He's Into Me

Chapter 2: He's Into Me

Now to continue, Tan and I went to Cebu again for vacation. It was a week-long vacation so we also spent three days spending the leisure time alone. We had so much fun together and we even ran into some of our college friends before. The first day of my three days, I went and looked around the city for cafés and examined their works. The second day, I was shopping for some clothes, foods and other stuff that I can give to my mom. The third day, I decided to stay in our hotel room and read some books.

It was almost three in the afternoon and our flight was around five but Tan was nowhere to be found. I tried to call him yet nobody would answer. I was worried sick. After a few minutes, the door finally burst open revealing Tan. He walked inside smiling. A smile that I've never seen before. I wondered, what could have happened to him within the span of three days to make him so happy like that? Anyway, we hurried towards the airport and went home.

What Tan didn't know was that before we left the hotel, I put something into his luggage. It was a box. The box contains a letter, and a ring.

The letter wrote:

Dear Tan, I am writing this letter to tell you something that I've been holding back for almost ten years. I remembered the first day I went to school when we were still in senior high school, you were the first person who ever talked to me. At that point of time, I have always been mesmerized with your voice, with your kindness. Over the years we grew our friendship and our experiences together. And as for me, I grew to love you for almost ten years. Yes Tan, I've been in love with you for ten years. The three days that we were apart from our vacation, I have realized that I've never got the chance to actually say this to you and so with this box, comes a ring to prove how much I love you. I'm not asking you for marriage yet, but I want to give you a promise ring that I'd always be by your side.

Loving you, Ru.

A few days later, Tan called me over the phone and invited me to his café. I agreed because he had not responded to my letter yet. As I walked into the café, as usual I saw him in the cashier's booth. I looked around for a table to sit and was surprised when a familiar face came into view. I walked immediately towards the table and saw Jane standing up. I hugged her and greeted her, "Jane! How are you? I did not expect to see you around this area. How have you been?" excitingly, she responded that she was okay and she was here to meet somebody. Let me tell you first, Jane and I go back to senior high school. Aside from Tan, Jane and I became best friends. However, due to her parents' decision, she studied in the states. Jane had a good family background with very successful people and expectedly, she was as well. She's kind of 'the golden girl' since she's an only child, she was beautiful, smart, talented, and she's rich. She had it all.

Over the course of our conversation, she mentioned that she's currently running a small business around here as well. Tan went to our table to get us our orders. When he came back, I was a little bit confused when he sat beside Jane.

"So,..." Tan started. He was a little bit hesitant and he looked so awkward.

"Why are you being awkward Tan?" I asked, laughing lightly as I sip my frappe.

"Tan, didn't you say we were meeting someone today?" Jane asked him.

"Yes, and that's Ru." Tan answered. Jane's face twitched and her expression suddenly changed.

"You mean that Ru that you were talking about is Ru?" she asked, pointing at me.

"Hold on, I'm quite confused." I said.

"Ru, I want you to meet Jane..." he said.

"But I already knew Jane since we were in senior high school Tan." I said, feeling funny.

"...As my fiancé." He finished.

Fiancé. He...how...what...

To say that I was super confused was like telling you that I did not love Tan.

"I know I should have told you sooner Ru but I guess I was not ready yet. But now, I'm happy to introduce the love of my life to my best friend." He said, smiling and holding Jane's right hand, flexing the silver ring that's in her ring finger.

"I..." I was angry. I was hurt. I was mad. I was sad. I was confused. I was in pain. How could this happen?

I remained silent for a moment. "Since when?" I asked.

"Since we were in senior high school actually." He said. I can see it in his smile that he was happy with her and so does the smile hanging from Jane's face.

"I'm so sorry that we hid this from you Ru. I mean I did not really know that all this time, the Ru that Tan had always talked about was you. I really thought it was another person." Jane explained.

I couldn't believe it. No. I didn't want to believe it. At that point of time, my eyes were welling with tears. Threatening to flow down. But I didn't want Jane to know my feelings towards Tan because maybe he had not told her yet. I broke a smile. I knew Tan could see how fake it was. But my intentions are at its purest. No matter how hard I tried to love Tan, he always belonged to someone else after all these years. After all these years. But I wanted to be happy for them. But I couldn't do it at that point of time.

I congratulated them both and hugged Jane. I turned towards Tan. He stood up, his eyes lowering towards my height. He's eyes were saying something. But he did not. I broke another smile and hugged him tightly. "Tan, I'm so happy for you. With the things that I've said in the letter, you can rest assured that I won't bother you guys. I want you to know that I'll always be supporting you from afar. I love you. As of now, I want to heal myself. God bless your marriage Tan. I wish you well." I whispered into his ear as treks of tears fell from my eyes.

Author's Note: This chapter has been updated.