***
Is it a sin if admiring you from afar isn't enough? Is it wrong of me to asked that I wanted you to be mine?
***
The whole class was silent, as our English Literature teacher went inside the class, beaming. She had always held the mysterious eyes that pricked everyone's curiousity but failed on distinguishing the meaning behind those lost and faraway eyes but still managed to look cheery and happy.
She was holding an unfamiliar book, malayo sa palagi 'nyang dinadala araw-araw sa classroom.
Instead of greeting us a good morning, she throws a random question.
"Do you ever believe/d in reincarnation in any possibility?" She asked, her mood suddenly changing. She was sad, weaker than usual that I had failed to see as I was fooled by her cheerful mask.
Everyone in the class shake their heads in disagreement except Akira, my bestfriend. She also caught my interest the moment my eyes laid on hers. She was vaguely unfamiliar yet I know her since she was a child. It was as if I am missing something. Something important event in her life.
Ms. Capiola nodded and looked at us directly in our eyes. "Then let me tell you a lost tale." She suddenly said, adjusting her posture and clenching her fists open and closed.
"Once upon a time-"
She was suddenly cut off by the loud roars of laughter coming from my classmates. They were clutching their stomachs as their eyes gave tears of joy. Ms. Capiola didn't reacted which was unusual of her because she would always scold everyone or play along with their jokes. She's not being her self these past few minutes.
She cleared her throat after all my classmates went quiet again.
"Now, may I ask what cause you to laugh while I started telling you a story?" She asked. My classmate Nadrew raised his hand.
"Yes, Nad?" Ms. Capiola answered.
"Ma'am, of course sino ba'ng hindi matatawa e 'yung term na ginamit mo sa pagkekwento ay "once upon a time". Ano kami bata?" And they all burst again in laughter.
"Okay, enough." Ms. Capiola interjected and waited for the class' laughter to die down.
"Never judge something, someone or anything because you tend to regret the moment you released those hurtful words and you won't treat the wounds you had left." She added which made everyone quiet as they processed her words.
"Now may I continue my story?" She asked, asking for permission from the class to which everyone nodded and waited for her quietly.
"There was once a girl who loved stars. Her eyes would always sparkle and twinkle the moment she witnessed the beautiful creation by God. She was contented. She never asked for anything, just admiring the stars from afar and she was happy. She grew as a fine and beautiful lady that captured every men's eyes and heart. But she paid no attention as she was not interested. She was a strong and brave woman. Not needing a king in her own kingdom of success and failures."
"One day, as she was in the midst of her expedition, she was attacked by a dangerous and large creature. She was losing her blood as she grew weaker atop the bed of snows. Just as random as it was be, a mysterious handsome guy appeared. He helped treat the wounds of the woman that he wasn't the caused of. The woman was stunned as she found the man dazzling and stunningly perfect. That was the moment that made her changed her views in life."
"Never once they left each others arms as they grew fund of each other and later on fell in love. Everyone expected a happily ever after but no one knows that it only existed in books. Because life held lots of surprises. Some are good and some are undeniably devastating."
"As they produced an offspring, an unexpected event in the woman's life happened. As how the man randomly pops out and came in the woman's life was also how the way he just suddenly vanished, leaving no trails from behind."
Suddenly, Ms. Capiola stopped talking and all our eyes shifted to one's seat. Akira.
She was crying while holding her phone tightly. She looked at Ms. Capiola and excused herself.
"I'm sorry Miss, but I have to go. My dad is in the hospital." She said and hurriedly went out.
I became silent for a moment as I processed her words. A moment later, I stand up and disrupted Ms. Capiola's storytelling. I wanted to hear her tale but Akira's my bestfriend and I know when something's happening.
"Yes, Graziella?" She asked, never giving an irritated and disturbed demeanor. She was always calm, kind and collected.
"I'll just go to the cr." I lied and she just nodded. She knew I was lying but the look on her eyes, I know we shared the same sentiment.
I followed Akira to the parking lot but she had already stepped inside her car. So I went inside mine and followed her from behind. She was lying, I know. Her father had died a long time ago and her, saying that her father is in the hospital is a different kind of matter. Something's up that even me, her bestfriend knows nothing.
She stopped in front of the airport that made me furrowed my brows. Why is she here in the airport? A realization suddenly hit me. I was not her bestfriend anymore. No, I never was. She never told me about anything. About what was happening in her life. It was just me, thinking and convincing myself that we are best of friends.
Suddenly, a man came out from the airport and Akira's eyes suddenly lit up as she ran to the man's direction and hugged him so tight. I felt a sudden pang in my chest. She even had the man of my dreams.
We are all a product of our past. And I mean it, both figuratively and literally. Just like Ms. Capiola, we are reincarnated. We came from the same place and era but had different story.
Never ever heard of Graziella's untold tale?
Akira was blessed with both pleasing personality and beautiful physical appearance while I was not. She was my sister in the past. Everyone admired her while I just looked like a dust behind her back. No one paid me attention. They just don't. It was okay from me. I didn't care but not until this guy came into her life.
I had always admired the man from afar, secretly loving him. But knowing that he was struck by my sister's beauty and personality and fell in love made my world left shattered and my heart in a devastated state.
And until now, even in a different place and time, they still found each other's arms.
I sighed. "My story was never the same from those books I read. From those reincarnation stories. I wasn't the main character, I was always the supporting idea in the main plot. I wasn't the woman that lost his man in the past but would found him again in the present and would live happily ever after."
"I was never one." I whispered to myself.
"Yes, you were never one." A deep baritone voice spoke from behind that made me jerked back my head with a fast beating of my heart.
There lies a man with the most handsome face and lost eyes as he stared at the front with his hands in his pocket.
"You were never the main character in your own story because you never treated yourself as one." He said.
"But you were always my number one. I had always admire you from afar while you admire someone else."
