Missing You

A Plea

It was already the fourth day that Anver kept going to the hospital to visit his father that he had the chance to see when his father's wife was at Calvin's wake. Sometimes, he would go to see Jine but never saw her awake.

That day, he was about to leave the hospital when he was approached by a woman who he did not notice observing him since he went to Jine's room minutes ago.

"You must be the one who brought Jine here noong maaksidente siya?" the woman asked. She appeared so simple but had the aura of grace and sophistication.

"Yes, Ma'am," Anver politely replied.

"I am her mother. And I've been wanting to see you to personally thank you and if it would not mean too much, I would like to ask a big favour from you."

"Ano pong ibig ninyong sabihin?" Anver would like to formally introduce himself and say you're welcome when he was thanked, but his attention was focused on the later part of what the woman said.

"I already asked about you, Anver, right? It's because my daughter, Jine, kept on insisting that she was saved by Calvin – may he rest in peace... Now that I am looking at you, I could see why... You look so much alike. You both took from your father."

"Actually po, I did not know how my brother looked like because I did not really get the chance to know him and be with him... You see, Ma'am, I'm an illegitimate son."

The woman felt a pinch in her heart when Anver mentioned about being illegitimate, but she thought of the word sorry being less likely to be mentioned. "I appreciate you, Anver, for sharing that to me. It must been hard on you," she took a deep breath before she continued, "But I really need your help for my daughter... She has very, very few friends. In fact, she used to isolate herself until Calvin came to her life. Now, she only has us, me and her Dad. But we have to leave the country for urgent business matters... I and her Dad know that she needs you more than us."

"Ma'am, sorry po but hindi ko po kayo maintindihan on what you'd like me to do. How will I be of help to your daughter po? We don't even know each other. We just met po when she got hit that night of her accident." He was puzzled.

"I know, Anver. You just met Jine, but she believes she's been with you for quite sometime already, and more than that, she feels she loves you. She believes you are your brother, Calvin. She won't believe that Calvin is dead... That's why I'm asking you, Anver, to please be Calvin for Jine just until she recovers from the accident. It would be difficult for her especially that we won't be here."

"Pero..." There were a lot of but's in his mind, but he just could not express them to this woman asking him a plea.

"I already asked someone who can help you on this. She is Jarie, Jine's best friend. I will give you her number, Anver ha?"

Anver just nodded, but he was really having difficulties making everything the woman said sink in. After their conversation, the woman left, and he went to Jine's room. He was looking at her face and observing her sleep. He placed his hand near hers as if wanting to hold her hand for his lost brother. He was about to hold her hand when she grasp his, but she was not yet awake. She was having a nightmare.

"Miss! Miss!" Anver was calling Jine to wake up then he realized that he should be calling her with her name. "Jine, wake up!"

Jine woke up teary-eyed and saw Anver's face with her still blurred vision.

"Calvin?" she called him with her weakling voice. "Bakit ngayon ka lang? Ang tagal-tagal kitang hinintay. I knew you would come," her tears couldn't help but fall from her eyes that made his face even more blurry to her.

Anver did not know what to say. In fact, he did not want to say anything at all maybe because he was thinking that he and Calvin would sound differently as much as they would speak about anything differently. So instead of talking, he took his handkerchief from his pocket and wiped her tears. Jine touched his hand and felt his palm on her cheek. Anver felt something he could not explain when she touched him.  Was he feeling weird or awkward? Was he feeling what's happening was wrong? Or was he feeling something else? He did not know, and he did not think further about it. He opted to place the handkerchief on her hand, so she would free his hand. She then went back to sleep without having all her tears wiped. Anver thought that perhaps, she was not yet completely awake.

Even seeing her tears still not all wiped, Anver did not try touching her again because he felt something inside him going strange. Was his heart beating like that out of pity for this girl in front of him? Was it beating like that out of his willingness to do what he's doing for Jine on his brother's behalf? Or was it beating like that because of the most unexplainable reason?

Points for Analysis/Reflection

1.      What do you think Anver felt towards Jine when he met her for the first time?

2.      If you were Anver, would you agree to do Jine's mother's plea? Why or why not?