One of the Boys 1 & 2 (Published by Pop Fiction)

Epilogue

Epilogue

The world is full of twists and turns. Just when we thought everything's going well, biglang may dadating o mawawala na ikakagulat mo, na ikakasira ng buong mundo mo. At pag malapit ka ng masira o minsan, sirang sira ka na, biglang boom! Unexpectedly, may magandang mangyayari. 

Life is full of surprises, isn't it? Sabi nga ni Apa, it's like a box of chocolates, we never know what we're gonna get. Pero kahit ganun, mapait man o matamis, life is amazing. Although it sucks a lot of times, it's still amazing. Yung mga nawala at dumating sa atin, they were meant to happen. Changes are bound to happen kaya kailangan na lang natin tanggapin. 

Acceptance

When Marcus broke up with me and cheated on me with my best friend. 

When my friends betrayed me and lied to me.

When Bianca had to transfer to another school.

When my friends graduated college.

When my favorite kid and uncle died. 

When I failed two of my classes.

When Apa left me.

I was so broke, too broke to accept everything that had happened to me. I couldn't be optimistic. God knows I tried, but I just couldn't function. And with that, I got depressed and failed two of my classes, which by the way, the reason why I got delayed. Yes, I had to extend another year.

On the day he walked out on me, I ran after him... 

"Maybe, maybe you didn't love me enough."

No, he wasn't crying, while saying those words. In fact, he was smiling, but his eyes were really, really sad. They were full of pain. It hurt, because we were like this, but when I saw and felt his pain, it just hurt even more. 

"Mageexplain ka na ba?"

Because of the amount of pain and sadness I was feeling, I couldn't even utter a word. Ang daming taong nakatingin. No, everybody was looking at me. They were all taking pictures and videos of me, kneeling and crying in front of him.

"Anong nangyari? Did you get back-"

"No!" My tears couldn't stop from falling. 

Mukhang napansin na niya yung mga tao na kumukuha ng pictures at videos kaya isa-isa niya 'yun pinuntahan. Nanghihina na ako. I didn't even know what happened, pero kung ano man ang ginawa niya, it was effective dahil binaba nilang lahat smartphones nila. 

I hated people, but I hated myself even more.

Apa went closer to me and held my hand. I couldn't read his mind. His eyes were still kind, but I was so sure we both knew we were hurting. Tuluy-tuloy lang luha ko. I didn't even notice we were already inside his car's backseat, at our school's parking lot.

"You talk, I listen. For now, you have to calm down."

I cried even more. "Alam mo, pag kasama kita, feeling ko, ang sama-sama kong tao."

And I wanted to kill myself when he said, "Sorry."

"See?!" I kept on sobbing. Kumuha siya ng water at binigay sa'kin. "Hindi na 'to malamig, pero kailangan mong uminom. Madedehydrate ka." Ininom ko yung tubig at ilang minuto lang, tumigil na luha ko. I was still sniffing, though.

I explained everything to him. I told him everything aside from his family asking me to break-up with him. "I- I told uncle about this, then he died. He died... and they told me it wasn't my fault, but I couldn't stop blaming myself." My tears started to fall again. "And now... Now, I can't stop these fcking tears. Parang... parang napuno na tapos biglang tumapon lahat ng laman."