Heartbound Part Two (Lovestruck Series)

Prologue

#HeartboundWP

♡

Prologue

Does the universe have a built-in course-correction mechanism? Supposing that's true, the things that seemed inconsequential in the grand scheme of things would later reveal themselves to be more important than what was earlier assumed. And by extension, everyone and everything has a predetermined destiny—a designated beginning, a specified path to take, and a due ending.

This design suggests that some things are meant to happen no matter how hard one tries to resist it. Conversely, some things would just not happen regardless of how badly one wants it. It can be as (seemingly) trivial as sleeping through a barrage of alarms in the morning despite sleeping early the night before with the desperation to get to class early as a sleeping aid. Or not being able to stay awake even after subjecting oneself to an unhealthy amount of caffeine. Just like what's happening with Elias.

"I am not in the mood," he hisses at Miguel who appears in front of him while he's nursing his headache with some silence. Migs does what he's good at despite the warning—ignoring what he just said, before taking the seat across from him.

Elias knew that he should have walked to the library instead of staying in the classroom kung gusto niya ng katahimikan. Alam niyang he would not get here the silence that he needed, pero biglang sumakit lalo ang ulo niya so he didn't transfer places. He did not find it practical too considering that their next class is in less than twenty minutes. 

Is the worsening of his headache part of the universe's course-correction? If the medicine he took kicked in a little earlier and made his condition better, he would have made his way to the library. He wouldn't have been in the classroom. Migs wouldn't have reached him. He wouldn't have found Migs' incessant talking annoying. He wouldn't have had a reason to check his phone to distract himself from whatever his friend was talking about.

He wouldn't have noticed that he just received a message from an unregistered number. Sanay nang kung saan-saan nakakarating ang number niya at kung ano-anong mensahe ang natatanggap sa kung sino-sinong hindi niya kilala, Elias would have just deleted the message from his lockscreen.

Pero, like the universe needed him to read it, nasundan agad iyon ng isa pa, asking him a harmless question. It's from the freshman whom he met last summer after letting his friends drag him along to a random weekend hangout.

Still, it doesn't change the fact that he doesn't really know her and he could have just ignored her messages. But he didn't, because Migs was still not done talking and he needed something to distract him from the unwanted noise. Had Migs talked about something he actually cares about, he would have just kept his phone in his pocket and let freshman's messages collect cobwebs in his inbox along with others he did not bother reading.

Pero hindi nga ganoon ang nangyari.

He had to read those messages. It's just how it's supposed to be.

Unregistered Number
Hi po ! This is Nadia. Di ba youre Pau's friend?

Do you know where he is ba hehe. Thank you ! ☺️

Elias
No, sorry.

Unregistered Number
Aw okay. 🙁 Thank you !

He doesn't bother replying anymore. He doesn't even save her number. He goes about his day enduring the searing pain in his head. He had already forgotten about her until a few days later, when their last lecture for the day almost put him to sleep out of boredom. He sneakily checks the time on his phone, for the seventh time in the past fifteen minutes, hoping for the seconds to go by quicker so he can get out of this room.