Hukayserye

The Thousandth Piece

Thursday, 10pm, Philippine Standard Time

"MENGGAY! SITHY OH MYGOD!!!"
"Coleen, ang ingay mo gabi na! Bakit ba?"
"YOUTUBE! BILIS! OH.MY.GOD!!"
"Anong meron sa Youtube? Scandal?"
"Loko, just shut it and tingnan mo yung isang channel diyan!"
"Anong channel name?"
"1000th."

"Oh anong meron? Iisang video lang, wala pang thumbnail."
"Ano baaa i-play mo lang kasi. Tingnan mo kung gaano karami views oh!"
"Uploaded 30 minutes ago. Tapos 50k views agad? Hanep! Brings back memories! Teka kanino bang channel to?"
"EH MALALAMAN MO MAMAYA, HUY IPLAY MO NAAA PLIITH."
"Eto naaaa."

🎶It's the way she fills my senses, it's the perfume that she wears
I Feel I'm losing my defenses
To the color of her hair🎶

Kung merong isang word na makakapagdescribe ng nararamdaman ko, pwedeng bang malaman?

Nasabi na niya sa'kin even before pa ako umalis for Canada, na sometime during the Holy Week maguupdate sya. Nakakatawa, she gave me the heads up pa dahil alam niyang nagbabasa ako-paulit-ulit for that matter, ng blog posts nya during my free time. I admit, aside from calling her relentlessly and her snap updates, I pass time by re-reading her blog entries. Somehow as I did it, I got to know the Maine before Eat Bulaga, before Kalyeserye, before Yaya Dub, and even before me. Us.

I have always known that social media was her outlet for self-expresion. Nobody knows, even before her June 19 auditions, I have stalked her Youtube channel a lot. (Actually, but haha, Ryzza knew it before anyone else. Nailaglag pa nga ako sa show niya. And no, I am not talking about the Yaya episode in TRMS. I leave it up to you guys para i-SOCO which episode. Haha!) As I got to know her in Kalyeserye, I came to a conclusion that written words were her friend- she expresses better in ink and letters, and she's a lot better at it than I am. Funny, it somehow rubbed off on me.

Alam ng lahat how I tried hard to break down the fortress she built around herself. With my own willpower and persistence, by God's grace, I was able to make our worlds meet. I couldn't exactly pinpoint when the averted gazes stopped, or when her real-life one foot away rule ceased, but I am so happy it did. As in sobrang saya. I got to know her, and she got to know me. We realized that we shared the same interests, and I began letting her know that I wasn't settling for the reel status only. So I went over great lengths to let her family know that I was dead serious and that nothing can stop me (yes, not even bashers). Thankfully, she didn't clam up.

But then, I was waiting for that little detail. Okay na lahat, explosives in place. Wirings intact and live. But a switch was needed. I was a bullet in the barrel, awaiting for the release of the clip. I was a firework, with the wick exposed and in contact with a source of fire. I was a thousand-piece puzzle, with the ninety-nine ones already in place, awaiting for the thousandth one.

Six months, and she has known and called me as Alden Richards. Yung Pambansang Bae. Yung Pambansang Dimple.

Pero, little did she know how I was dying inside to hear my nickname just for once from her lips. The one my mother gave me. The real one.

I've always said that kapag mahal ko ang isang tao, I'd always make time, find time to be with them, no matter what. Love is time, sabi ko nga. Because yung oras na para sa kanila, it only comes once. Only once. Maaaring maulit, but never in the same moment, never with the same feelings. I learned that through the hard way- through the loss of a parent. Kaya nagpromise ako sa sarili ko na when I find the right one, by hook or by crook, I will give them my time.

And luckily she came, but the leisure of time was something that didn't come easy. But I wasn't going to be stopped. And so Osaka happened. And just recently, Boracay. I was so ecstatic, na wala akong paki if I only had few hours with her. That alone meant so much more to me, even more than renting the private plane and doing things in stealth mode.

I surprised her. Nung sinabi kong wala talagang mahanap na time to clear the scheds I have, it was the epitome of all lies ever made. Kasi weeks before, I had already ironed things out. Both with Management and her parents. Especially the latter. Di ko talaga maexplain kung anong feeling nung napa-'Oh My God' sya sa doorway. Six days prior to that, she's been distant-evident in Feb 29 Kalyeserye episode. I was fighting every urge to hug her that moment she opened the door. Seryoso.

So yes, Bora. We did water sports, clowned around at nagpabebe. Nagmukhang ewan. Selfie selfie lang with the others. At kain pa more. (Seriously, ang takaw niya po talaga, at least when she's with me, they say.)

I was super happy, pero may kulang talaga eh. We had the sand, the sea- I had her smile, the glint in her eyes back after that six-day err, LQ. I was showered with her thanks. And I could see how the cheery mood turned heavy when Patchy asked us to go back again so I could leave already. Akala ko it would end in that very sad note.

But then life throws you surprises you've never dreamt of.

"RJ, balik ka na please. I mean, you could." Was her private Snap update to me, and later on, her comment in my IG post. I was hauling my things into the van when I received it. It took nine words and four punctuation marks to tilt my ready-made planet, and the first word made my world rotate slowly on its axis, and eventually stopped it.

RJ.

RJ.

Finally. She said the magic word.

May mga panahon na I had to smack myself mentally kasi maski ako, nawi-wirduhan na sa pinaggagagawa ko. May mga umaga na magigising ako asking myself kung anong meron sa past six months that made me turn 360 degrees-from reserved to expressive, from cautious to aggressive. Pero nung nakita ko yung snap na yun, I was kicked in the shins by reality, as if saying, 'Hello, you have her. Because of her.'

Tama si Lord, pati narin kung ano man tong force ng universe na naguugnay samin. You pray hard-and believe with all your might, and you shall receive it in the most beautiful package ever.

RJ.

My nickname.

It was the switch to the explosive, to the live wires. The released clip that set off the waiting bullet in the barrel. The source of fire that ignited the wick of that lonesome firework.

RJ...
RJ...
RJ.

It was the piece left in the box, which I had for a long time but never got the chance to put in. And luckily, that someone, found the thousandth piece and made the picture whole.

Maine, you are my thousandth piece in this picture.

🎶She's all I ever need, to fall in love again
I knew it from the very start,
She's the puzzle of my heart🎶

(New tweet from Alden Richards)

"You are the thousandth piece @mainedcm ❤️http://you.tube/Ab9sd6JLf2R"
~END~