When The Flower Withers (Fleur Series #1)

Chapter 17

Inis kong sinagot ang tawag ni Ash. "Ano na?! You're late for more than one hour already!"

He chuckled. [I'm still waiting for your pizza, darling... Miss mo naman agad gwapo kong mukha.]

"Whatever, Arellano." I rolled my eyes. "Kanina pa ako nandito, ba't ba ang tagal mo?" Sumimangot ako kahit hindi niya naman ako nakikita.

Kanina pa ang tapos ng gig nila kaya nabuburyong na ako kahihintay.

[Traffic sa Tropical kanina. Dito na ako sa SM Masinag bumili ng pizza mo, lods. May gusto ka pa ba?] he asked.

Pilya akong ngumiti at kinagat ang kuko sa index finger. "Wala na, ikaw lang naman ang gusto ko kaya bilisan mo," nakangiting sabi ko.

I immediately ended the call after I said that. Knowing Ash? Paniguradong magyayabang na naman 'yon. Baka nga kinikilig na 'yon do'n habang nag-aabang ng order. 'Wag lang sana siyang ngumiti nang mag-isa dahil kahit napakagwapo niya, p'wede pa rin siyang mapagkakamalan na sintu-sinto.

I leaned against the arm rest of the couch and closed my eyes. I was becoming vocal to Ash, maybe because he doesn't make me feel uncomfortable. I was nervous, I had doubts before but I knew right now that I was beyond sure with my feelings for him.

Na hindi ko lang siya ginusto pabalik dahil lang gusto niya ako at dahil lang ipinaparamdam niya sa akin na espesyal ako sa mga mata niya.

He always takes away my blues. Just like what happened last night, the text message I've received kept on bugging me, thus, I haven't had a good sleep for two days. He must've noticed it since he stayed beside me the whole time last night. Ni hindi ko nga alam kung na-enjoy niya ang pool party namin kagabi.

I didn't tell my problem to him right away. In fact, I was forcing him to have fun with his friends, with our schoolmates but he refused. He did not say nor ask anything but I knew he was very eager to know what was running on my mind, kaya sa huli sinabi ko na rin. I trust him and I knew he'd help me, and he did.

He convinced me that the sender of that message was just probably a fond of mischief. Sinabi niya ring hindi naman daw talaga totoo palagi ang mga tao sa paligid natin, minsan nga raw kahit sa mga sarili natin hindi tayo nagiging totoo.

We are— sometimes, caging ourselves in a world full of pretensions and it causes us to lose our real identity.

'Yan ang sabi niya sa akin kagabi at tama siya.

It happened to me during the days I wasn't able to see my worth yet. I kept on pleasing people just to fit in to their standards. I once thought that if I was perfect no one could hurt me, people would love me. I once thought that perfect life would make me happy, but I was completely wrong.

Because in life, no matter how many times we tried to be perfect and happy; at all times, we have to experience its downs for us to learn and grow.

Pain. I often asked Him before... Bakit palaging kailangan masaktan ng mga tao para lang matuto? Bakit kailangan pang mag-suffer para mas tumatag? Bakit kailangan masaktan nang paulit-ulit para ma-realize na... Ito talaga ang reyalidad ng buhay.

But like what I said, there's always beauty behind mistakes or even problems. Because on the other side of our pain is our purpose. After all the pains we had been through comes the best version of ourselves.

Nalibot ko na 'yong buong bahay na nirentahan ni Ash para lang mapanood namin nang mas maayos ang sunset mamaya pero hindi pa rin siya dumadating.

Plano rin namin na i-cover ang kanta ni Daniel Caesar na best part habang sunset. Actually it was Ash's idea, para may memorable naman daw kaming magawa rito aside sa pagpi-picnic. Sabi niya sa twitter na lang daw namin i-post.