City of Light

Cinq.

Cinq.

[JULIET]

"Libutin natin ang Paris." For the longest time, tinitigan ko lang si Adrien like he's crazy. I was actually waiting for the punch line. Pero nung umabot na ng ilang minuto yung pagtititigan namin and his face remained serious, saka ko lang na-gets na hindi siya nagbibiro.

"What?" was my brilliant reply. Eh sa nalilito talaga ako sa mga sinasabi niya.

"Tara. Lumabas tayo. Don't you feel suffocated by this hospital?"

I do. I really do. Sa bawat minutong nananatili ako sa ospital na 'to, helpless at walang magawa, I feel more and more suffocated. I didn't tell him that though.

He sighed at pagkatapos umupo siya sa tabi ko.

"I have a hypothesis. Gusto mong marinig?"

"Ano 'yun?"

He grinned at me and there's something about his smile that seemed mischievous and excited. "Hindi ba marami pang mga taong dumadaan sa ganito?"

"What, nacocomatose?"

"Yes, exactly. And what if being in a coma means this? To be conscious of your surroundings kahit pa wala ka sa katawan mo?"

"You mean, yung humiwalay yung kaluluwa mo sa katawan mo." I deadpanned. 

"If that how you want to phrase it." He said, a little amused. "But my point is, bakit hindi nila kinukwento yung mga nangyari sa kanila sa panahong ganito pagkagising nila? That should be quite a story, right?"

"I don't know." Nalilitong sabi ko, and I was beginning to wonder kung san ba patutungo itong hypothesis na sinasabi niya.

"Hindi kaya pagkagising nila, nakakalimutan nila lahat ng nangyari sa kanila habang nakacoma sila? At kung ganon nga, ibig sabihin paggising natin, hindi natin maaalala yung moment na 'to, yung pinag-uusapan natin ngayon o kahit ano."

Dahan-dahan akong tumango. "Siguro nga."

He cleared his throat at iniharap niya yung buong katawan niya sa'kin. I was amazed and overwhelmed when I saw his eyes nung tumitig siya ng diretso siya sa'kin. His eyes are really beautiful. It's a different kind of brown, maybe because of the depth in it. Maybe because of the emotions, the playfulness mixed with sincerity, in it. "So I have a proposal. While we're like this, let's show each other the real us. No boundaries, no walls, no pretenses. Let's tell each other our deepest secrets na hindi natin kayang masabi sa iba kapag gising tayo. Because at the end of this, sa oras na magising tayo, we won't remember any of this."

"Why? I mean... if we won't remember it tulad ng sinasabi mo, anong saysay na kilalanin natin yung isa't isa?"

"Because I think we're the same. There's a forked road in front of us right now and we're both struggling on which way to choose. We both have to choose which road to take, if we'll continue to live or if we'll give up and die."