The Long and Winding Road

"If I could fall into the sky,
Do YOU think time would pass me by?
'Cause YOU know I'd walk a thousand miles,
If I could just see YOU tonight…"
(Vanessa Carlton)


The eight-day "panguwat exchange" was carried out with a lot of help from the best of his assets: the never-ending, incessantly flowing, and eternally touching JOWK's! After three awful postponements, finally came the much-awaited day that triggered a thousand jitters, and the moment of all moments… our FIRST "DATE". (yiheee!! :D)

0730 --> left the house
0800 --> arrived in school
0815 --> crammed for Post-lab (deadline was 12 noon!)
0930 --> studied for Chem long test
1030 --> took the long test (and flunked it!)

Thursday meant "no LAB" in the afternoon, and thus, it was a perfectly right time for lakwacha. At 12 noon, HE asked about (aww announced!) the occurrence of our "date". I was to attend the 12 o'clock mass, so I was already guaranteed 30 minutes of being late.

Today, just like in all other "no LAB" days, where I wasn't required to wear shoes to school, I was dressed in my pambalay outfit: shirt, shorts, and slippers. I was still in bangaw mode, so I had to go back home and change. With all disrespect, I texted while hearing mass…

ako: Oi, bngin ak maiha.. mauli pa ak.. ahihihi..;p
HIM: Agi ay na h2 pgpnahusay.hehe bl8 cge mghulat nla ak ngdi.dungan nla kta pglunch ü

Another unforeseen event took place (and thus became another cause of delay). Ate Jessa, my one and only dakilang housemate, texted to tell me to buy food for lunch, and so right after the mass, I still had to go to Jollibee-Katips and do the exhausting "saka-lusad-lakat" through the overpass before reaching the said establishment.

1230-1235 --> Arrneow chapel to Gate 2.5
1235-1237 --> overpass to Jollibee
1237-1242 --> waited for the order
1242-1244 --> overpass back to Gate 2.5

And that was yet another 14 minutes added to the delay. Plus 5 minutes more to that, spent waiting for a couple more passengers at the Katips-UP "siyaman-punuan" jeepney before departure. Hence, 30 + 14 + 5 = 49 minutes late!

Still, another ill-fated event took place on my way home: TRAFFIC! It was by far the worst traffic jam I've ever been into my whole life (from Katips to UP, that is). For almost an hour of being stuck on that jeepney, all sorts of nuisance had tormented me: endless clamor of honkers, smoke-belchers, and the excruciating heat ("El Niño ba 'to??" "No pare, this is hell!"), fostering ounces of sweat round my armpits.

It was almost 2 o'clock when I arrived at UP Vinzon's.

1350-1400 --> UP to KNL (ha balay)
1400-1430 --> took a shower, changed clothes
1430-1440 --> trike for Philcoa
1440-1500 --> Philcoa to SM North

Finally, at 3 p.m. I arrived at SM North, approximately 3 hours late for the lunch date.

"Manu, adi na ak.. hain ka? ahihihi..;p"

At that point, LUNCH was all that was on my mind. I was starving like hell and it would have helped very much if HE texted back. But HE didn't! >( And so even if it was against my will (shempre load gud ito, hihi ;p) and for the sake of being able to eat in the soonest time possible…

"09213735025 5" (sent to 808)

And finally, after 30 minutes…

"Ey kalma la madam.adi ak cnemas 1-4"

Since HE (yes "HIM", "the one", "sha na!", tuud na ini! ahihihi…) didn't know who HE was meeting with, it was I who carried the burden of finding HIM. I looked for HIM in every corner, every step, every shop, every cinema, but after a couple more minutes, the search turned out to be a failure, thanks to my super unhealthy eyesight. (buta!)

ako: Manu, hain dpit??
HIM: Adi ak nbs,ngdi nla ak mghulat

And so, despite all the fatigue the search had caused me, I still struggled to look for HIM in National Bookstore. And it was only after two rounds of "libot-libot" that I finally found what I was looking for…

Wearing a dark blue shirt and loose maong pants, I saw HIM from a back view, with his knees bent, and almost kneeling, intently engrossed on that certain sci-fi novel whose synopsis HE was reading on.

Right there and then, I felt the slightest tinge of hesitation (to date or not to date. wahaha! ;D) when I saw that HE wasn't wearing white (the SIGN!! tsk tsk…) and when I moved to his right, pretended to read a novel, and saw his ultraelectromagnetic cute face! :D

Of course HE didn't recognize me, so I just took advantage of the moment to stare at HIM from the side. I then went to the adjacent section and texted…

"Oi, nkit-an ko na ikw! hahahaha..;p"

I went back to the sci-fi section, where I first saw HIM, but much to my surprise, HE was gone! Immediately, I looked for HIM again, hoping HE still had not gone far. But then after two more rounds of roving, I was not able to find HIM. I went out and looked for some place to sit in. My stomach was already growling in hunger, and I wanted so much to eat! But since we were supposed to have lunch together, I waited… again!

I sat on the stairs in between the two escalators near Cinemas 1 to 4, and looked for his face from the dozens of people that passed by the vicinity.

ako: oist! adi ak ha stairs tkad2 cnemas 1-4.. pkadi na dw, tipatay na ak ngadi!!

And after a few minutes…

"Miss, bawal hong umupo dyan…"

Just when the security guard, noticing my excellent portrayal of "babaeng ininjan ng ka-date", came to me, I saw HIM (yes "HIM", "the one", "sha na!", tuud na ini! ahihihi…), riding the escalator down towards the ground floor. Without a word of apology to the guard, I quickly followed HIM as HE entered National Bookstore (na naman!). HE stopped to check out some novel on the "ON SALE" section, and then I stopped and moved towards his front, stared at HIM for a while, wanting to burst in laughter for some absurd reason, and called HIM…

"PSST!!"

HE held his head up and looked at me…

"UY!!"



Haaay! Finally, our first personal dialogue… hahaha!


“I was alone on this journey
YOU came along to comfort me
Everything I want in life is right here…”
(MYMP)