To Catch a Gust of Wind [COMPLETE]

Chapter 5 - S.I. is in the Heart [#23]

Raffy turned around. There was Rica standing a few feet in front of him. She wore faded, pull-on skinny jeans which sticked to her thighs, sculpting her curves from waist to ankle. On top she wore a textured button-front white shirt, with short dolman sleeves and rolled cuffs, which she tucked into her jeans.

"Is it really you?" Rica asked again.

"H-hi," Raffy said. "I wouldn't have recognized you if you didn't call my name." Come on, man, is that what you're going to say to a girl, a woman now, after all these years? Your ideal woman in the flesh, who approached you herself? The one woman you can bear to wait every single day that you would have lived your life. You can do better than that.

Rica approached him slowly and without ado gave him a friendly hug. After all, this was a homecoming, an affair where old friends meet and rekindle friendships or old enemies cross path again and have the chance to come to terms.

"Look at you, Raffy, you seem to be doing well," Rica said enthusiastically, looking at the man in front of her from head to foot. Was he the same Raffy she knew many years back? Not the boy of course, but the Raffy character she was impressed with and admired during high school.

Rica touched Raffy's left arm and held unto him as the two walked towards the open field, stepping on the grass, the afternoon sun hiding behind scattered cumulus clouds.

"You seem to be good yourself, Rica," Raffy said, gathering his composure. Don't be skittish, man. Just be yourself with the girl of your dreams. You can handle it. Don't ruin the moment. "And more beautiful than the last time I saw you ten years ago." That's right. Say it right.

Rica pinched Raffy's side. "Silly, you won't get me with words, Mr. Cruz. If you're still the same Raffy I knew many years ago, then you'll have to do more than a lot of talking. The world's changed now, Raf. During our time in high school, it's difficult to communicate, now we have this new technology, the cellphone, you can call someone anytime you want."

"That is, if you'll give me your number," Raffy replied. "We didn't have any contact after high school. Where did you go anyway?"

"Don't ask a woman that. You tell me first, since you're the one who first left S.I., and didn't bother to write me. You knew where to find me, but I didn't know where you had gone," Rica said. She turned her gaze to the open ground, clutched her brown shoulder bag tighter. She was beginning to feel tense.

You heard the lady, man. Tell her, convince her, it's all about ambition and pride, the resolve to overcome the challenge and achieve your dream. That you focused on your studies and there was no time for love. Tell her.

"Hmm, I-I went to Manila after graduation and finished college," Raffy began. He told her what happened in his life from the time he left S.I. until they saw each other again. All in thirty minutes. That's a lot of time to tell one's life story, minus the stories of the women in his life, of course. Rica was attentive all the time. She butted in a question or two and interrupted Rafael several times. They found themselves getting some shade under a shed and sat down on a battered, wooden bench.

"Now it's your turn," Raffy said. He looked at the woman sitting beside him, still unbelieving he was with her, or she was with him, depending on one's perspective. He touched her shoulder, running his fingers down the length of her right arm. Rica didn't budge an inch.

"I'm a doctor," Rica said. I graduated at DLSMHSI in Dasmarinas, Cavite. I lived with my aunt then when I was a student."

"No, you're not," Rafael said. "I mean you were in Manila all this time?"

"No, Dasmarinas, in Cavite, not Manila," Rica corrected him. "I work with the De La Salle University Medical Center, also in Dasmarinas. I'm a resident doctor."