Infinity

2

Months passed, and Finilene became a constant in my life. Every Saturday afternoon, we would meet up—whether sa park, sa coffee shop, or minsan kahit saan lang basta magkasama. It was like we had built our own little world, just the two of us, away from everything else.

There was one Saturday in particular na hinding-hindi ko makakalimutan. It was colder than usual, the kind of weather that made you want to stay inside, wrapped in a blanket. But not us. We decided to meet at the park anyway, as if the chill in the air was just another small thing we could ignore.

Finilene arrived in her usual way, walking briskly with that playful smile on her face. “Ang lamig!” she said, rubbing her hands together as she approached me.

I laughed, pulling out a scarf from my bag. “Buti na lang dala ko ‘to. Here, wear it.”

She looked at me, grinning as she took the scarf and wrapped it around her neck. “Always prepared, huh?”

“Of course,” I said, shrugging. “Ayoko namang magkasakit ka.”

We walked slowly, our steps in sync. There was something different about that day, though I couldn’t quite put my finger on it. The conversation flowed as naturally as ever, but beneath the surface, there was a tension, a heaviness that hadn’t been there before.

“Alam mo,” she started, her voice quieter than usual, “life has a way of surprising you when you least expect it.”

“Good surprises, I hope,” I said, trying to keep things light.

She smiled, but it didn’t quite reach her eyes. “Minsan good, minsan hindi. But we deal with it, right?”

I nodded, not knowing where the conversation was headed. There was something in the way she spoke, something unspoken yet heavy. I wanted to ask, to dig deeper, but I didn’t. I just let her talk.

As we sat down on our usual bench, Finilene stared at the horizon. “Naalala mo nung sinabi kong gusto kong maglakbay?” she asked.

“Of course,” I replied. “Gagawin pa rin natin ‘yun, di ba? Travel the world, see everything together.”

She nodded, her gaze still far away. “Sana nga,” she whispered. “But sometimes... hindi lahat ng plano natutupad.”

I frowned, feeling a twist in my gut. “Bakit mo nasabi ‘yan?”

She looked at me then, really looked at me. “Kasi minsan, kahit anong gawin mo, may mga bagay na hindi mo kontrolado.”

I didn’t know what to say. There was a sadness in her voice that I hadn’t heard before, and it scared me. But before I could ask more, she smiled again, that bright, carefree smile that always melted my worries away.

“Huwag na tayong mag-usap ng malungkot,” she said, lightly bumping my shoulder. “Let’s just enjoy today, okay?”

And so we did. We talked about our usual things—our favorite movies, the songs that made us feel something, the places we still wanted to visit. But that heaviness stayed, lingering in the spaces between our words. Something was shifting, and though neither of us wanted to admit it, we both felt it.

As the day ended and we went our separate ways, I couldn’t shake the feeling that something was wrong. Maybe it was nothing, just a passing mood. But deep down, I knew—things were about to change. I just didn’t know how much.