THE MAN IN GREEN UNIFORM (Montenegro Series #3)

Epilogo

Celestine's POV.

"Bakit umiiyak ka pa rin?" he asked.

Doon ko lang napansin na tumutulo na naman pala ang luha ko.

Pupunasan ko na sana ito kaso mas nauna siya kaya naman instead na mapunasan iyon as mas lalong napaiyak ako.

"Ssshh."

"Ilang taon na akong doctor, ngayon lang ako umiyak habang nagtatahi ng sugat."

He chuckled and pulled me to hug me.

"Hindi talaga ako matutulog, hindi talaga." He is sitting so when he pulled me ay naka kandong ako sa isang hita niya, nasa gilid ko siya at yakap niya ko habang nakatagilid.

"Why?"

I looked at him.

"I am afraid if I wake up, wala ka na naman, iniwan mo na naman ako, I don't want you to, never again."

"I am not going, all these years, all I thought was all about you. I don't wanna come back too, I'm afraid, you might have forgotten about me."

I stood up and kissed the top of his head. He is wearing a white shirt, and his usual green army pants.

Nagsimula na akong bumalik sa pagtatahi ng mga sugat niya.

These are wounds, wounds that he got during his imprisonment with the rebel.

He told me what I need to know on our way here. I decided to bring him along with his fellow soldiers to be checked and treated.

Abraham and Dayle, are also one of the lucky soldiers like Stephen who lived and was taken as prisoners.

When he asked himself to be bombed, the military followed his GPS tracker, but before that Tanner came.

As you all know Tanner is part of the rebel group. He pulled him to take cover, when he was about to let him go, nacorner sila ng kapwa niya rebelde.

They destroyed Stephen's GPS, not just him but the captured soldiers, to fake their deaths.

Tanner didn't have any option but to surrender him with his fellow rebel, they were taken in as slaves.

He lost contact with Tanner, dahil naging mainit din si Tanner sa mga ito, nagkaroon ng kwestyon sa katapatan nito.

It took them years to escape, it was a long and hard battle.

Pero masaya ang puso ko,

Dahil kahit naging matagal, nakauwi sya, nakabalik siya sa piling ko.

We might have buried bodies we didn't even know, we wasted tears and agony pero it was all worth it.

Saktong kakatapos ko lang sa ginagawa ko ng muli nyang hawakan ang kamay ko.

He placed me in front of him.

"Sorry Celestine, nung nakita kita kanina, all I felt was genuine happiness, how much I missed you, how much I long for you. I didn't even bother to ask you, what you really feel and what would you feel if I ask for you to still choose me after all these years."

I held his face.

"When I thought you died, I didn't even know what to do, I didn't know how can I start all over again pero, pero because you wanted me to go on, ginamit ko iyong lakas ng loob na iniwan mo and to be honest, there are times where I really missed you, where I would just cry but my life did go on."

"And I'm so proud of you," he said sincerely. "I want to know, are you dating anyone now, are you married?"

I blurted out a small laugh.