Always And Forever

You're not having her

Michael's drunkenness caused his failure to recognise the man who just knocked him off,

 "Tangina 'wag kang maki alam!", he rubbed his jaw as he stood up and brushing the pieces of glass off his back,

"Pare, pag ayaw ng babae, 'wag mong ipilit", Ferdinand replied to him in a calm manner. 

Miko just looked at him furious, feeling the stings that were brought by the shattered pieces of glass drove him to so much anger, he looked at Leonor, and then to Ferdinand, 

"Baket, sino kabang gago ka?", Miko asked while pointing and approaching him. 

"Dito ka sa likod ko", Ferdinand took Leonor's hand and ushered her to stand behind him, which she willingly followed, "Lasing kana pre", he continued, shifting his attention to Miko, 

"Lasing o hindi 'wag kang maki alam", Michael said while putting his hand on Ferdinand's shoulder, "Now, let me have her", he continued while putting a serious face, starring directly into Ferdinand's eyes. 

Ferdinand countered his stares, showing no signs of letting him have his way to her, he took few steps forward, making Miko recede,

 "You're not having her tonight, tomorrow, or even the day after, and so on", he said, in a threatening voice, "I'll make sure of it",

Ferdinand continued while leaning near Michael's ear. Miko looked down and bit his lip, scoffing in annoyance, he sensed that the guy he was talking was really something and starting to get aggressive, 

"Ah ganon", he replied while taking few steps back, "I'll force it then", 

Miko said before launching a fist to Ferdinand, he saw it coming and because of reflexes, he immediately dodged the fast punch. Michael was about to throw another, but before he did, Ferdinand whacked Michael's jaw, making his lip bleed, 

"That should bring you to your senses", he said to Miko while gently chafing his fist, but Michael was so determined of having pleasure, he just sarcastically laughed, 

"What Michael wants, Michael gets", he said after. 

Hearing Miko's words, Ferdinand lost his cool, rage traveled through his body, he felt that Michael disrespected Leonor as a woman, no matter how hard he tried, anger overpowered him, he grabbed Michael by his collar and punched him, leaving a wound on his cheek bone. The punch was hard enough for Miko to fall on the floor again. Ferdinand wasn't finished, he furiously grabbed Miko's collar again and was about to hit him but this time Leonor stopped Ferdinand , 

"Tama na", she said holding his wrist, "Tama na yan", she repeated, while her voice cracked. 

He looked at her, her tears were flowing and her eyes were red-ish, his heart softened, he realised that he hate seeing her like that, his rage faded, and his fist slowly unclasped, 

"Okay kalang?", he questioned, his expression turned soft upon asking, she just nodded, looking at him with eyes filled with tears ready to race at any moment, he loosened his grip to Michael's collar and held Leonor, slowly wiping her tears with his thumb, "This is my first time seeing you cry", he stated softly,looking directly into her eyes "And I hate it", he continued and hugged her.

-

"Here", he handed her a bottle of chocolate milk while sitting on the car trunk, looking at the distant city lights, she looked at him questionably upon accepting the bottle, "May duty ka bukas", he chuckled, "Bawal beer". 

She didn't utter any word, she just gazed blankly at the far twinkling of the lights, trying to process everything that just happened, "You can cry", he said to her while slowly shortening their distance from each other, "I'm here", Ferdinand offered his shoulder. Leonor looked at him and leaned her head, silence followed, moments later, he heard her sobbing, he wrapped his arms around her, gently trying to bring comfort.

The night was deep and the cold winds brushed against them, silence was the rhythm of the atmosphere, his arms were still wrapped around her and her head rested on his chest, 

"Feeling better?", he asked, 

"Hmm", she simply nodded, she looked up to him, while he gazed afar, "Thank you", she muttered, 

Hearing her speak made him look at her, he saw her grateful eyes,  the little light from street polls shined and highlighted her face, there he saw boundless beauty that he never saw before. Their lips were inches away from each other, seeing the woman that he wanted to be with being that close created an urge to easily kiss her that very moment, but he respected her so much, that he simply couldn't and refrained himself.