12 (Manila, Philippines)

Jackie SMS’d me around 9 pm saying she was getting ready. But the hotel lobby didn’t call my room until 11 pm.

“Yes sir, we have Jackie in the lobby,” the man’s voice answered.

I interrupted, “Please send her up.”

And I went back to being engrossed on my hotel bed watching the feeding frenzy of sharks on National Geographic.

When she came to the door, she seemed a little nervous. I hugged her and gave her a kiss on each cheek. She had a bag of goodies. She handled it over immediately, “Here.”

“What is this?”

“This is my partner’s albums that he has helped produce.”

I pulled out the CD cases and saw the variety of Pinoy rappers and hip hop artists.

Jackie saw me glancing through the titles and the artists names. “He wanted me to point out this artist,” and she pointed to a song. “The name of the song is called, ‘Tilt my cap.”

“Okay, cool. And its okay if I use any of these for soundtracks or music videos?”

“Yes, but don’t get rich on it without a contract,” she said with a sly smile.

“Of course. He handles the music.”

“Yeah he produces and represents 12 artists,” she said. And she sat on my bed still seeming nervous.

That’s when my stomach rumbled hard. No wait, that was thunder. A typhoon had just made landfall and was quickly turning from Signal 2 to Signal 3. Then just as quickly, lightning flashed and struck. Another round of thunder shook the hotel room’s floor.

“I hate fucking rain,” she said.

“Yeah? Well, I think its sexy,” I said. And I grabbed the remote to turn off the television and went to the closet to take out the hotel umbrella.

When I came back to standing in front of her, she was quietly looking me over.

“What?” I asked.

“No you are sexy.” And she laughed.

I blushed and quickly asked to change the subject, “So will your partner be joining us later?”

She shook her head. “He is judging a rap battle tonight.” She gave a wicked wink. “I got you all to myself.”

I gulped.

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