take one. Dad tells her that he found a new temporary job.
The tourists go to a museum, and Mikay sees the older woman again. They get to talking– the woman shows her the bracelets she’s wearing, each of which she bought in a different country she’d been to. She’d been a flight stewardess, and when she retired, she decided she wanted to see all the places she’d only passed through but never really explored.
At home, Dad asks Bianca to do some chores. She says yes, and goes on filing her nails, so Dad asks her again, and she says she’ll tell Dindi when the younger girl arrives. Dad’s all “I asked you, not Dindi” and Bianca whines that she’s allergic to dishwashing detergent. Dad grumps that it’s hard for Mikay to be away, and Bianca retorts that Mikay shouldn’t come back because she’s the reason the house is in chaos (uh, what?).
Mikay sees the royal family portrait, not knowing that she’s the baby in the picture. The tour guide tells them about the queen and the princess, saying that it’s the week of the princess’s birthday and they’re flying kites for her. Mikay muses that Princess Ariya is so lucky that her dad is still looking for her even though she’d already been gone a long time– the whole country celebrates her birthday, while Mikay doesn’t even know her own real birthday.
Later, the tourists have lunch in the hotel. Mikay asks the older woman how much it costs and realizes she doesn’t have enough money, so she declines to join the others on the pretext that she’s going outside to take more pictures. She takes a packet of crackers out of her bag (probably from Kiko’s food stash) and eats it while walking, but then gives most of it to a hungry-looking child.
Kiko, meanwhile, keeps rubbing his forehead, because it still hurt after bumping into Mikay’s head the other day. His older aunt yells at him because she thinks he bumped foreheads with Mikay while kissing her. Pwahaha. Kiko protests that he and Mikay are just friends, but later muses to himself that at least Mikay left him with a memento, even if it hurt.
Mikay can’t sleep, complaining that it’s too cold in her hotel room. She finally runs a hot bath and soaks in it, looking at the pictures she’d taken. She comes upon the photo of grouchy Jao and thinks about deleting it, but then decides to keep it because he’s kinda cute. Ha. She’d been sniffling a bit when she chatted with Dad earlier, and now she starts sneezing. Uh-oh.
The next morning, Mikay wakes up with a slight fever, but that doesn’t stop her from having breakfast — and wrapping up half of her breakfast to take with her for later. The older woman she’d befriended gives her some medicine and advises her to stay in the hotel and rest– it’s better that she miss out on today rather than the festival two days later (the princess’s birthday). But after staying in her room for a while she decides to go out anyway– only when she walks out of the hotel, she realizes the tour bus had already gone. She approaches a man who’s standing beside a pickup truck, and asks about the tour– he says they already left. She shows him her itinerary, and the man says they’re headed that way too, so she could go with them if his companion grants permission. The man in question comes out at that time– and of course, it’s Jao. Mikay: You?
But that doesn’t stop her from asking him for a favor. Jao: Why am I not surprised? Hee. “Take a taxi!” he snaps when Mikay asks if she can ride with them as far as the market, the tour’s first stop on the itinerary. Only of course Mikay is trying to save money, so she persists, and finally he gives in. Mikay thanks him, “Salamat,” and he’s all “That’s Malay.” Mikay corrects him: It’s “thank you” in Filipino.
Off they ride, with Mikay sniffling and sneezing at times. Jao inches warily away from her, asking if she’s sick, because he doesn’t want to catch her cold. At the market, Mikay thanks him and asks his name, but he doesn’t deign to answer and just walks off. So she goes to ask about the tour and finds out that it isn’t there. I can see where this is leading…
Jao’s at the market to pick up some grain, presumably for the festivities. Unfortunately, the stall owner has no vehicle of her own and can’t leave the stall unattended, so she tells Jao he has to find a way to transport it.
Mikay wanders around the market looking for something to buy to take home, but almost everything is out of her budget. The most inexpensive thing she can find is strings of dried cheese, so after some consideration she buys a string. She notices Jao arguing with someone, and asks him if she can come along with them to the next stop since his route is the same as hers. Jao demands to know where she got his itinerary, and she points her lips at his driver*, and I die of laughter. Jao: What? She explains that she got his itinerary from the driver, and helps to load the goods they got from the market, in exchange for her ride. He says she doesn’t need to, but she answers that things are easier when people help each other.
In the car, in between munching dried cheese, she practices her Dzongkha, reading aloud from the guidebook. The phrases are clearly directed at Jao, saying that she’s thankful, and sorry to be a bother. Jao mutters in his own language “I can’t believe you,” and she looks in the guidebook for a translation. LOL.
Then he receives a call telling him to pass by the tourism office, and Mikay reacts– how can she catch up with the tour now? Jao: I told you I’m busy! Now you see!
Behati goes to the drukpah and is introduced to Rio. She asks where Jao is, and Rio laughed– didn’t Jao tell her his assignment?
At the tourism office, Mikay helps again to unload the truck, while Jao talks with someone, who thanks him for dropping by so quickly. He says that it was no big deal, and looking over at Mikay repeats her words that things are easier when people help each other. Ha. Someone learns fast. He smiles to see Mikay play with some children and take their pictures (it’s reminiscent of her mother’s interaction with children way back before she became queen, although Jao doesn’t know that). His Mikay-watching is interrupted by a phone call from his mom, telling him to report to her ASAP, and we can tell that Behati is really peeved. He parts quite civilly with Mikay at their next stop, and even nicely tells her that he hopes she finds the rest of the tour.
Mikay, of course, has no idea where she’s supposed to start looking, and just blunders around– it looks like Jao left her at the gates of a palace. Wishing there were jeepneys like in the Philippines so that travel would be a lot easier, she wanders inside the gates, and eventually arrives at a building where guards bar her way. As she retreats backward, she steps right on someone behind her– and it’s Behati, who looks her up and down dismissively and then tells her in Dzongkha that she’s loitering in her way, so step aside. Much you know, Behati.
Inside, Jao gets a scolding from mom about his assignment. Why was he given that assignment? Shouldn’t he have a more prestigious job? Jao answers that the king says anything that is worth doing is worth doing well, but mom doesn’t buy that answer. She rails at him for being stuck in a useless job while others sit on the drukpah. So Jao goes back to the pickup in a bad mood, and Mikay running up asking for another ride doesn’t help.
Aaaaand finally we get to see teenage Gino (Daniel Padilla)! He wakes up, he receives a phone call from his mom saying he’s late for something, and starts scurrying around his room.
Bianca’s checking out the school where she’ll be transferring. She tries to smile and talk to some of the other students, but they ignore her. And then here comes Gino, still with his ‘phones on, strutting the corridor like he owns it. I almost expect to see backlighting and hear “Aaaaalmost pa-ra-dise…” Gu Jun Pyo and the rest of the F4, move over! He passes Bianca, pauses to scrutinize her over his shades, and then moves on, while the rest of the school, especially the girls, whisper and stare at him.
The dean tells Gino he’s a bright boy, but he has too many lates and absences. Oh, and please thank your mom for having free wi-fi installed in the university. LOL. We get that the dean is basically catering to Gino because of who he is. After coming out of the dean’s office, Gino slides down the banister– and runs smack into Bianca at the bottom. This time, he asks if she’s new, and when she says yes, he grabs her hand and tells her to come with him.
They end up at the park, at one of the food kiosks, where he orders a lot of food, explaining to Bianca that he hasn’t eaten since the previous day– it wasn’t that he ran out of food, but that he had no one to eat with. Bianca is fascinated– he not only seems to be rich, but people keep stopping by to talk to him, so he must really be popular. She thanks Gino for the snacks by giving him her phone number.
She soon gets a rude awakening, however, when she bumps into someone she knows, a rich girl named Maddie Olivarez (Linn Oeymo, who played Enrique’s love interest in last year’s teen musical drama Good Vibes), who seems to be the leader of the resident clique of mean girls. After a bitchy exchange– Bianca one-ups Maddie because she won the title in the Miss Teen Princess pageant where Maddie was the first runner-up– the other girls laugh when Bianca says that Gino is interested in her; doesn’t she know he’s a player?
At home, Stella thinks that Bianca being friends with Maddie is a good idea, since Maddie is rich and classy, the kind of person she should associate with. Also, we learn that Bianca’s transferring to that school because it’s where Mikay got a scholarship, and they don’t want Bianca staying at an less prestigious school because it would be “unfair” to her.
In Yangdon, Mikay gets another free ride, and rhapsodizes about the beauty of Yangdon. Jao, who’s already in a bad mood because of his mom, is grumpy again, and she offers him some dried cheese in an effort to cheer him up. He yells at her to eat it herself and stop talking and talking because she’s too talkative. Ouch.
The tour bus is still nowhere in sight at their next destination, but Jao tells Mikay this is the end of the line for him. She asks the way to the bus stop, and is dismayed to findthatshe has to walk quiteabit