Marco sighed. He opened the rum. The next thirty-seven minutes became a blur of toast after toast: for old times, for dead dreams, for the girl who got away, for the one who stayed . Tanya matched him shot for shot. The sisig grew cold. Someone cried. Someone else proposed marriage to a lamp.

"MARCO!" Bibamax roared from the center of the room. He was shirtless, wearing only cargo shorts and a party hat made of newspaper. "You're 37 minutes late, bro. You know what that means."

"Chug penalty," the crowd chanted.

Bibamax grinned, liquor-slick lips curving upward. He handed the manager a fifty-peso note. "Join us, sir. One for the road."

Bibamax—real name Ben—had been a legendary figure in their college circle. A man who could drink gin under the table, outlast anyone in a beer pong marathon, and still recite Noli Me Tangere chapter and verse while vomiting into a gutter. But that was ten years ago. Now he was a balding accountant from Davao, in town for one night only.

The elevator doors groaned open on the 12th floor of Hotel Esquela, revealing a hallway that smelled of old carpet and bad decisions. Marco clutched a plastic bag clinking with rum bottles. Behind him, Tanya balanced three cups of street-bought sisig on a cardboard tray.