.

91.

Reed.

Tahimik lang kaming nakaupo rito ni lui sa may bench malapit sa may puno para hindi kami gaanong mainitan.

Andito kami ngayon sa park at pinanonood ang mga batang masayang naglalaro sa may palaruan

Walang halos naimik sa amin kaya narinig ko ang malalim na paghinga ni lui

"is there something bothering you?" tanong ko

it took him time before he responded

"actually a lot of them" umpisa niya

"Reed i've been a bad person lately, i'm not like this i swear but my anger got the best of me."

"Hindi ko alam saan uumpisahan o paano ipapaliwanag basta ang alam ko hindi ako ganito at hindi ko kayang ipagpatuloy 'tong ganitong gawain"

he took a deep breath before continuing

"Reed i'm not tink, hindi ako yung totoong tink." imik niya

I gave him a warm smile reassuring him that everything is fine

I'm sure he has his reasons, we all do.

"alam ko lui" maikli kong sagot na halatang ikinagulat niya

"wait what? alam mo? how?" gulat niyang tanong

"I may not remember everything but alam ko mismo sa sarili ko na hindi ikaw yung hinahanap ko. Ramdam ko sa sarili ko na hindi ikaw yun." paliwanag ko

"do you know who the real tink is?" tanong niya

"hmmm, just waiting for him to speak up" sagot ko naman sakanya

I wanted to hear their explanations on why they have to hide the truth

Gusto ko malaman at marinig kung bakit kinakailangan nila itago sa akin yung totoo.

"Sino ka ba talaga lui?" bigla kong imik

"I was a close friend of calian noong lumipat siya sa states para mag-aral. We became really close and instantly became friends." masaya niyang kwento

"we would always share our food to save money because we want to play at the arcade near our campus."

must've been nice.

"why do this kung kaibigan mo naman pala siya noon pa lang?" tanong ko

that's where his smile faded away

"for personal reasons, let us just say na him and I didn't get along well for the past month"

"I also blamed him from something he has no control of, calian is a good guy and if there's something i like about him that would be his willingness to sacrifice his own happiness for other people" kwento niya

Halata naman, calian is indeed a great guy.

"then say sorry to him" imik ko

dinig ko ang mahina niyang pagtawa sa sinabi ko

"yeah i don't know about that, he might not forgive me just yet." sagot niya sabay kamot sa batok

"There's no harm in trying lui"

tumingin siya sa akin at marahan akong nginitian, i knew that deep inside he's a good guy.

sadyang napangunahan lang siya nung galit na nararamdaman niya sa puso niya

"i'll try reed, i'll try." sabi niya sabay ibinalik ang tingin sa mga batang naglalaro sa palaruan

now i'm just waiting for calian to tell me everything

what's stopping him from telling me everything?