Rhythmic Laws (Law School Series 2)

02

The wind brushes my hair as the front seat window slowly opens. I let this polluted city air aggressively caress my face.

Nahihilo pa rin ako at sumasabay pa talaga ang sakit ng aking ulo. Sinandal ko ang aking balikat sa may pinto ng sasakyan at sinusubukang habulin ang antok na nawala ko kanina hanggang sa maihatid ako ni Papa sa unit ko. Pero kahit ang kaunting katahimikang iyon ay hindi niya magawa para sa akin.

"Partying late, pero ang iresponsable," pagpatuloy niya sa kanina niya pang sermon sa akin. "Sino bang kasama mo?"

Hindi ko magawang ipaliwanag sa kaniya na kung sino-sino na ang mga kasama ko. Sa dami ng mga casual friends ko, I doubt na aalala niya pa sila. I don't even remember them. What more to him whom I barely see.

"Don't tell me you're dating a new guy again?"

"Pa—" I don't want to have conversation about the guys the I date, especially not when he always reminds me how he doesn't like Dominic.

"Ano? Can you just take a break with dating and what your generation called hookups? It's not healthy. If nagbreak na kayo ng boyfriend mo, you should find something else to do. Hindi iikot ang buhay mo sa lalaki,"

"I know..." pero tanga ako.

"Kailan kayo nagbreak?" he came back with his normal conversational tone that he always use whenever something serious comes up.

Dominic was my first boyfriend. We first met in high school. Same year, same section, but not same friend group. I wasn't fully out with my sexuality before but many from my batch assumed I am gay. I am gay even before, I just don't celebrate it well. So as I try to hide it, people bully me because of it.

And Dominic is one of the bullies.

Most of them are the straight, disgusting, high school guys, who doesn't know basic hygiene, always carry a bench and bath towel, and have nasty habit of thinking that gays like them because they are literally men.

Kung anong gusto nilang itawag sa akin, sinasabi nila. Gumagawa ng mga joke na sila lang din ang natatawa. At ang malala pa minsan ay mga pisikal nilang ginagawa.

Dominic was one of them. But I never saw him again after last year of senior year.

The senior year in high school was the year I started blooming. I accepted the things that I mostly hated about my body just because the people around me told me so. I did hobbies, focused into my craft, and excelled at it. I guess I was distracted well.

Until I met him again in my sophomore year in college. The next thing I know, I'm sitting in front of a table with him while waiting for the food he ordered.

He's taller than the last time I saw him. He has tattoo from his arms and his neck, creating more masculine depth to his features. He fixes his wet hair as he looks to the glass of his motorcycle helmet. From this position, I can smell his scent.