Gerald came to Sarah’s brunch meeting with her friends to fetch her and together they went to Intramuros. In the car, they did a bit of catching up but nothing about their “past” was ever mentioned.
They were walking along the streets of Intramuros, with Liza and Marcus a few feet ahead of them, when he decided to start the talk with her.
“Kamusta naman kayo ni Sam?”
She was a bit surprised at his question but she replied nonetheless. “Okay naman. I haven’t seen him since the last time we had dinner about 2 months ago. Siguro naman we’re still friends. Gan’yan ba talaga kayong magkakabarkada, nang-iiwan sa ere?”
“What do you mean? You guys aren’t together?”
“Saan mo naman nakuha ang idea na kami? Atsaka di ba magkabarkada kayo, hindi ba kayo nag-uusap? Kung kami eh di dapat binalita na n’ya sa inyo di ba?”
“I haven’t seen him for a while. I don’t go out that much anymore ever since…”
“Since when?”
“Basta about 2 months ago. Bakit hindi naging kayo? Did you turn him down?”
“Hindi naman s’ya talaga nanligaw eh. Oo we went out a few times pero hanggang dun lang ‘yun. We decided to be just friends. Plus he sorta realized that I like someone else.”
That’s when he remembered what Sam told him the last time they saw each other at the hospital. “Someone else? Ang swerte naman ng lalaking ‘yun!”
“Swerte? Bakit naman naging swerte?”
“Because you are an amazing person. Any guy would want you for a girlfriend.”
“Well, apparently not.”
“Huh? What do you mean?”
“Well, this lucky guy we are talking about doesn’t seem to take notice. Ayaw n’ya ‘ata sa akin.”
“If that’s the case, he’s not lucky but stupid.”
“Nah. Siguro hindi lang talaga ako ang type n’ya.”
“Bulag pala s’ya kung ganun.”
Sarah suddenly stopped walking, which made him stop as well. She looked him in the eyes and said, “Ge, ikaw na ang maswerte, ikaw na ang stupid at ikaw na ang bulag.” Then she stormed past him.
He immediately followed her and grabbed her wrist to make her stop walking, “Sa, what are you saying?”
“Beb! Sarah! Pasok tayo doon. Let’s check it out,” Liza called from a distance.
“Halika na. Tinatawag na tayo ni Liza,” she said and turned away.
He lightly pulled her hand again, “Wait. Let’s talk about this first.”
“Mamaya na lang.”
“This can’t wait.”
“Naghintay ako ng ilang buwan para sa ‘yo. Siguro naman hindi kalabisan kung ikaw naman ang maghintay ng ilang oras,” she said while pulling away from him.
This time he let her go.
The whole time that they were doing the food tasting and negotiating with the caterers, Gerald kept looking, staring and glancing at her while Sarah deliberately ignored him. This wasn’t so hard because all she had to do was give Liza and Marcus extra attention. 2 food tasting sessions and negotiations later, Liza announced that she has already made up her mind and that they can finally call it a night.
“Sarah, thank you so much for doing this with us,” Liza said.
“You are very much welcome. By the way, Shin will be sending some forms for you to accomplish. I have all your contact details naman including your email. I’ll just ask her to email them to you. If you need anything, any help of any sort or a question suddenly popped in your head just call or send me a message any time of the day. I’m on call 24/7 for you.”
“Wow! Thank you talaga. I will keep that in mind. Expect that I will be your new textmate from now on. Alam ko we need to accomplish a lot of things and we’re running out of time.”
“Just let us help you. ‘Wag mong aakuin lahat. Delegate to us, to Marcus, your relatives or friends para hindi ka masyadong stressed.”
“That’s what I’ve been telling her. Kaso she keeps saying that she wants to be on top of everything,” Marcus butted in.
“Naku Liza ngayon pa lang I am telling you to learn to delegate. Gusto mo bang maging bridezilla?” Sarah joked.
“Oo na, sige na. I will try to delegate. Pero for now happy naman ako sa mga accomplishments natin. Thank you ng sobra sa ‘yo,” Liza said while giving Sarah a hug. “O Beb, iuwi mo na itong si Ms. Beautiful mo,” she said turning to Gerald. “Galingan mong manuyo ha. Obvious na obvious naman na may LQ kayo eh. Bye guys! Beb, ingat magdrive ha.”
Gerald scratched his head and said goodbye to the couple. He then turned to Sarah, “Let’s go?”
Sarah nodded and started walking.
Again, Gerald was left standing there that he had to catch up with her. When he did, he said, “Now can we talk about it?”
“Okay. Where do you wanna start?” she asked while still walking.
“You waited for me? Why? Why did you do that?”
“Kasi iniwan mo ako sa ere. Akala ko babalik ka pero hindi pala. It was Sam who made me realize na meron na palang laman ‘yung puso at isip ko. Hindi ko alam kung paano n’ya nalaman. That time that I went out with him for dinner, that was the night that we decided to be friends. That was also the night that he opened my eyes to the fact that I was already inlove with someone else.”
“That night? Dinner at Conti’s Fort?”
“Oo, how did you know?”
They stopped walking and turned to face each other.
“I was there. I saw you together. He held your hand and you smiled at each other. I couldn’t bear to watch you so I left. I was supposed to have dinner with Liza and Marcus then but when I saw you with him, I turned around. I just asked them to meet me somewhere else. Akala ko naging kayo na that time kaya lumayo ako sa kanya… sa kanila. I don’t know if I will be able to take it if I see you with him. I have already fallen inlove with you then but I didn’t want to be an ass of a friend to Sam kaya ako na lang ang lumayo.”
“So kung hindi pa dahil kay Liza forever na lang akong maghihintay sa wala?”
“You will really wait for me that long?”
Sarah bowed her head. “I don’t know. Maybe. Ang alam ko lang ay after we ended the pretent courtship na-miss kita. I missed all the messages, the calls, the sweet nothings. Alam ko pretend lang ‘yun but you made it seem so real that I couldn’t help but believe you.”
Gerald lightly raised her chin so he can look at her. “Sa, I never pretended. The reason why I agreed to your dare is because it’s the only way I can be with you. Alam ko once Sam comes into the picture, I wouldn’t have a chance with you anymore.”
“Ge, when I gave you that pretend answer… in my heart and my mind I wasn’t pretending,” she softly said.
He took a step forward, held her waist enclosing her in a loose embrace, looked deep into her eyes and said, “So I wasted 2 months?”
“Yes you did Babe Gerald and you better start making up for it.”
He smiled at her. “I love you Babe Sarah,” he said full of tenderness in his voice.
“I love you, too.”
He closed the gap between them and they shared the sweetest first kiss.
