Mou Aréseis [A LOVE STORY #1]

Prologue: I Like You

"So, why did you bring me here?" I asked. We're at the back of our classroom. Our hands holding each other.

"Art, I need to tell you something. Huwag kang magagalit, okay?" sabi niya habang palingon-lingon sa paligid. Mas humigpit ang hawak niya sa mga kamay ko.

"Sige. What is it?"

Huminga siya nang malalim at tumitig sa aking mga mata. "Matagal ko na 'tong gustong sabihin sa 'yo. I... I li—"

I was deep in my thoughts on my way to our classroom when I accidentally bumped into someone. Napaupo ako at dahil do'n ay nagasgas ang mga palad ko sa semento. What's worse is ang dami palang taong nakatingin sa 'kin. I felt my face flush in embarassment.

"Hey, okay ka lang ba? Are you hurt?" narinig kong tanong ng kung sino man ang nabunggo ko. 'Di ko kayang tignan ang mukha niya dahil sa hiya. I calmed myself down.

"Yeah, I'm s-so sorry," pagpapaumanhin ko sa kaniya. He reached his hand out to help me stand but I was too shy to take it. Instead, tumayo ako at dali-daling pinulot ang mga gamit kong nahulog. Then with my head down, I walked away as fast as I could.

I breathed a sigh of relief when I finally reached our clasroom. Nang makapasok ako ay agad akong naghanap ng bakanteng upuan. I picked the seat right by the window at the middle row.

"That was really embarassing," I said to myself as I sat.

It is the first day of school and the universe chose to humiliate me in the middle of a crowd?! And it's because of that... that memory that keeps running through my mind, that keeps me awake at night, that keeps showing in my dreams. I hate that so much. That is my worst nightmare.

I sighed again. When will I ever get rid of that memory? I guess makakalimutan ko rin sooner or later. I'm really tired of thinking about it. Baka makagulo rin ito sa pag-aaral ko. I don't want to fail. Who does?

I reached for my bag and brought my notebook out to scribble so I can distract my mind away from what happened. Kinapa ko ang bulsa ng pantalon ko para kunin ang ballpen ko pero nagtaka ako nang wala akong mahanap. I always keep a ballpen in my pockets to always be ready when I need to write something kaya nakapagtataka na wala akong mahanap. And I swear I had one when I left our house. I searched my bag again.

"Hey, are you looking for this?" narinig kong sabi sa likod ko. Humarap ako at nakita ko ang nawawala kong ballpen na nasa palad niya.

I looked up and I went frozen after seeing who it was. The person standing right in front of me is the one and only star of my recurrent nightmares. It's him.

Our eyes met and the words that he told me in the past echoed through my mind...

"I like you."