The Once and Future Love

Prologue

"Ang mukha mo," Moshi warned Naj, her voice filled with a mix of concern and disapproval. Naj, who was trying to compose herself, managed to calm her furrowed eyebrows and forced a smile to Moshi to appear kind once more. She couldn't help it. She was observing a man who was repeatedly glancing at their table, his eyes darting around with a sense of unease and curiosity. The man was tall, with a big build that seemed to accentuate his serious demeanor. Feeling gwapo, she thought. She turned to Moshi, her eyes sending signals that someone is watching them. Moshi merely shrugged, her face a picture of confusion.

Naj's frustration grew as the man continued to cast furtive glances in their direction. "Moshi, kanina pa sa'tin nakatingin yung lalaki. Nakakainis," Naj said, her voice tinged with irritation. Moshi chuckled softly at her friend's agitation.

"Wala tayong magagawa, Naj," Moshi said, her tone resigned. Naj despised this feeling of helplessness, vehemently opposed to the idea of being unable to take action. Drawing on her natural boldness, she fixed the man with a wide-eyed stare and conjured up a disconcertingly eerie smile. The man, taken aback and visibly unnerved by her unexpected response, hastily vacated his seat and moved to a far corner of the room. Moshi gaped at Naj's audacious move, before bursting into laughter. Their amusement was so intense that Moshi accidentally knocked her knee against the table, causing them both to laugh even harder until they were gasping for air and utterly exhausted.

As they gradually recovered from their fit of laughter, they realized that the classroom had filled with students unnoticed during their uproarious exchange. The room was adorned with rows of neatly arranged desks, bathed in the warm glow of sunlight streaming through the large windows. The walls were adorned with colorful educational posters, and the air was filled with the hum of excited chatter as the students settled in for the new academic year.

Naj, a young woman with a particular struggle in recognizing faces, had initially dismissed the idea of scanning the other students in the room. However, her eyes caught a peculiar sight. Moshi, a friend she knew well, was staring intently at someone. Curiosity piqued, Naj followed Moshi's gaze. As her eyes landed on the target, she saw a young man, their fellow classmate. Her eyebrows furrowed, a look of disbelief etching her face. "What?" Moshi asked innocently, but Naj rolled her eyes.

"You're looking at him," she pointed out, her voice filled with disbelief. Moshi looked at the guy, then back at Naj, her expression innocent yet a bit confused. "I'm just looking at him," she replied softly and innocently. Despite knowing Moshi well, Naj couldn't understand why she was fixated on that guy. "You're lying," she accused Moshi, her voice tinged with anger. Moshi, however, maintained an innocent yet confused expression as she insisted, "I'm not lying."

Naj, resigned to her inability to comprehend the situation, satred back where the man is, and then watched as their professor, Ms. Quintos, a petite fair-skinned lady with long brown hair and glasses, entered the room and introduced herself in a soft yet authoritative tone. The sunlight streaming through the windows cast a warm glow on her features as she gracefully made her way to the front of the class.

As Ms. Quintos proceeded to have each student introduce themselves one by one, the room filled with a symphony of voices, each student sharing a piece of themselves. The air was charged with a mix of excitement and nervous energy as the spotlight eventually fell on Moshi and Naj, the anticipation palpable in the room.

Moshi confidently presented herself, "Hi, Good morning. I am Moshi Alvarez, 18. Nice to meet you all," before gesturing for Naj to take her turn. Rising from her seat, Naj began, "Good morning, My name is Naj Serrano, 17..." Her mention of her age sparked whispers among her classmates, causing Naj to feel a tinge of unease.

Scanning the room, Naj's gaze wandered across the sea of faces until it landed on the enigmatic man Moshi had been staring at earlier. His features were unfamiliar to her, yet she couldn't shake the feeling that he had been staring in her direction the moment she asked Moshi about her staring earlier at him. The peculiar encounter left Naj feeling perplexed, evident in the furrow of her eyebrows and the slight tilt of her head as she tried to recognize his face. Just as she was about to dwell on this further, their professor interjected, "Oh, you're young!" her voice cutting through the air and drawing her attention away from the mysterious stranger. The sudden interruption jolted Naj back to reality. With that, she gracefully returned to her seat, leaving Naj to ponder the strange interaction with the smiling stranger.