When I Grow Up, I Wanna Be Mrs. San Gabriel

Chapter 8

Michael went to the center stage to receive his award. Miguel couldn’t hold his tears and his teammate noticed it.

“Miggy are you okay?” Aaron asked. Miguel just nodded and told him he’s just happy for Michael. He looked at the guy who’s with Michael, he’s also just looking at the people around and seems like he’s looking for a specific person. But then the guy’s phone rang so he left the venue.

Miguel is overthinking. The guy seems familiar to him. But he’s also thinking about why the guy was with Michael. He’s even thinking if Michael is cheating with him.

“Miggy! You’re the Best Setter, the announcer called your name.” Aaron shook Miguel on his shoulders. He’s overthinking so much that he didn’t hear his name being called as the Best Setter of the Spikers League 2025. He wiped his tears and went to the center stage.

“Yes Miggy!” he heard his brother cheering for him. After receiving the award, the awardees lined up on the sidelines to wait for all of the awardees to be called. Luckily, there’s someone between Miguel and Michael.

“Congratulations!” the 2nd Best Middle Blocker told him, who’s in between him and Michael.

“Thank you, congratulations as well.” Miguel genuinely said. He even heard Michael congratulate him but he didn’t even bother to look at him. He pretended that he didn’t even hear Michael congratulate him. He was saddened again with what he saw a while ago.

“And now, for the Spikers League 2025 Rookie of the Year… from the Lireo de Ville University, Jan Miguel Veneracion!” The whole stadium was filled with screams Miguel’s name was called again.

“Woooo!” The other awardees cheered for him and asked him to go to the center to receive his another award. Miguel is holding back his tears, even though he already cried for another reason a while ago. He remembered that he and Michael talked about this before, that they have dreamed of standing in front of many people with their individual awards.

Miguel bowed down after receiving his award, and went back to the sidelines. There in the sidelines was Michael, waiting for him and extending his arms, ready to hug him. He couldn’t hold it back anymore and went straight to him. He was hugged by Michael and he started to cry.

“I’m sorry babe. I’ll explain it to you later.” he told him. The whole crowd screamed when they saw the actions of the two. Many are already thinking and speculating, but others also think that it is just a sweet gesture as a teammate.

“And for the Spikers League Most Valuable Player, from… the Lireo de Ville University, Michael Angelo Rey!”

Michael’s name was called as the Most Valuable Player. He went to the center to receive his award. While receiving his award, the staff told him to give a small speech to the crowd.

“This is very impromptu hahaha. Good morning everyone!” Michael happily said. “I would like to thank everyone behind this Spikers League 2025, thank you very much for having such tournaments for athletes like us to showcase our talents and skills. The pride we have representing our school is priceless.”

Miguel just looked at him, smiling, and looking at the crowd. They are really happy for Michael and the rest of the team. His eyes scanned around the crowd to look for a specific person, the guy who’s with Michael a while ago, but he’s nowhere to be found.

“I would also like to thank our coach and my teammates. I will not be able to have these such awards without you guys. Thank you so much!” Michael added. He heard his teammates cheering for him.

“And lastly, I would like to thank a person very close to my heart.” Michael said and simply looked at Miguel. The crowd screamed thinking who it was. “Thank you for always being there, during ups and downs. Thank you for staying by my side. It means so much to me. And I promise, we will win this championship together.”

The crowd was silenced for a moment, then screamed. They’re gossiping about who Michael is talking about, but cheering at the same time. Miguel on the other hand was very shy about what he has heard. Though Michael didn’t mention him directly, he’s already thinking that some people are already thinking that Michael is talking about him.

“Thank you so much!” Michael bowed down and the crowd clapped their hands for him. A few more minutes after the warmup, Game 2 of the Finals started. In the LDVU’s starting lineup, Miguel is not a starter. The coach wants him to rest even in the championship game so they used the backup setter, Ced, as the starting setter.

But as expected by the team, Hathoria University will bounce back from the Game 1 loss. HU snatch the first two sets with scores of 25 - 23 and 25 - 19 on the first two sets respectively.

“Miguel, can you play now? The team needs you.” Coach Justine asked Miguel. Miguel answered with conviction that he can play and can lead the team to bounce back from the first two sets, which happened when they won the 3rd and 4th sets with scores of 25 - 18 and 25 - 21 respectively. Miguel, as the starting setter from the start of the tournament, really knows his spikers and the kind of set they wanted.

Now it’s already the fifth set of the Championship match, with the two teams with two sets a piece, are now tied at 13 all. Miguel is the one on the service line and on the frontline were Aaron, Michael and Allen.

Miguel served the ball straight to the libero of the opponent. They successfully set the ball to their spiker but got blocked by Michael which gave them the lead at 14 - 13. Now the team needs one more point to win the Championship.

The referee blows his whistle and Miguel let out a deep sigh. He looked at the opponents court and noticed that the frontline is not guarded, for they are expecting a hard serve. He served the ball and hit it soft, letting it land in the empty space on the opponent’s court.

The referee blew his whistle and awarded the point to LDVU, giving them the Championship.