Another World

Crush (Part 2)

Ara's POV

CONTINUATION OF FLASHBACK

"Happy birthday, Cienne!! Ang tanda mo na!" bati ko sabay gulo ko sa buhok niya.

"Thanks, Ara pero wag naman yung buhok ko pls. Hahahaha! Kain lang kayo ah! Enjoy the party!" sagot niya at umalis na.

"Uy Ate Ara, diba si Thomas yun?"

Napalingon naman ako sa direksyon na tinuro ni Kianna at tama nga, si Thomas nga yun. Pero.... "Anong ginagawa niya dito? I mean alam kong classmates sila ni Cienne, pero hindi naman sila close diba?"

"Aba malay ko, ako ba si Thomas?" pilosopo niyang sagot.

"Bastusing bata!"

Nag-ikot pa kami ni Mika, Camille, Carol, Kianna at Kim.

"Alright, alright. Everyone, please settle down. Now...we'll be having some people come up here and share a story or maybe give advice to our birthday celebrant. First up, we have best friends Pao and Thomas!" Nagpalakpakan naman ang mga tao, pati na rin ako.

"Good evening everyone, in case you didn't know, I'm Paolo Javelona. Transferee from the States at siguro naman kilala niyo na 'tong napaka-emo kong best friend." turo niya kay Thomas.

"Excuse me, hindi ako emo! Gusto ko lang talaga ng me-time." pagdedepensa naman ni Thomas kaya natawa ang lahat.

"Anyway, we're here to tell a story about our friendship. It's not a perfect one; we've had many struggles and we'll share one. So when we were in 1st year high school, this certain girl - let's hide her with the name Chane - caught my attention. She became a huge crush of mine and I told Thom about her. I found out he was classmates with Chane and asked him if he could introduce me to her, since they were friends."

It was Thomas' turn to tell the story. "So I introduced him to Chane and soon enough, they became very close. They always hung out with each other, went to the mall, watched movies, had sleepovers and everything friends did. I realized it too late but I actually had feelings for Chane too." Siya pa rin kaya yung mahal ni Thomas hanggang ngayon? Ang swerte naman ng Chane na yun. Haaay. Pero nasaan na siya, anong nangyari?

"Ayoko mang gawin, pero inunahan kong umamin si Pao. Kumbaga, biglaan yung pag-amin ko compared sa kanya kasi mas naging close sila ni Chane kesa sakin. So umamin ako, and to my surprise, she felt the same way all along. Although we were together, I was still bothered by the fact that I stole her away from Pao. Well not really 'stole' because she was never his to begin with, but you know what I mean. Then the day I feared most came; we were finally going to tell Pao about our relationship. Habang excited si Chane, ako naman hindi mapakali at kabadong kabado. What's worse is, dun pa dapat aamin si Pao sa kanya. He called Chane up the night before and sabi ni Chane na may sasabihin rin siya; which is yung tungkol sa amin." he continued.

Thomas looked at Pao, signaling for him to continue. Pao took a deep breath before speaking. "So the three of us met up. Chane came to me, looking so excited. Sabi ko, "Sige, sige. Ikaw muna, mukhang di ka mapakali diyan eh." and laughed. I looked at Thomas and noticed he seemed nervous, but I didn't mind. All of a sudden, I felt my knees weaken by what I just heard. "Kami na ni Thomas!" she said, showing her and Thomas' intertwined fingers. I felt devastated, angry, shocked, hurt and most of all betrayed by my own best friend. I had no choice but to congratulate them and when Chane asked me what I was going to tell her, all I could do was respond with "Never mind, it's nothing." Though their relationship didn't last long, I still had a hard time living with it. The reason why they didn't last long? Thomas broke up with her. Because of me. And that's what shocked me the most. He broke up with Chane because he had a hard time bearing with the fact that he technically stole Chane from me."