing it, I don't know why smh

anyways I hope you guys are having an amazing and loving day, I love you <33

- jules

questions :

• i was thinking of changing my book covers ? should i ? or do you guys like these original ones ?

• favorite author or writer ?
a ; i love and adore jenny han, she is legit my favorite author ever

• are you more of an instagram or snapchat kind of person
a ; i'm both tbh LOL

• please recommend me and others some songs because i'm tired of listening to the same songs all the time 😀 pls and ty