(First published on 10 June 2020. Additional questions were added.)

Getting the gang to do another round of Q&A was harder than I thought. The last time, Rei got into a very animated discussion with Gio and Quin about having babies. Ran even butted in, and for the first time in the history of forever, took Rei's side. The discussion went heated when Gio and Quin started searching for baby names--yes, plural. Then it went and diverged into the proprietary of raising children in this economy, which had me rolling my eyes. These babies were loaded as shit. They were probably the economy at this point. Afterwards, Ran, being Ran, interjected that the world might be ending anyway and it would be irresponsible to bring forth children in that case. He got walloped by Quin, because come on, if the world was ending, we know who would be responsible for that. Amirite, Ran?

The discussion was so intense that the gang did not notice me leave. When I again notified them that we were doing another set of Q&A, I got varied forms of eye rolls. I did not know there could be so many. They relented when I promised I would bring booze and snacks this time. I had read the questions, we would all need the alcohol to hurdle them.

The chatter hit me the moment I opened the doors to the living room where the gang had gathered. My babies were all there--Rei, Gio, Quin, and Ran. The latter, pretending to read a book and pointedly ignoring those around him. Someone, please tell him that The Anatomy Lesson was not really a biology book. I also doubt he was interested in The Missionary Position that was left sprawling in front of him. 

Rei, leaning against Gio, was already holding a glass of wine and giving Quin half-smirks over something her sister said. Gio had one hand around Rei's shoulders and another fiddling with his phone, probably checking the stock market. 

They all looked at me as I put down the chilled bottles--yes, plural--of vodka, wine and several packs of beer on the center table. Rei's eyes glistened. The gurl needs help.   

When I unpacked the sausages, Rei gave a whoop and did a little victory dance. Gio helped himself with the beer, and Quin poured wine for herself. Ran continued to ignore everybody, but eyed the wine as well. Rolling my eyes, I went and got the wine and shot glasses from the nearby bar and poured wine for him. 

"Here's your wine, Your Highness." 

Musa took the glass from me, gave it a whirl, sniffed, and very delicately, pouted in distaste.

Geezus.

"Look, that's the best wine I could get given the circumstances, okay?" The circumstances being my cheapskate ass. 

A non-committal 'mhmm' from Ran. He was about to put the wine glass down when he caught Gio's eyes. Then a sigh. And miracle of all miracles, Ran took a sip of the wine. The way he kept a poker face was admirable. 

I poured vodka on two shot glasses and gave one to Rei. We clinked glasses and with a wink, we downed the shot--the first of many.

There was a knock on the door and Quin immediately stood up to answer. Seconds after, Gab and Anton joined us. Gio lifted an immaculate brow. Anton averted his gaze. 

"Oh, they're here," I scooted and patted the seat beside me. "They will be joining us today. There are questions for them." 

Anton sat beside me while Gab squeezed himself in between Gio and Rei, to Gio's consternation. Gab took Rei's wine and down the whole glass. 

"Thirsty, aren't we?" Rei crooned. 

"Ever since Hugo's merry little men disbanded, I have not had a proper drinking session," Gab laughed. "I guess that's something I get to pin on you. You owe me drinking sessions." 

"No one is pinning anything on my wife," Gio morosely replied. "Why don't you move over there"--Gio pointed to where Anton was sitting--"and leave my wife alone?"  

Gab leaned into Rei more and wrapped his arms around her. "Gio dude, don't tell me you're jealous of me." 

Both Gio and Anton rolled their eyes. 

"Geezus, stop it, you two." Rei poured and gave Gab a shot glass. "Let's start now." They clinked glasses and downed their drinks. 

I took out the cards and shuffled them. "Okay, the first question is for you, Gab." Gab straightened up. "Shoot." 

"This is from Gabby. 'Between Ran and Gio, who would you bang if there was no other man on earth?'" 

Both Ran and Gio groaned. 

Gab winked at Ran then turned to me. "I'd bang the Reaper." 

Rei, who was in mid-sip of her wine, sputtered and cough. "That's not even a proper answer!"  

"It is. There are no other men, but it didn't say the Reaper is not there."

Rei shoved Gab as she chuckled. "Get out of here. You and your fetish, I swear!" 

From my side of the coffee table, Anton snorted, which caught the attention of Gab. He and Gab stared at each other creating a sexually-charged five seconds. Good riddance. 

"Okay, another question for you. This question is from Joe. He asked, 'Who is your boyfriend.'"

A tinge of red colored Gab's face while he averted his face away from my general direction. "Boyfriend? Who said anything about a boyfriend?"

For some reason, Anton beside me stiffened a bit. Considering my forbidden author knowledge, I gave him a series of encouraging pats on the back. 

Quin, who was clueless as fuck, picked up The Missionary Position in front of Ran and started leafing the pages. Ran followed her movements with his eyes, continuously swirling the contents of his wine glass. 

"Another question from Gabby for you. What is the craziest thing you and Rei did together, off-screen?"

Gab throw his head back and laughed. "I remember that night. To be fair, you did not break character as Reaper even once." He winked at Rei, who crossed her arms and glared. 

Rei turned to Gab in alarm. "You pinky swore not to tell anyone!"

"Do tell," Gio quipped.

Everyone, and I mean everyone, focused their attention on Gab. 

"Aaand?" Quin drawled. "We are waiting. What did you two do?"

"Geezus. Gossips. All of you." Rei huffed and sunk in her seats. I poured vodka in shot glasses and distributed them to everyone except Quin and Ran. With a cheer, we downed the contents of our glasses. 

"Fifteen shots of vodka will do wonders, I tell you," Gab teased, nudging Rei on the side, who groaned.  

"What did you do?" Quin insisted. 

"It was nothing. We just visited a club is all," Rei waved her arms about. "Next question, please." 

Several brows raised. Even Ran's, who finally put the book in his hand down, settled his back on the couch and crossed his legs, a hint of a smile on his face. 

Gab clicked his tongue. "Well, yes, we visited a club. And then she kissed a girl on a dare. The poor girl was blushing after being showered attention by the Reaper." He patted Gio.  "Don't worry. This happened before you two became a couple, I think." 

Gio finished his can of beer in one continuous chugging.

Rei groaned. "I'm never drinking with you again!" 

It was Gab's turn to groan. "Aww. But we had so much fun. And you promised to party in Bangkok with me."   Rei gave Gab the middle finger which elicited another throaty laughter from Gab.

More shots were distributed and immediately drank afterward. 

"Okay, Rei, you're up. Awgy asked, 'What is your dumbest childhood story?'"

Rei straightened up and crossed her legs haughtily. "I was a very prim and proper child. I don't have any of these embarrassing stories. Sorry."

Quin burst out laughing. "Oh, Onee! Remember that one time when we were having dinner with Father's business partners, and...and..." Quin couldn't continue because she burst in a fit of laughter. 

"I told you that didn't happen. You dreamt that completely!"

Gio raised a brow. "No, I have a vague recollection of this event as well."

Quin, who was fighting to temper her laughter, wiped the tears forming at the corner of her eyes. "Onee was helping Nan prepare the food before the dinner. We...we didn't know she shoved a peanut up her nose. And...and...during dinner...s-she sneezed. And, oh my god, the p-peanut landed on the guest's p-plate. Our parents were so mad." 

Both Quin and Rei were red in the face, the latter from laughing hysterically and the other from dying in embarrassment. The whole room erupted in laughter as well, except that Rei was now covering her face with her two hands. 

"Okay," I said once the laughter died down a little. The next question is from Death. Anton, do you like your toast dry or buttered?" 

A naughty smile crept Anton's face. "I don't particularly care for my toast, but I like Gab's toast buttered."  Gab raised a can of beer towards Anton with the same naughty smile before drinking. 

"I like my toast dry," Quin quipped. 

Anton and Gab both snickered and held back a chuckle. Quin looked at both of them. "What? I don't like butter on toast. Ran likes it buttered."  

The aforementioned Ran sputtered and coughed and then gave Quin a stinky side-eye. "Toast is forever ruined for me now. Thank you, Death." 

Oh Ran, dear, if you knew half of Death's questions for you, you'd really be 'thanking' them.

"Speaking of which, Ran. You're up. Mansi asks, 'Do you have any hobbies other than making everyone else's lives miserable?'" 

Ran huffed and downed the contents of his wine glass in one go. "Yes, playing the violin."

Gio's face scrunched up. "If I remember correctly, that also made us miserable. Our ears specifically."

"I've improved over the years."

A pause, then "A little."

Sure, hun. Sure.

"Another question for you Ran, from Mansi again. She asked 'do you ever wish you have Rei's or Quin's abilities?'"

Ran pondered a bit then replied, "Yeah. Quin's specifically. If I had those, things would be a lot different." Ran took the bottle of wine and drank directly from it. 

Okaaay.

"Oh, another question for your Ran. From Gabby this time: 'How much do you value your live and what way do you want to die?"

Ran huffed. "Is hate all I get from the readers? I'm so underappreciated."

"Actually, no. You actually have one fangurl," I answered. 

Ran's eyes lit up. "Really?"

I nodded. "Although, she hasn't read the parts where you were an absolute shit, so who knows?" Yeah, don't keep your hopes up, buddy.

"Oh. Well, tell her I love her already." 

I nodded and shuffled the cards some more. After spotting a good question, I turned to Rei. "Oooh, Rei, there's a question here for you from Joe. He asked, 'Why did you decide to rush things with blowing up Ran's building instead of waiting for Gio and Quin to help?'" He has a follow-up question too, which I will paraphrase a little. He asked, "Have you considered the irony of Quin sneaking into the mission at the last moment to the way you disregard Gio's and Quin's feelings when you sneak into dangerous missions by yourself? How does it feel to have a taste of your own medicine?'" 

Both Gio and Quin faced Rei, the latter with his arms folded in front of him. "Yeah, we haven't really talked about that, have we?" 

Rei groaned and threw her hands in the air. "I'll never hear the end of this, won't I?"

"Yeaaaaah," I drawled. "Joe is pretty salty about it."

Rei slumped into her seat. "I can't tell them about my plan. How could I tell Quin that I plan to murder her father? I debated telling Gio about it, but I was afraid he would stop me. I saw a window of opportunity when they both went away, and I took it. And I don't blame Quin for sneaking into the mission. I didn't like it, but I understand where she is coming from since I would have done the same. I just wish I was more prepared to handle it when it did happen." 

"You had a month, though. You could have bided your time and plan it properly," I interjected. Gio nodded his head in approval. 

"I was afraid, okay? I was afraid that if I stopped even for a second, I'd completely drown in my own head again, and I would never able to resurface. A stab through the heart is all it would take. A stab through the heart and everything stops. And it was so easy to just give in, knowing it will make Mom stop screaming inside my head. Or seeing Dad's bloodied frame again and again. Because when I say they're incessant, I mean it. When everything around me is quiet, it's when her screams are the loudest. It's when the images are the bloodiest. Was it selfish of me? Perhaps. But back then, I honestly didn't think I would have survived a month anyway."

"Onee..." Quin stood up and hug her sister. Gio stroked Rei's back in consolation. I sighed. I scribbled 'sign Rei up to lots and lots of therapy sessions' in my notes. 

Deciding to give Rei a minute to herself, I turned to Gio. "Agnes asked, 'What were your thoughts when you finally met Rei after so many years and she stole your wallet?'"  

Gio smiled as he reminisced. "I was really annoyed with her. She was like a hyper-active kid when drunk that I thought of just leaving her on the road. But something held me back from leaving. Also, I let her stole my wallet. She's not as sly as she hoped, especially when drunk."

"Yeah, right," Rei scoffed, who I noticed had partially recovered her composure. Though, I also noticed the bottle of wine next to her was suddenly near empty. 

"It was a good opportunity to track you down."

"And you unleashed the Chief of Police on me. Yeah, I remember, buddy." Rei narrowed her eyes as she shifted her attention to beer. I scribbled another note: 'have Rei's liver checked.'

"So, I guess this also answers Agnes' follow-up question," I remarked. 

"Which is?" Rei asked. 

"What you have to say to Gio about his 'thoughts' about you?"

"Hah!" Rei burst out as she sidled closer to Gab. "Book that ticket to Bangkok, buddy," she told Gab, who just smirked. 

"Oh, come on." Gio snorted as he chugged more beer. "It was in the past." 

"I will be an annoying, hyperactive drunk somewhere else." Rei stuck her tongue out at Gio. 

"You do realize I am a major stockholder in the main airline companies, right?" Gio crossed his arms and had a glaring contest with Rei. 

"Okay. Time to change seats." Gab, who was still seated in the middle of them, raised his arms in surrender as he stood up and squeezed himself between me and Anton instead.  

"You do realize," Rei continued, oblivious to Gab's absence in between them, "that we'll be using your private jet, right?"

"I want to go too, Onee! Take me with you!" 

Rei blinked at Quin several times before answering, "Uhhh. I don't know Quin, the places we will go to might not be to your liking." Quin visibly deflated.  

"We can go," Ran patted Quin's shoulders. "We can go to the temples and stuff." 

Quin's eyes glistened and she gave a happy whoop.  She clinked glass with Ran and drank her wine. 

My presence was essentially forgotten as everyone got lost in planning a trip to Bangkok. I inwardly scoffed. Yeah, right.

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