Prologue

"There's a somebody I'm longing to see
I hope that HE turns out to be
Someone who'll watch over me
I'm a little lamb who's lost in the wood
I know I could always be good
To one who'll watch over me…" ^_^
(Rod Stewart)


It was on that warm summer’s day, in a little town somewhere down the rural fields of Leyte, when I first laid my eyes on HIM (yes “HIM”, “the one”, “sha na!”, tuud na ini! ahihihi…)

After almost five years of being acquainted, my cutest pal named JANDY CHRISTIAN TINGSON (a.k.a. “jhay”) had finally invited me over to their place for our long-time anticipated ‘Pahal Night-out’ for the night.

It was the first time I’d gone back to Leyte after spending one whole academic year in Quezon City and I had not seen the Pahal Gang for almost a year already, so I was very excited to see their adorable faces once again (si-a! =p) And as much thrilled to spend the "pangarigo-slash-tagay-tagay-slash-bis-la-anu-basta-wholesome" (pero kunuhay la :D) jamming session with them.

Sadly, despite the wasted time and precious prepaid cards, our efforts (i.e. an mga binalhasan nam ni Jandy!) for reaching out to these people during the inevitable bagtik stages of their lives, had not been very much appreciated. Tsk tsk tsk...

JERICHO LACBAYEN (a.k.a. "echo") was nowhere to be found, probably still scratching eggs in San Miguel (peace jiriko! hira adto nagyakan! ;p)

OLIVER RAE SALAR (a.k.a. "OR") gave me the "waray-nak-salamoy-di-nak-makauli" alibi.

And RYAN BALLES (a.k.a. "babs") told me he was still to bring his fat self to some family affair.

Hence, what would have been 6 had become 3: Jandy, ako, and the "flashing" HOTTIE (heeyayy!!) named MARLOU REDOVANTE (a.k.a. "maloy"), and his eternally lustrous forehead fronting his (what for me was new) "Antonio Banderas wet look" (nga iya ginpipinaawa ha ak kada pagsasagka niya ha dagat). :D

Three of us as a crowd wasn't that bad (yeah right, for it was worse!). Because we had incredibly creative minds, not a single moment was wasted on doing nothing. For before I knew it, every inch of boredom was already replaced with their favorite pastime (next to satisfying their sexual cravings, of course ;p), doing one thing they were always good at: scapegoating! Jandy and Marlou endlessly showered my poor self with all the faults they could think of, with what seemed like a whole hour of the same lines repeated over and over again:

"Sus ka la… Kay ikaw udug… Imu ito sala… blahblahblahblah……"

The faulfinding ended with those three pathetic words: "Balet, uwat la…" and soon everything went back to equilibrium, with the two asses acting as if nothing happened. And as soon as the commotion died down, there we were, out on the streets of their hurun, roaming around their barangay, in search of potential chicks and boylets to trip on, and eventually tiring my legs out, feeling fiery sweat drip down my armpits, only to find out that there weren't jigs and wafs during that time of day, only barangay tanods on the side of the roads instead.

Nevertheless, fate had miraculously been kind to me that night. For HE (yes "HIM", "the one", "sha na!", tuud na ini! ahihihi…) would in a few moments be shattering my entire system the very second HE walks in that door…


"Ngunit lahat ng ito ay walang kahulugan
Kung di rin lang IKAW ang matagpuan
Ang pag-ibig ko ay walang saysay
Kung di rin lang IKAW ang dahilan…"
(Barbie Almalbis)