The apartment was chaos, the kind that only happened when four adults tried to squeeze a thirty-person party into a three-bedroom unit. Streamers were taped crookedly to the walls, balloons dangled from the ceiling fan, and the table was stacked high with pancit, fried chicken, and Lani’s one non-negotiable: lechon.
“It’s tradition,” Lani had declared earlier that week, hands on her hips. “You don’t turn thirty without a lechon. The ancestors will be offended.”
By eight in the evening, the music was blasting from a Bluetooth speaker, neighbors were already knocking lightly on the walls, and the room buzzed with the chatter of friends and coworkers. Rina showed up with two of her officemates, bearing ice cream and a karaoke mic. The tiny living room filled fast with laughter, food, and th
