20 Questions

"20 Questions" is a one-act play by Christian R. Vallez (aka Juan Ekis ) that won 2nd place in the 2003 Don Carlos Palanca Memorial Awards for Literature. The premise is simple: Jigs and Yumi are locked in a room for 24 hours by their barkada. It's a tradition that's been done for years, apparently to nudge two victims to finally admit their feelings for one another. So far, the ploy has never failed to result in a romantic relationship.

But Jigs, a fresh grad who's so nice that the barkada once thought he was gay, has no idea why he's locked in the room with Yumi, a commercial model a couple of years ahead of him. Yumi is as clueless as Jigs, but thinks that maybe she's just getting payback because she was the one who had started the tradition.

To pass the time, they grab some wine and play 20 Questions: they take turns asking questions to one another until they've asked 10 questions each. But there's a catch -- once asked, a question can't be asked again, and all questions must be answered with honesty.

What ensues is a conversation that puts the grand gestures of the cookie-cutter romcoms to shame. It shows you an example of the power of vulnerability. If you liked Before Sunrise, then this is a must read for you.

Read the complete piece from the author's blog. There are other versions out there (still attributed to Juan Ekis) that have some slight variations, but the version in the author's blog is still the best one.

EDIT: I mistakenly added the wrong link to the story so I had to correct it. I was amazed at how difficult it was for me to find the author's blog again (I eventually gave up and used my browser history). This is sad because for a story so good as this, the original version seems to be un-Googleable.