Sincere Lies

Nineteen

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"Manila, malapit sa Makati," I said. "Sa gitna na lang ng Tejeron at ng J.P. Rizal mo ako ibaba."

"Noted, my lady," Chris said as he finished setting up the GPS navigation app on his phone. He reached for one of my hands, which was on his shoulder, and tapped on it.

"You can hug me from there, my lady," he said. "It's safer that way."

"Are you sure?" I giggled. "Baka naman gusto mo lang ng hug."

"Actually, both," he chuckled as he started the motorcycle again all on a sudden, so I ended up hugging him tightly from his back. "See?"

"Ikaw talaga!" I exclaimed, trying to stop a smile from forming on my face. "Muntik na akong mahulog!"

"Bakit? Hindi ka pa ba nahulog sa'kin?" he said, trying to make his voice louder so I could hear him.

"Aywan ko sa'yo!" I said. "Kung hindi pa ako nakakapit sa'yo agad, malamang naiwan na ako sa kabilang kanto!"

"Kaya nga, dapat nakayakap ka sa'kin," he chuckled as I hugged him a bit tighter.

"Whatever you say, sir," I said, rolling my eyes for a bit. Yeah, just for a bit.

For a moment, we stayed like that. Chris driving. The headlights shining. The streetlights bright. The stoplights waiting. My arms around his body. My head on his back. My head full of us. My lips forming a smile underneath the visor of the helmet I was wearing.

"My lady," he said loud enough for me to hear him.

"Yeah?"

"Tell me something you think I don't know about you," he said as we stopped by the heavy traffic. I could say Chris loved taking risks because he was driving without a license, but he was a careful driver overall. He took care of our safety well enough and did not take cards of risk while driving. Well, I guess, except for the fact that he sped up the motorcycle to make me hug him. I kinda liked it though.

"Uh. . ." I uttered as we were still waiting for the traffic to loosen up. "I have a different language from all the languages you know."

"What do you mean?" he said, slightly turning his head to the side. "Like, French?"

"No," I giggled. "What I mean is they always misunderstand me, so. . . I should always shut up. I suck at explanations."

"Well, I understand you just fine," he said, and by the tone of his voice, he was serious.

"Yeah," I smiled. "Sinabi rin ng parents ko na masyado kong dinadamdam ang mga bagay, pero minsan kasi, 'di ko mapigilan. But you understand me. That's why I can't afford to lose you."

"Who said you're gonna lose me?"

"Nanaginip kasi ako—" I stopped.

"Tell me about it, my lady," he said with evident concern in his voice.

"Okay, I guess," I said. "Sabi nila, if you tell other people what happened in your dreams, it won't come true. So I'll just tell you."

I inhaled deeply.

"Uh. . . in my dreams, pretty much a nightmare," I paused, "we already broke up, and it's already been, like, three months."

"That sucks," he said. "I will never let that happen."

"Th-thank you."

Chris was silent after that. And I was, too. Maybe he was overwhelmed with what I said. Or maybe, he was just focusing on the road as the places near our home wasn't familiar to him.