A Magic in Destiny

The Stranger

After four long years of successive failed relationship, I never thought I'd fall in love again. The day before Valentines Day, I went to a souvenir shop and check out some postcards. I asked the salesclerk to choose which among the bunch she thinks is nice but just smiled; said she couldn't decide as all the cards are pretty.

Out of the blue a guy interrupted our conversation.

I look at him and asked. "Do I know you?"

I stared at him then squeezed my memory where I've met him somewhere. He looks stranger to me, but then moments later, he said, "I'm a Surigaonon and the picture in that postcard is where I'm from". So I checked the card I was holding. "It's Siargao!", I said to my self, "one of Surigao's beautiful Islands".

I no longer can recall exactly how the 30 minutes conversation started but I realized we've been exchanging info about each other like old friends. His name is Gill, a balikbayan; been in the states for more than a decade and is here for his ailing dad. When I was about to leave, Gill asked for my number. I must have tossed my conservative Filipina attitude in the gutter right then and gave him my number. Though I'm sure it's no case of love-at-first-sight, I found him interesting. Or so I thought.

After around two hours, I got a text message from Gill. He asked me if I could meet him at Peng-U restaurant for dinner with his cousin. This time, my conservative ways gave me second thoughts, so I asked my good friend Donna if it was all right to go and if she can go with me. Unfortunately, she refused! Said it was ‘unladylike’ to agree to go on a date to someone I just met couple of hours ago. Well, so be it, so I sent him an SMS:

”Couldn’t make it tonight coz I need to attend a scheduled date. If you want, I’m free tomorrow at 2:00 PM”. 

Then he replied “Okay”.