Everglow

March 3, 2012: You and I are gonna be Forever Alive (ii)

At exactly 7:30 in the evening, Richard rushes out of the defense room and fishes his phone out of his pocket. He noticed several text messages from Maine.

"Good luck, RJ! Please update me as soon as you finish, okay! :)"

"RJ! Nagstart na ba?"

"RJ! Hindi ka na nag-reply. Nagstart na siguro? Anyway, I passed by the church this morning and prayed that you do well. Oh yan ha, huwag mo sabihin hindi kita pinagdasal for today. Haha! Good luck, Richard."

"Uy, are you done? Ano balita?"

"FAULKERSON! 7:10 pm na, uy! Je told us na usually it forty minutes lang to finish. Mahigit one hour na, okay ka lang? May nangyari ba? Call me, please."

Richard had to stop himself from replying to Maine's messages.

If I'm going to surprise her, I should do this right.

Instead he calls Jerald while walking to the parking lot and practically begs him to keep the party going, and under no circumstance let Maine leave without him getting there.

"Saka pare, pa-remind ung staff diyan about sa pinag-usapan namin this morning, please. I-mention mo na lang pangalan ko."

"Hoy ikaw ha, Richard! Ano na namang paandar yang pinaplano mo."

"Secret muna Paps, please. Bigay mo na sakin to. Ngayon lang."

"Alam mo, sobrang kunsintidor talaga ako sa'yo eh." Richard actually hears Jerald sigh defeatedly over the phone, "Pero kung ikakasaya ng prinsesa natin yan, sige. Ako bahala Paps. Basta pakibilisan mo pagpunta dito ha."

"Thanks Je. I owe you."

"Che! You owe me talaga. Sige na, alis ka na diyan!"

He spots his mother's SUV, gets in and backs out of the parking lot.

"Lord, please make this work. I have to make it this time around."

*********

Richard checked the time.

8:30 pm

"Not bad, Rj, not bad."

He shuts the engine off and grabs the large bouquet of yellow carnations placed on the passenger seat.

He walks swiftly to the entrance and was guided to the small private dining area Maine had reserved for her small dinner party.

As he neared the area, he could almost hear Jerald cracking up joke after joke--probably his attempts to keep everyone put until Richard arrives.

I better make it up to him sometime.

As the room entered into view, she was the first person Richard saw--she was sitting next to Val and they were watching as Jerald was animatedly telling them some funny story. Val was laughing so much it looked like she was about to cry. And Maine? Maine had her eyes closed, her head was thrown back in laughter--and Richard instantly smiled the moment he heard it, like it was music to his ears.

Jerald suddenly stopped and looked at Richard's direction, and grew quiet, so the rest of the parties followed.

Richard swore he heard strings of hollers, girls laughing giddily. A couple of people side hugged him and gave him a pat on the back. He vaguely remember Sam putting his arms around him and saying: "Sabi ko na eh, di papahuli tong manok namin eh."

And as Jerald will tell him a couple of minutes later, the room suddenly erupted in chaos.

But Richard barely noticed all of those--because all that time, Maine was the only person he saw. She was facing him, her eyes glistening and brimming with what he hoped were happy tears. She was slightly biting her lip, as if she was trying not to smile too much--trying to refrain from giving away too much. And when she finally couldn't help herself, her face broke into the the most beautiful smile he ever saw.