The party raged until dawn. Neighbors had long given up banging on the walls, the lechon was stripped bare, and balloons sagged sadly against the ceiling. The living room looked like a battlefield of confetti and half-finished cocktails. Friends and coworkers sprawled across beanbags and the couch, singing half-remembered lyrics into the karaoke mic. Someone had turned the volume to a level that should have been illegal. Lani, still wearing her sparkly crown that read Dirty Thirty, was on her third round of karaoke, belting power ballads with Pia and Rina as backup singers. Their voices rose and fell with reckless enthusiasm, the kind only a long night and too many drinks could produce.
Sofia tried to stand and clear a plate, but her legs wobbled. The room tilted. She clutched the table f
