It's a prank!

I am not into pranks. I mentioned this in my previous article entitled "When pranks and jokes have gone too far. I don't usually pull pranks on others because I don't like being pranked either.

But I admit that there are times, just a few, that I've also played a prank on others. I did it to my family members, and it is not a serious prank that went too far.

There are two instances where what I did is still vivid in my memory and I still laugh every time I remember the reactions of the people I played a prank on.

Everyone in the Philippines is surely aware of the television show hosted by Willie Revillame. It is very known because it gives prizes to people in the form of money and gadgets. If you are fortunate enough, you might even be selected to play in one of the segments of the show and get a chance to win 1 million Philippine pesos or a house and lot. Almost every household in the Philippines knows this show and a lot of people want to be selected as one of the daily winners.

We used to watch it every day as well. My housemates never missed a day of watching the show, and we even participated in the 'Shopee Shake' segment, in which we shook our phones while the Shopee app was open to win Shopee coins that we could spend for online shopping on the same app. I was searching for a game on the Play Store one day when I came across an app about Kuya Will calling pranks. I decided to download the app to see what it was all about, and discovered that it is an app that allows someone to pretend that the famous game show host is calling.

That afternoon, I tried it on my sister to see if it works. Well, if you are into this kind of pranks, you should be good at acting. At that time, our television is turned off and everyone is minding their own business. My mom is looking after the store, my sister whom I aimed to play a prank was sitting across from me in our bedroom while the rest of our housemates are hanging out at the nipa hut outside, so it's perfect to start the 'show'.

My phone rang and I answered it, and I 'told' the caller about my name, and I was trying so hard to suppress my laughter when my sister looked at me for a second. And since they know me for putting my calls on loudspeaker, she wasn't suspicious. Then, I put on a weird yet excited face and told her:

"Si kuya Will, Si kuya Will! Tumatawag, ikaw na sumagot kinakabahan ako, di ko alam sasabihin ko." ("Kuya Will is calling! Answer it, I'm nervous I don't know what to say.") She looked like her mind is loading for 3 seconds and said "Bakit ako? Ikaw na, baka hindi ako pwede" (Why me? I might not be allowed to, you should do it") In a very excited tone, she was even jumping out of joy. She forgot that it was Saturday at that time and it's still lunchtime which is not the time that the game show host normally calls people. My sister then hurriedly went outside and excitedly told mom that I was picked as a winner at the said game show. They were all too excited and when I can no longer suppress my laughter because of their reactions, I laugh so hard in front of them while saying: "It's a praaaaank!"

I may not be able to fully convey how hilarious that time is, but it was so funny that I am even laughing while typing and remembering that moment.

The reason I remembered this is because, this afternoon, I pulled a little prank again. This time it was to my aunt. We haven't seen each other for more than a year already and we were surprised when she came and visited us today. But what annoyed me is that she was repeatedly asking me about my boyfriend. She even told me that she heard that I'm already getting married. I simply told her that we didn't push through the wedding because of the pandemic and that my boyfriend is unable to come because of the pandemic health protocols. She kept asking me to introduce my boyfriend to her too.

I remembered about the call prank I did before and I thought that there might also be a similar app on Playstore. I searched for the app and found one which will enable the user to pretend that a certain 'boyfriend' is calling. It features the members of the famous Kpop idol group BTS. Since my aunt is not familiar with Kpop and BTS, I was sure that she'll believe it.

I set the app to call after five minutes and when it rang, I told her that my boyfriend is calling. It was so funny when my aunt was trying so hard to speak English and introduced herself to Taehyung. pretended like I was translating what she was saying in Korean. And she believed it was real. What's more hilarious is when my father arrived home from work, she told him that he already have a son-in-law. I didn't tell her that it was just a fake video call and I'm sure she will tell our relatives about it too. Well, at least for now I won't have to worry about my relatives' pressuring me about getting a boyfriend, and worse, to get married lol.