The Fallout

2

THE story goes like this.

Eko, a thirty-one-year-old hopeless photographer working a job he didn't want but was content with his life. Seemingly happy.

Andree, a twenty-five-year-old rising star whose dreams were big and whose heart was even bigger but difficult to get to know.

Dree kung tawagin siya ng mga kaibigan nila.

She was quiet. So guarded and defensive. On the way to a date with a friend that she didn't even know was a date when they met.

Naïve. Dense. Innocent.

"Date? Hindi ah," sabi niya with a scoff. "We're just going to hang out."

"Anong hang out?" sagot ni Eko. Natatawa. Sino ba 'tong babaeng 'to? Hindi ba niya alam kung paano gumagana ang utak ng mga lalaki? "Date 'yon."

Hindi nga niya alam. Twenty-five na at wala pang first kiss. Wala pang first boyfriend. Wala pang nakikilala sa kanya on a deep, intimate level.

Marami nang pumorma pero lagi niyang tinatakbuhan.

Inalam ni Eko ang pattern.

Nagiging kaibigan niya. Nahuhulog sa kanya. Umaamin. Tapos 'pag nag-iba na ang trato nila kay Andree, umaasa na mamahalin din sila pabalik, tatakbo siya.

Naiintindihan niya bakit nahulog ang lahat ng 'yon.

She's smart. There wasn't a thing she said that he wasn't in awe of. She said so little things but so many. Sometimes, she gave him nothing. Sometimes, it was a dead-end conversation of he's too close, pull back.

But he never stopped asking questions. Knowing more. Wanting to know more. She'd give him a tight-lipped answer and that was supposed to be that—an answer. But that led to another question, and another, and another, until he got to know her mind.

Sheltered. Her parents were strict and protective and she was privileged but never materialistic.

Opinionated. She was never scared to call him out on things he said around their friends. Told him she hated his locker room talk and found himself apologizing and lessening it.

Hated when she was accidentally called another name.

Loved being alone but could somehow face the cameras and switch on an entirely different version of herself that he wanted to know and love, too.

He wanted every version she could give him.

The shy Andree. The moody Andree. The intimate Andree. The rising actress Andree. The ambitious, the bold, the fearless.

The vulnerable. The scared.

Because when they were around their other friends, she made herself small. Never said a lot.

But with him, slowly, he got all of those versions.

Knowing them, how her brain and heart worked, her opinions and beliefs and convictions...all of that led him to dangerous territory of paano kita mapapa-sa 'kin?

He watched the movies she liked. Watched every project she was in. Listened to her music. Podcasts. Interviews. Not knowing why, when she was never around, he missed her.

Constantly.

He thought about her constantly.

He needed to be with her constantly.

He wanted to make her smile and laugh constantly.

She was a huge wall Eko needed to break through.