He placed the cap in between his lips. He shifted on his seat, putting his arms around the makeshift table, trying hard to hide a piece of paper from the girl beside him.
She's beautiful. Daniel thinks he never saw someone as beautiful as her in real life. She looked meek and modest, but there's a gleam in her eyes that fights. He noticed her nose, her cheeks, her forehead that creases when she sleeps. And the one stem of rose she had held from the beginning of this flight. Everything is beautiful. Even in the dark.
Daniel started writing. The fumes of the marker rose through the chilled air. He took another glance at her, she was busy finding her sleep, before continuing.
Iniabot ni Daniel ang sulat sa babaeng katabi. He was hesitant at first, but when the girl took it, he smiled instantly.
"Yes?" The girl said in a low voice, raising the note.
"Hi." He said. Smiling. The lights are off on their side of the plane. The only lights that they could use are from the few open windows from passengers that didn't want to sleep. The window beside her was shut, and he wasn't quite sure what her expression is.
"Hi." The girl pressed the lights from their above. "I'm sorry, what is it?"
"Uhm," Daniel gulped. "Sorry." He just couldn't find his tongue anymore. "Hi, Daniel. You are?" He extended his hand, not quite sure if it is a good thing that the girl is now staring at his hand.
"Kathryn." Her hand was soft when it touched his. It was the perfect warmth in a cold plane, he suddenly wished he could rub her hands all over his face. He shook her hand a little longer than usual.
"So, you're going to the Philippines?"
"I'm going home."
"Talaga?!" His voice came out too loud, and everybody, including the flight attendant so was hitting on him earlier, shushed him. "Sorry." He said, not enough for everybody to hear, but loud enough to send Kathryn giggling.
"Yeah. Pinoy ka rin?" She had an accent. Daniel thought it was so cute to hear it from someone who looked like a homogenous mixture of Korean, Spaniard and American blood.
"Yes. Purong pinoy ako. Anong ginagawa mo sa America?"
"We have lived there ever since. But I told my parents I want to spend time in the Philippines, you know, for a while, to see how it works there." She paused, Daniel somehow knew she was trying to hold back. She's not trusting him that much. "How about you?"
"Nagbakasyon lang ako sa Papa ko. Nagtrabaho na rin ng kaunti para sa eskwelahan."
"Oh, so you're younger than me? I just finished school." Daniel frowned. She looked younger.
"Tumigil din kasi ako. 22 pa lang naman ako."
"Ah." She smiled. To herself. Setting her eyes in front of her.
"Ah? Bakit ilang taon ka na ba Kathryn?" The worry was evident in his voice
"Would it matter?" She fired back.
Daniel sat back up. "Hindi." He scratched a scathed part of the table. "Curious lang ako. Ano nga?"
"You're makulit." The smile on her face calmed Daniel's chest. "What's the point of you knowing? We only have thirty minutes left on this flight."
Daniel took a peek on his watch. In thirty minutes, they would land and this flight would be over. "Bakit ba hindi kita kinausap kanina pa."
She just smiled at him. She leaned over and pulled the window up. It was just starting to light up outside. The sun is still nowhere to find, but the cerulean sky says it's fast approaching. Kathryn had her elbow propped on the window, Daniel scooted nearer. This girl smelled like a meadow at daybreak.
"Isn't it beautiful?" The rose in her hand caught Daniel's eyes.
"I know." Kathryn took a glimpse of him. His face was so close to her. "I love the sunrise the most."
"I love the night time." Daniel answered. "That's the time we dream."
The smile never escaped Kathryn's face.
***
"Wala bang susundo sayo?" Daniel asked. The plane just landed, and they're heading to the conveyer belt where they'd get the luggage.
"I don't know." Kathryn smiled.
"Grabe." Daniel just shook his head and sighed. "I guess this is it, Kathryn." He smiled at her, in defeat. "It was the best 14-hour-flight of my life beside you."
"Bye, Daniel." She took her luggage from the conveyer belt. "It was nice meeting you." She turned back, pulling her bag with her.
She never looked back until Daniel couldn't see her anymore.
Daniel turned his back and took the last baggage from the conveyer belt. He pulled the leather strap of his shoulder bag, never knowing a rose hangs from the opposite side of the strap.
When he gets home, he'll discover the rose, with a familiar note saying in front:
For whom is the rose?
This was the note he wrote for her earlier. At the back is her reply:
It's for you.
I noticed your hand was cold when I touched it.
Please look inside your bag and find my mitts.
Use it.
Inside one of the mittens is a calling card. Written across are the words "I'm also 22."
