A LITTLE MORE COMPLICATED

epilogue

"Nasaan ka?"

It was the one voice I wanted to hear right now.

The crowd was beginning to make noise again as they have been anxiously and impatiently waiting for what seemed like eternity.

"Nandito ako malapit sa stairs.  Right side," I replied as I tried to press the phone closer to my ears and my other hand covering my other ear to drown out the noise around me.  I climbed on the bench to see above the crowd.  Pagnakita ako ng mga gwardya, tiyak patay ako.  I scanned the sea of unfamiliar faces, then I saw her.  "Diretso ka lang.  Nakikita na kita," I instructed.

She was craning her neck as she tried to make her way through the horde of people.  She must be using an earphone.  Her dark hair flowing down her shoulders, a bit messy but I could care less.  She was wearing a plain white shirt neatly tucked in her faded jeans.  Her eyes a bit puffed and droopy.  Wala nanaman sigurong tulog 'to sa duty.

"I can see you," she said before ending the call.

The people started to cheer and clapped their hands as SC Associate Justice Mariano C. Del Castillo, the chariman of the 2018 Bar Exams, took the podium.  "Out of  8,158 law graduates who took the 2018 Bar Exams, a total of 1,800 or 22.07% passed," he declared.  The rest of what he said, I barely understood a word.  More cheers erupted as each of the name of the top ten examinees were announced.

Finally, the names of the passers appeared on the wide screens.  As the names scrolled up, my stomach began to tighten and my lungs seemed to be running short of oxygen.  My eyes were fixed on the screen but the characters hardly made sense to me.  It seemed all of a sudden I have lost my ability to read and string letters into words.  I held my breath as each name crawled up. 

127. AQUINO, Clarine Joyce U.

128. AQUINO, Pamela Liane B.

129. AQUISAN, Wynster G.

130. ARA, Erika L.

131. ARAFOL, Trinidad Ii S.

132. ARAGON, Princess C.

And there it was...

133. ARANETA, Angeli Pauline C

Pangalan ko ba 'yan? Pangalan ko 'yan! I wanted to pinch myself to make sure that I was really wake but before I could do that, someone grabbed my hand and pulled me down from the bench where I was standing.  My foot landed awkwardly on the ground that I almost lost my balance.

"You made it!" She threw her arms around my neck and held me in a tight embrace as I held on to her as well.

I buried my face in her shoulders not wanting to cry in front of all these strangers.  But my tears betrayed me for they flowed even when I willed them not to.  My heart was pounding, unable to contain all the emotions that were surging through.  After all these months, I could finally breath.  "We made it," I whispered in her ears.

I was about to kiss her on the cheek when she turned to face me... and the kiss accidentally landed on her lips.  Her eyes widened with surprise.  Everything around me seemed to have frozen as I stared into her eyes.  My nervous heart was beating like crazy.  Aksidente talaga 'yun! My mind was trying to reason but my voice refused to come out.

Her lips curled into a smile as she wiped the tears from my face with the pad of her thumbs.  "Pumasa ka lang, naging iyakin ka na," she quipped. 

Kung pwede lang hindi na kita bitawan.  I don't know which was more surreal... passing the Bar or having kissed you no matter how brief the moment was.

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AUTHOR'S NOTE: If this part sounds familiar then you have read it in another story I have written (Unfinished Business).  I've written the ending of this story even before I knew what to write in between.  Thanks for reading.