The Papers Know Your Name [LIGHTNOVEL｜UNDER REVISION]

Chapter 02

It was one splendid afternoon class-off duringthe second year of high school. I was walking alone under the fiery sunset whenmy friend Gloria was fetched by her parents.

Hindi ko maiwasang mainggit subalit naiintindihan ko naman na hindi ito magawa ng aking mga magulang sapagkat si inay ay abala sa palengke habang si itay nama'y abala sa kaniyang trabaho sa pagawaan.

I was alone, but I wasn't lonely, for the reason that the golden blooms of the trumpet trees were like candies in the eye -my smiles were drawn by them.

Ako'y natigilan sa ganda ng pinakamalaki at pinakamatandang trumpet tree dito sa aming munisipyo. Nadadaanan ko ito sa araw-araw na pagpunta sa at pag-uwi ko mula paaralan. May distansiya ito mula sa ibang trumpet trees at pumapagitna sa dibisyon ng magkaibang daan ng 'Y' intersection. Nakangiti pa rin ako ngunit ako'y natigilan nang paglingon ko ay napansin ko si Vanjoss na nakatayo rin pala sa kabilang side.

Perhaps, as I could remember, the pathway was 'y'ed by the tree. Pakaliwa ang daan niya habang sa akin nama'y pakanan, kaya hindi naiiwasan ang mga pagkakataong nagkakasalubong kami sa bawat araw ng pagpunta't pag-uwi namin sa eskuwela.

That moment, I found myself staring at him. Ang kaniyang mukha ay parang sa babae, at ang kaniya namang mga braso ay payat. He was short, and adorable while being at peace, and while in his smile. He was looking at nowhere yet his eyes were staring straightforward.

'That stare.'

I jerked upon his sudden transfer of sight to me. Saglit kaming nagkatitigan, and then end up looking away from each other.

Uminit ang aking pisngi, subalit natitiyak ko namang hindi ako namumula sapagkat ako'y isang morena.

I sensed that he looked back at me, and so I did for a confirmation purposes, eventually finding ourselves ending up the same as earlier.

We will look at each other, but when our eyes meet, we'll look away, then look at each other again.

In the next moment, both of us only nailed our look on the blooming flowers above.

"It's blooming beautiful, isn't it?" he asked out of the blue with his voice so calm, pertaining to the majestic trumpet tree.

He looked at me, and smiled, as if wanting to witness what my answer would be. His smiles were contagious na maski ako ay napangiti na rin before I gave him a nod as my approval.

"Mukhang sakto nga ang English ko." He giggled after saying that, and before seeing him looking up the flowers above us again.

That was already years ago yet I still couldn't get over it. That day, I found myself getting allured with his captivating smiles, without knowing I've already started to take my fresh steps of having my first love.