Ang Aklat at Ang Abacus

Chapter 6: Timothy

Sabi nila the eyes are windows to the soul. Eh bakit ganito? The more I look into her eyes, the more I see her away from me. Her eyes somewhat tell me that we can never bring back the memories we have had together.

This time, our eyes met again. Hindi pa rin nagbabago si Kylamariz. I can still feel a mixture of doubt and fear in her eyes like when the first time our eyes crossed.

It was five years ago when we were still in the 2nd Grade. I admit it. I have a crush on her. It's not because of anything. I just know that I like her [for no reason at all]. 

"Hi classmate, do you have a pen?" asked Kyla

Honestly, I did not expect that she would ask me for something or even talk to me. Medyo snobbish ang dating niya para sa akin [or it's just me who thinks that way]. Anyhow, I lent her my pen and in turn gave me a smile— a smile that later on fussed my whole life.

"By the way, may I know your name?"

"Tim."

"Hello Tim. You really English English?"

"What do you mean?" I asked

She gave me hand gestures as she explains what she wants to say.

"Ahh, okay. Oo marunong akong magtagalog." sagot ko

"Asus, marunong ka naman pala. Why do you keep Englishing?"

"I don't think that needs to be answered." I replied

Then she made an upset facial expression. Maybe she didn't like what I told her. She grabbed a piece of paper,scribbled something and handed it to me.

SUPLADO

Honestly, I did not know that time what S-U-P-L-A-D-O means so I asked her:

"What do these letters mean?"

"Excuse me? Feeling forenjer?" sagot niya

"What's forenjer?"

After I asked this, her eyes rolled at me and left me alone on that side of the classroom. I approached her saying:

"Hey, I'm just asking."

"Hey mo mukha mo."

Normally, when someone gets angry at you for a vague and unreasonable reason, we likewise tend to get angry at that person. Pero nung time na yun when she first got mad at me, I think hindi ko nafeel na magalit din sa kanya. Instead I see it cute whenever she gets angry at me.

We later on became seatmates and started writing letters to each other. Simple letters lang. Gusto ko kasing sabayan yung trip niya na kunwari nasa malayong lugar ka tapos susulat ka ng letter sa kaibigan mo. Medyo wierd nga lang kasi diba you write letters to someone away from you?

—————————————————————————————————————————————————————————

Hi Mithy. Kamusta? Suplado ka pa rin ba?

Ang iyong kaibigan,

Kylamariz 

————————————————————————————————————————————————————————

Hi Kyla. Kamusta rin. I'm not suplado. I just want to be myself.

Your friend,

Luke Timothy Montemayor

P.S. Sorry ha pero I don't get it. Why do we need to write letters to each other when we're already seatmates?

——————————————————————————————————————————————————————-