The Story of A Girl

Chapter 19

"Hello po sa inyong lahat. Magandang hapon po. Ako po si Joe, best friend ni Japs. Uhh... Paano ba ko magsisimula? Sorry baka isipin niyo hindi ako prepared. Naalala ko lang sabi kasi ni Japs, pangit daw ang scripted, nawawala na daw yung puso. Yung meaning. Words na lang. Kaya eto, ako. Sana pala nag-prepare ako 'no? Mali ata yung turo ni Japs sakin. Hehe. Pero just so everyone knows, I met Japs not even a year ago. Una niya akong nakita, nadapa ako sa hallway ng school. Una kaming nakapagusap, inasar niya ko kasi nadapa ako ulit pagpasok ng classroom. Una kaming nakapagusap ng matino, over lunch that same day na tinawanan niya ko. Ang kapal ng mukha niya 'no? Kinakausap yung mga taong hindi naman niya masyadong kilala. Pinagtatawanan sa una, ish-share yung address pagtapos. But, that would've been Japs' most perfect aspect. Yung kahit hindi ka niya kilala, basta sa tingin niya okay ka. Kakausapin ka niya. Hindi mapangmata si Japs. Hindi pinipili yung magiging mga kaibigan o ka-tropa. Kahit isang beses, wala akong narinig na jinudge niya. Wala akong nakitang minaliit niya. I think alam nating lahat kung gaano ka-well off si Japs sa buhay. Magandang bahay. Magandang school. Magandang kotse. Pero that didn't stop him from being the kind of man everyone has to be. Kind. Understanding. Friendly. At ngayon, masasabi kong totoo ang mga sinasabi ko. Eto ako, nakaharap sa inyong lahat. At ang nasa isip ko lang, grabe. Ang daming nagmamahal kay Japs dahil sobrang dami niyo. Hindi ko man kayo kilala lahat personally but for sure, Japs played a role in your life. Anak, kamag-anak, kaibigan, girlfriend, student, tropa, ka-team, kalaro sa basketball, suki ng fishball, best friend. Japs, if you could just see this. If you could see what I'm seeing, you'll be proud of yourself. But knowing you Japs, sasabihin mo lang, "Sus. Parang tanga 'to."cause you're you, Japs. Pero because I am me, sasabihin ko sayo, I'm so proud of you. We are all proud of you. Of what you had accomplished in life. Of everything. For once, hindi ako parang tanga. Hindi ko tatanggapin na sasabihin mo lang parang tanga, kasi you deserve this. You deserved more pero ano pa bang magagawa natin? I would've traded anything just so you could live. Just so you could have one more month or day or even a minute to be with me. To be with us. Pero ngayon naiisip ko na lang, it doesn't matter. It doesn't matter if I only had 7 months and 23 days and 15 hours and 30 seconds with you. It doesn't matter if your mom had only 18 years. Ding had only 5. It doesn't matter because we all had "only". Lahat kami nabitin. Lahat kami nakulangan. But I guess what truly matters is that we are all fucking lucky to be able to have spent even a second with someone like you. And we wouldn't trade it for anything else. Japs had been nothing but kind. And awesome. And weird. Weirdly good. And to top it all, special. You were... You are special, Japs. And I promise you, that is something that is never going to change. Not with me. Not with anyone in this room. You are special to us. And you will always be. I love you, Japs. We love you. Kudos, Japs. Wait for us. Wait for me. We'll see you soon."