SAM

Chapter 6

1 second..2 seconds.. 3 seconds... *Sent!

I finally did it! I pressed the send button after battling with my mind whether to send it or not. I remained silent for a minute, avoiding my eyes to look down on my phone's screen. 'What if she won't reply?'I worried internally as I am tapping my fingers on the cashier table while losing myself to my thoughts about the receiver of my message. Who? A certain stranger who caught my attention ever since I accidentally dropped by on her profile page. And why I am here in the first place? Well, to be honest I don't know too myself, I just felt this urge to know her more because she's different according to my.. inner voice. You may all find me weird but trust me I know that and one of these days, let me defend my weirdness to you all.*smirking. Now where are we? Yes, this stranger I've been talking about has a unique Wattpad username,it reads, 'Ariko' and...oh god! She messaged me back! ' Hi! Thank you. Though, I am not sure why you're thanking me.' I read the words written on the screen and read it again and again..I am speechless..Ariko decided to reply to my message! I didn't expect her to response this fast,only 10 minutes just had passed since I sent her my thoughts through private messaging.'Though I am not sure why you're thanking me.' My eyebrows knitted in confusion when I saw that only the upper half of my entire message was successfully sent to her. Then it hit me! She did not able to read that part why I messaged her. 'Hey! Thank you so much for your response.And oh,it supposedly  long  but when I sent it, half of my entire message was cut into 2 .' I typed hurriendly and still amazed that she replied to me.

'Oh I see,that's okay.That seldom happens here in wattpad.' She replied nicely which makes me feel relieved.

Can I send it to you again?I mean,the missing part of my message? I found myself typing shyly and wishing that she'll say yes.

'Sure'..she stated and I begin to type my words again.It's a good thing that I kinda read my entire message over and over again before sending it to her,thus I have no difficulty forming my long paragraph again with the same thoughts like what I planned to tell her. "Your book,Starstruck captivated me and it taught me a lot.Thank you for sharing your story with us,it was really wonderful and it inspired me in a lot of ways. Thank you so much again, Ms.Author. : ) "It feels good that now I already told her what I what to tell her.I smiled secretly with this realization."Hey Charlie,it's closing time. Make sure to lock the cashier drawer as we go" I heard my sister's voice coming from the other side of our shop. Okay sister! I responded abruptly. "Oh hey Ms.Author, is it okay if  I'll message you back after few minutes, I'll be driving my motor to go home and won't be able to type. : ) " I decided to inform Ariko that I'll be on the road and will be back as soon as I landed in our house. She said it's cool and we talked a little when I reached home. Since she will have other things to do,she said her goodbye for that day. And I found myself opening my inbox section to read our conversation again and again. If there's one thing I learned today, is that talking to a stranger is not bad and it feels good like you accomplished something big you and couldn't explain what that is exactly. From this day forward,I know I entered a world I am about to witness.

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*knock knock..

I looked up to the glass side of the door and saw someone trying to peek inside through the little holes of the venetian blinds. I composed myself and started to walk towards the door. A smile of a young man greeted me when I opened the door.He was dressed with a simple jean and tees,a typical clothing we wear during summer.

"Hi Paulo! Please come in." I said smiling while eyeing him.

"So how's your tooth since we put a temporary filling on it"?
I asked him remembering the procedure I did on him last week.

"My tooth feels fine" He said calmly while touching his cheek.

"Oh,That's great.Your tooth can be sealed with a permanent filling today then. I feel glad to know that his tooth can still be saved.

I guided Paulo to sit on the dental chair until 3 hours swiftly passed by.

" So you'll next appointment will be on Tuesday,same time." I told him while gazing to the calender.

"Okay Doc, thank you" he said smiling and started to walk out  the clinic.

I keep my eyes on his retreating figure and a certain memory flashed back to my head .It's his 3rd visit to our dental  clinic I still can clearly remembered that day when Paulo's lady boss visited me in our clinic and asked me if I can treat Paulo's teeth. I agreed to her boss and I was very overwhelmed .She could have chosen my mom who is a veteran dentist. Because of it,I truly believed that God made her chose me. Paulo is my first ever dental patient since I passed my board exam.I am still feeling overwhelm by this thought.

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"We are totally fine here mom and Eco already fell asleep" I confirmed my mom while pressing my phone in my ear.

"You guys are sleeping in our room?" she asked I smiled sheepishly. "Yes mama,we are here laying in yours and papa's bed. hehe" I chuckled. Me and my brothers love my parents room so much because it's cozier than the other rooms in our house plus it has a TV! Life in province is boring without it guys so yeah.*grinning.
"Okay,goodnight" I heard my mom said softly before she hang up the call. She and my father travelled to Manila this morning leaving me,Eco and big sister in province. Big sister is  already snoring in the other room. Her energy at night is very low because she's very active in shop during the day. Oh and please forget about snoring thing.She'll kill me.hehe.But I was only kidding guys,she's a quiet sleeper. Also the main reason I am with Eco right now is that I am free to do what I want and for tonight I decided to have a book marathon! There's this book I can't get enough thus tonight I will let myself devour to the max.

*Ring..ring....
I saw that someone is trying to call me at this hour which is...4am.Damn! I read too much.
And the person who is calling me is no other than..Kazie!

"Hello Kazie! How are you!" I asked excitedly.

I'm good Charlie! Though I feel home sick here in US.It's very different here than in Philly.I miss you girl" she sighed on the other line.

"Hey, yourself will soon adapt the life their Kaze,and I know you'll easily have friends there". I consoled her.Kazie is a charmer. She has this way with people and I know she'll going to have a lot of friends wherever she goes.

" Kaze,I am starting to feel dizzy,is it okay if I'll go now?"

"Sure sleepy head!hehe.You're too much,you can stay awake until dawn." I heard her muffled sound as I was closing my eyes.The next thing I knew..I am already sleeping.

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'I missed you Kazie! I hope you're great doing there! " Days had passed since she called me but we constantly exchanging chat messages.

"Hey,where are you?" I sent her my message again when I didn't received her response after some hours. After few minutes, I recieved a message.It's from her! I smiled big and was so eager to read her message when my face fell with what I read.

"I am just here Charlie. Why are you behaving like this. You're like a kid. Stop messaging me continuously." I suddenly felt sad.I thought messaging her will make her feel good but I was wrong.

"Okay,I won't message you now" I whispered to myself.