Me, My Ex, and Him

Chapter 4: Other People

          So, he wants to meet other people and date again. Who was I to stop him? What should I say to him? I didn't know how to respond. I can't deny that what he said stung a little but I wanted him to be happy. Alright, let me just process my emotions first. 

          "Of course you can", I finally answered.

I was glad he waited for my response that took quite long. Speaking of which, I also told him that I wanted to do the same thing. Besides, I already got my eye on someone. Then we had our agreement. We had reassured each other that nothing would change nor be weird between us. And that concluded our first phone conversation after the break-up. 

          Noah let us go on a photo-walk at the campus. He wanted us to take advantage of a DSLR and mirrorless camera, specifically the newer models. We took several shoots of every subject around our area. I wasn't ignorant but surely there were some things I needed to learn about using the newer ones. Some of our fellow group members took interest in buildings, and some took interest in the skies and trees. Meanwhile, I was intrigued with the students doing their own thing. I took photos of a student eating lunch, one reading a thick textbook, and two who were conversing with each other. All I had was my DSLR camera, and so I utilized what I could do with it.

          "Adjust mo yung depth of field." Boboy said.

          "Huh?" I asked, confused.

          "Blur mo yung background para ma fo-focus yung mga students." He explained. 

He then put his hands on the camera I was holding to show me how to adjust the aperture. I'm not going to lie, I felt a little sparks when our hands touched, but I tried to remain subtle. He then complimented my photography skills but advised on adding more to my output. How could I have forgotten when I used to take a lot of photos of my ex-boyfriend applying the depth of field? My bad. Subsequently, I was so enlightened by Boboy's mini tutorial that I applied what he had taught me.

          The next thing we did was to edit the photos we took, so Boboy and I went to the computer lab. He helped me navigate through the photo-editing software application. He told me to take a moment to decide on how I wanted to put color-grading to my photographs, so I studied my shots. Not looking at him, I felt he found joy in looking at me reviewing my photos. How fast the day has gone, it's already evening. What time was it and how long had we been there? We looked at each other realizing we had overstayed at the lab. I just finished rendering my output then I showed it to Boboy. Speechless. He was speechless, which paralyzed me for a moment until I could get a good reaction from him. I was so excited to hear what he thought about my work.  

I couldn't wait to hear his opinion anymore so I asked him impatiently. He loved it. For a beginner at photo-editing, he was impressed. I was even surprised he liked it. The hours that took me to render my work was what impressed him the most. I guess he was the kind to appreciate effort. Both happy and content, we shared a joyous laugh before packing up. Afterwards, he walked with me to the jeepney stop. 

          Yvan, on the other hand, was invited by his friends to go to a bar to meet new people. They convinced him well. Not liking the idea at first, he finally gave in. Em teased him for being stubborn. The gang then headed to a bar. The place wasn't that crowded then since it wasn't the weekend yet. Val brought drinks to their table. Yvan was still doubtful he'd meet somebody he'd like at a place like that. But Em told him not to be so choosy.

The three friends then started their drinking session. Em shared about her past romance on how she was being replaced, then Val shared about how he was rejected by a girl he was in love with for years. The night went by, and the three of them had gotten slightly intoxicated. Em couldn't carry her body anymore so she excused herself to go to the ladies' room. Val, on the other hand, excused himself to vomit. 

Yvan was left alone for a while at their table. He then met a random lady from the bar. She stood 5'2 tall, had straight hair, fair skin, and bold beautiful eyes, according to Yvan. Yvan could tell she has had a drink or two. Little did they know they'd spend hours talking and enjoying each others' company that night.

A little while later, the young lady invited Yvan to go bar-hopping to which he said yes to, after contemplating. Val and Em returned to their respective table, feeling a little relieved but still uncomposed. Val was surprised to see the lady flirting with Yvan then teased them, making Yvan feel uneasy. Yvan then invited his two friends to go bar-hopping with the young lady, however they were too tired already. Val then turned to the young lady. 

          "Miga, miga, naa kay car?" (Miss, do you have a car?") Val asked.

          "Um... yeah... I do..." she answered sheepishly.

Val then requested the young lady to take care of Yvan and make sure he gets home after their bar-hopping. Val and Em then left the place leaving Yvan alone with the lady. Later on, Yvan drove while being slightly intoxicated. I know, bad idea. The young lady teased him for breaking the law. He defended that he could still manage. Little by little, the young lady had flirted with Yvan. She eventually ran her hands through his arm.  Yvan then held her hand while he was driving. Afterwards, she asked him how many glasses have Yvan had but he just chuckled and ignored her. 

          "I know a place where we could go." The young lady said to Yvan. 

Little did Yvan know the lady had directed her to drive to a house. The house looked huge and fancy. He was astonished. It was the lady's place, as she told him. The young lady then grabbed two vodka drinks from the trunk of her car and handed one to Yvan. They took several sips. Afterwards, the lady had gotten more intoxicated. She pulled in closer to Yvan and cupped his face. Their faces were close to each other. The lady then loses control of her body and was about to drop to the ground, but Yvan luckily caught her.

          "Miss? Miss! You have to go inside your house na." Yvan told her.

          "Come with me, Pretty Boy." The young lady responded. 

With all Yvan's might, he helped the girl walk to the unlocked gate of her house, then went in. They were standing by the front door. Yvan begged her again to go up to her room but she mentioned she didn't want to sleep alone. Clueless with how to react or respond to her suggestion, he asked her for her phone. She willingly gave it to Yvan. Yvan let her unlock her phone, and then he gently took it from her. He went to the contacts app and typed in his phone number. He then returned the phone to the lady. 

          "Let me know if you went upstairs to sleep. I can't have you lying outside your house or the living room." Yvan told her. 

          That morning, Yvan received a few text messages upon getting up from bed. He couldn't believe that he had given his number to her. He tried to forget what had happened that previous night. Not much of a heavy drinker, he remembered a bit of last night's events. He then became aware that he had flirted with the lady. He ignored the messages then went on with his day. His friends encouraged him to chat with the lady from that night then take her on a date, but he refused to.

That night, I received a call from Yvan. Filled with excitement, I picked it up. He called to share about the lady whom he had flirted with. I was nothing but happy for him. I even appreciated the fact that he had shared this with me. That was all I knew then. That Yvan just met a girl at the club and they flirted with each other that one night. 

I was still clueless about the fact that Yvan chose to ignore that lady's messages. Still on the call, Yvan then asked me about the guy I had an eye for. Left speechless by his question, I tried to compose myself before answering. Eventually, I had told him about Boboy. I was still unsure about how I felt about him exactly, but I knew I liked his presence and his personality. Yvan also felt happy for me. After the call, Yvan laid down to process his thoughts. He picked up his phone then replied to the lady he met at the bar. He finally asked her to meet with him again via text.