Serendipity (Thalassophile)

Forty-nine

Christmas eve came, Dylan celebrated with Adriano Family like he used to do for the past two years. He may have done something wrong during the past but Adriano's are really forgiving people. For everything that he did, he's forgiven. And they always welcome him with open arms.

Aside from that, his main reason is, he's waiting for his beloved to come back. At kung kailan? Wala syang ideya katulad ng pamilya nito. But all of them are hoping that sooner, Krislene will come back in no time.

And even though two years has passed, he's still holding on to Krislene's promise that they will always celebrate new year together. Naniniwala syang matutupad ni Krislene ang binitawan nitong salita sa kanya. Kilala nya si Krislene. At may tiwala sya kay Krislene.

He's really hoping and praying...

Days passed, and three days from now, it'll be new year's eve. Dylan is really hoping but somehow, he's slowly losing hope to be with his beloved Queen this coming new year.

Hindi na bale. May next year pa naman diba? Hindi man nya makasama ngayon si Krislene, marami pang new year na dadating.

But why is it that he's hurting right now? He wanted to stay optimistic but he's slipping. He wanted to be strong for the woman he loves but each and everyday, it's really killing him on the inside. Negatives thoughts even filled his mind.

What if Krislene won't be back this new year?

What if she doesn't want to see me anymore?

What if she's happy now with someone else?

It fucking hurts.

It fucking hurts to have these negative thoughts in mind.

What if—

Napakurap-kurap nalang si Dylan nang maramdaman nyang may humaplos sa mukha nya. He immediately looked up and there, he saw Krislene's Mother, Selene, looking at him with a smile on her face.

"Dylan anak."

"Tía."

Again, Selene cupped his face as she wiped his tears away using her thumb. "You're crying."

That's when he realized, he's really crying again.

"I'm s-sorry Tía."

Selene chuckled before she sat beside him, "You're overthinking again anak."

He blew a loud breath, "I can't help it Tía. I'm doing my best to be strong but I'm slipping."

Selene held his hand and she gently tapped it. "Trust my daughter. We know how important it is for her to fulfil every promises she made."

"But what if she doesn't love me anymore?" Hindi nya napigilang itanong sa ina ni Krislene pero ngumiti lang ito sa kanya. "What if she's happy with someone else now?" And again, Selene just smiled at him—the kind of smile that says 'don't think too much'.

Then after quite some time, Selene spoke, "You know Dylan Hijo, I'll tell you a secret."

He didn't answer and just look at Krislene's Mother.

"I was once like my youngest during my teenage days. I always do my best to understand that man I love even though how much it hurts. But then I came to a point where I need to learn to breathe for myself because I realized, I'm just doing my best to breathe because of the man I love. And it's suffocating me already. So I left him. But after I learned to finally breathe for myself, I came back stronger than ever. And I still ended up with the man I love because my feelings didn't changed at all.