Now let’s hear it from the best man. Mr. Thomas Torres.” The master of the ceremony called. It’s time for his mandatory best man speech.
The host handed Thomas the microphone when he reached her.
“Uhm good evening everyone,” Thomas started. He turned back to Jeron and Mika on the center stage. He smirked at Jeron, “Bro!”
Jeron nodded at him. “Congrats!”
“Wooooo!” And the Green Archers, Jeron’s teammates back in college, erupted from everywhere. Maloko talaga tong mga to.
When the cheers died down, Thomas continued. “Lahat ng sumigaw alam na alam ang lahat ng pinag-daanan mo. Haha. Seriously, you are now opening a new chapter in your life. I am sure you are ready for it. I am not going to wish you anything for the future because I know you have thought about it a million times and I know you will not bring Mika into this if you are half-hearted. So… we are going down the memory lane, to remind you of all the things that brought you and Mika here. I haven’t really prepared anything formal. So let’s go through this the way I remembered it. Hmmm? Let’s start where it all started.”
Thomas took some steps towards Jeron and Mika. He stood at one side of their table “So you and Mika first met, like personally, on our first day in Razon. I wish I could say it was all magical and love at first sight but it wasn’t.” Thomas smiled.
I looked around and the former Lady Spikers and Green Archers all nodded. They all agreed. We were all there.
Thomas showed his boyish grin (sobrang gwapo by the way), “The Lady spikers were training that time and we, the green archers, were waiting for our turn. There was this amazing lady spiker…” he looked at me. Those who know who Thomas was referring to went teasing “yieeeeeeee”. So the best man smiled and fortunately didn’t mention who the amazing lady spiker was.
Thomas chuckled into the mic, “Wait lang hindi pa si Mika to,” he laughed and turned to the bride. “Don’t worry ikaw bida dito, Ye. Going back, so this amazing spiker went up for an open spike. She spiked it so hard and we all thought it will leave a hole on the floor. But we were wrong. When our spiking sweatheart, as what they called her before, with her perfect form and impeccable timing, was there to save the floor and blocked the spike. With the power that hit the ball it went out, and it went directly to our King Archer’s face.” The audience went laughing on Thomas’ punchline.
“That wasn’t really the romantic first meeting that every couple is wishing for but that was the perfect time for our bride and groom to meet. Mika made a mark, maybe not on Jeron’s heart that time but she definitely stamped something on Jeron’s face. But see, the story didn’t end there.”
“Uh.haaaaaa,” the former lady spikers agreed. Haha. This story is one for the ages. Fate really worked overtime for Jeron and Mika.
“So, the next day, Jeron and I still went early to practice hoping that what happened to him won’t happen again. I mean what are the odds that Mika’s blocked ball will sail out and hit Jeron’s face for two consecutive days. Nadatnan na naman ulit namin yung Lady Spikers na nagpapractice. Yun kasi yung schedule, mauuna silang magpractice then kami. So we sat on the same spot and watched the girls. Who wouldn’t get hooked watching them? Magagaling na magaganda pa.”
“Agree!” I joined in with the former teammates.
“So we were watching the girls and here comes this play again. Mika, again, went for the block which sailed out. And I know you guys have figured it out by now what happened. The ball is smashed to Jeron’s face. Again. Mika apologized for the second time but they were still casual and nobody really tried to take one step out of the way parang maging friends sila or something other than acquaintances and schoolmates. The next day Jeron did not push his luck and didn’t go to Razon as early as we usually did. When we arrived on that third day, the girls were still training pero it looked like they were about to finish. Jeron and I sat on the far end of the bleachers and waited. Jeron took his phone out and didn’t bother looking at the girls training. So, as I was watching I recognized the same play and boom. The Mikasa ball said hello to Jeron’s face for the third time in a row,” Thomas high fived Mika.
