Fault Beneath the Stars (Stray #1)

Chapter Five

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Chapter Five

After everything that happened that day, it felt like everything had become a puzzle I couldn’t quite solve. New questions started to form, clouding my mind and, more than anything, weighing heavy on my heart.

Gaya ng napagkasunduan namin ay ibinigay niya nga sa akin ang mga yellow points niya kapalit ang pag-a-unblock ko sa kan’ya sa Messager at Facebook. He gave me everything he had, leaving behind only the yellow points his group earned in Ma’am Cata’s quiz.

Sariling mga puntos niya iyon mula sa pag-recite niya sa klase.

I didn’t feel a shred of pity. After all, he was the one who insisted. If he ends up having trouble with his grade in ELS, that’s no longer my concern.

At saka, ito rin naman ang gusto kong mangyari, ang mataasan siya . . . sa kahit anong paraan.

The next day, as soon as I unblocked him, his messages started coming in one after another. Part of our deal was that I’d let him message me. But there was nothing in the deal that said I had to reply.

Wala rin naman akong balak na mag-reply sa mga walang kwenta niyang mga messages.

Sa mga sumunod na araw at linggo ay patuloy pa rin siya sa pag-send ng mga messages sa akin. Minsan ay sin-i-seen ko ito at kapag nagtatanong naman siya tungkol sa academics ay doon lang ako nagre-reply. But that rarely happened. Kapag nasa classroom naman ay hindi ko siya pinapansin, laging siya ang nauunang magsalita sa amin kapag may kailangan siya sa akin.

I made it clear where the line was drawn between us, and I knew he understood that well. Thankfully, he respected it—though, honestly, it was the least he could do. After everything he put me through, even if he bled his heart out in front of me, it still wouldn’t feel like enough to make things right.

Hindi ko nga alam kung ano ang pumasok sa utak niya at pinagpalit niya ang yellow points niya sa pag-a-unblock ko lang sa kan’ya gayong alam niyang maaaring bumaba ang marka niya dahil doon.

Only two things kept running through my mind because of his actions. First . . . maybe he was doing all this to ask for my forgiveness. Second . . . from the tone of his messages . . . I couldn’t help but feel—though I didn’t want to assume—that he might actually have feelings for me.

Paanong hindi ako mag-iisip na gusto niya ako sa tuwing nakikita ko ang mga chats niya, lagi siyang nag-u-update sa akin kahit hindi naman kailangan. May pagbati ng good morning sa umaga at good night sa gabi kulang na lang ay sabihin niyang mahal niya ako.

Kadiri.

Pero tuwing iniisip ko naman na maaaring may gusto siya sa akin . . . parang ang bilis . . . ngayong taon lang naman kami nagkasama . . . at ilang beses lang kami nagkausap nang matino, tapos gusto ako?

He was definitely just playing games with me! I mean, he’s homophobic, right? There’s no way someone like him could genuinely have feelings for me. It just didn’t add up.

Three weeks rolled by with that strange setup between us. We acted like strangers in class, but our debates were still fiery, and I could feel myself gaining the upper hand. It felt good to finally get one over him. Meanwhile, he kept blowing up my chat with messages, and I had no choice but to put him on restriction just to keep my sanity intact. It was like trying to silence a pesky ringtone that just wouldn’t stop.

Minsan ay napipikon na rin ako.

“Congratulations, Valdez, Paul Tavin F., on earning High Honors with an average of 97.498 for the first semester!”