Chapter Eleven

“tell me how did you met Mitchie” bigla nyang binago yung usapan
“me? I met her at a convention”
“convention?”
“yeah, I‘m a photographer and she was my seatmate at the bus going there, so yeah the rest is history”
“where is that convention exactly?”
“hmm, South Korea, why?”
“is that at the middle of the year, like May?” tanong nya

oh, pano nya nalaman na May yun?

“actually yeah, how did you know?”
“Jestine and I went there too!” sabi nyang medyo masigla
“Jestine?”
“my girlfriend .. I mean ex girlfriend”  tapos biglang nagbago expression nya

natahimik kami pareho, awkward ..

“umm, I‘ll go inside now okay?”
tumango lang sya tapos bumalik ako sa loob saka humiga sa kama ko

nakatingin lang ako sa kisame nung pumasok na din si Pedro
ang down down ng itsura nya, sorry naman at naungkat pa bigla si Jestine

“Pedro, can you tell me a story?”
“what? are you a child?!” sabi nya -______________________________- pilosopo mo talaga eh!

“pssh! I mean, something about you”
 tumaas kilay nya “about me? what about me?”

“tell me something about you”
“ne, don‘t wanna”
“okaayy, so.. mmm, something about Jestine?” kinakabahan kong tanong, baka magalit kasi sya saken

narinig ko yung mabigat na pag buntong hininga nya
kabahan ka Jamie!! kabahan ka!! baliw ka kasi eh, ayan tuloy, magagalit na yan, magagalit na yan! >.<

“I --”
“if you don‘t want to talk about it, it‘s okay.. I‘m sorry” bigla kong putol sa sinabi nya
nakita ko yung pag slightly smile nya

“I can tell it to you, but I don‘t know where to start” sabi nya

o_O talaga? sasabihin nya??

“you know, there are radio stations back at my country where they help people with their love issues and --”

pagtingin ko sa kanya nakatingin lang sya saken na parang na-aamaze?

“what?” tanong ko sa kanya
“nothing, it‘s just that.. you‘re different aren‘t you?”
“different? what do you -- anyway, forget about that, let‘s talk about you for a change” sabi ko
“okay, so what?” tanong nya, ay wala kaming mararating neto!
“wait there, okay?” tapos kinuha ko yung cell phone ko
“hello? ah, ano yung kaibigan ko kasi, sya yung magpapatulong po, foreigner kaya ako ang tumawag”
“………………”
“okay po, salamat”

“here!” saka ko inabot kay Pedro yung phone ko
“what‘s this?” tanong nya
“take it!! it‘s a long distance call!”



His POV

she’s crazy I tell you!
how can a stranger help me with my problem?
well, technically she’s a stranger too and she’s helping me but that’s a different case

anyway..

“Hello?”
“yes hello! how may we help you tonight?”

what the?! I looked at Lailah and she have her hand gestured as a phone, like what the hell?!

“are you kidding me?” I asked her
“I‘m sorry what?” she answered in a “DJ” kinda way

“hello, are you still there?”
I was looking at her, amazed!

“hello??”
okay Damon, just play along

“yes, I‘m still here”
“good! then how may we help you tonight?”
“I don‘t think you can”
“really? try us” she said
“no, I --”
“come on!” she said

“okay, fine.. here goes ..”

“I had a girlfriend, she broke up with me thru phone call”
“and why did she broke up with you?”
“I don‘t know”
“oh come on! how are we going to help you if you won‘t tell us the story?”

“fine … I love her still, that‘s why every time I have, I call her. but she always hung up on me”
“and why does she do that?”
“because I didn‘t fight for her. my family, well, they don‘t like her for me”
“why don‘t they like her for you?”
“simply because they don‘t, I really don‘t know their exact reason”
“okay, but why didn‘t you fight for her? I mean you love her right?”

“yes I do, but something at the back of my mind told me that I should just shut up and do nothing that‘s why I didn‘t fight for her, then I just realized that I do love her, but I was too late, she broke up with me”

“well that was stupid” she said in a Lailah way, not the DJ way
“I know right?”
“if she‘s not answering your call why don‘t you mail her?”
“mail? are you kidding me?”
“no, I mean it” now she’s back to Lilah, so I turned her phone off too

“here” then she handed me a post-card-like thingy from our hotel back in Singapore
“what am I going to do with this?” I asked
“mail it to her tomorrow, I think they mail it here faster that my country” then she laughed

“what am I going to say here?” I asked again
“am I you?! that I have to dictate to you everything you will do? huh??”
“well you‘re telling me already, so I --”
“fine! fine! tell her that --”

“on second thought, its much sweeter if it all came from me”
“gulo ng lahi ng baliw na to, sarap lang batukan, ang ewan ewan!”
“what did you say?”
“ah, wala wala!”
“you‘re pissing me again”
“I said -- nothing!”

“whatever, hey can I borrow a pen?”
“here”

“done! we‘ll mail this tomorrow, and by the way -- thanks. I feel a lot better now”
“sure, no prob! mmm, what did you say to her anyway?”

“I said I want us to get back together, and I‘ll see her soon”


Her POV

ngumiti na lang ako, at least natulungan ko si Pedro sa love life problem nya
at lease isa samin, e may masaya pa namang ending

kinabukasan

punta kami ngayon sa shopping area
mamayang gabi kasi yung kasal nila Mitchie, e wala pa akong regalo, kaya hanap muna kami

“how about this?” tanong ni Pedro, tinutulungan nya akong maghanap
“I don‘t think it‘s a good idea to give them that” tapos natawa ako, baliw talaga tong kasama ko
“wait, I‘ll just go outside to look for anything else”
“okay, I‘ll be here”

nakapili na ako at nagbabayad na ngayon dito sa counter
pagtingin ko kay Pedro sa labas may dalawang babae syang kausap
kanina medyo masaya pa yung itsura nya, tapos ngayon bakit nag-iba?

umalis yung dalawang babae, lumabas na din ako

“hey, what‘s the problem?” tanong ko
hindi sya nagsasalita, pero parang bad trip sya na hindi ko maintindihan
parang galit na gusto manapak pero para syang naghihina?? ewan! basta di ko sya maintindihan!
eto tuloy ngayon, habang naglalakad kami ang tahimik nya. hindi ako sanay sa ganito ha..