Taking Risks

3

For JaninnaBautista - because I miss you 💛

//

HER

My eyes close as one of my hands continue to grip my slightly sheer curtains to make sure they aren't moving. While my other hand is on my chest, going up and down through my shirt, trying to calm my sudden racing heart.

Shit... Sana 'di niya ako nakita.

I don't know what came over me but when I heard some shouting from the neighbors, my curiosity got the better of me and I just had to look. Normally, I don't care what really goes on with our neighbors, whoever they may be. I don't get to interact with them anyway so why bother.

But for some reason, when a woman shouted the name "RJ" - I just had to look.

RJ... Because his name reminded me of my current favorite YouTuber - RFJ02.

And oh my... This RJ is a looker. Ninna was right.

Though I really couldn't see much of his face up-close since him and his mom (I assumed it was his mom since I did hear him say "Ma") were quite far down from my second-floor bedroom window. But I was able to decipher that he was at least tall and had a toned body, under that tank top and board shorts that he wore - his biceps bulging, his calves flexing as he walked to their garage.

Plus he was mestizo. Like he looked really white-complected to me. Well, if compared to my morena, olive-toned skin - he definitely will look whiter. And to think I don't go out of the house at all. What more if I do.

Ang pangit ko sigurado 'pag tinabi ako sa kanya.

Sigh...

But what got me watching him even more was when he went to his garage and took out a surfboard, strapping it to the top of his car.

I remember my eyes widening and my heart beating faster when I saw him with his surfboard. And it wasn't because his arms flexed when he lifted his board to the roof of his car. Not even when I heard him grunt and noticed his ears and neck were slightly red from the effort and perhaps even the heat - it is almost summer, after all. And especially not when he smiled a little towards his mom and I was able to see an indent on his left cheek, a dimple so deep - I could probably swim in it. And most especially not when he raked his long fingers through his soft, black hair in apparent frustration, disheveling it even more than it already was.

Nope - those weren't the reasons why my heart stuttered like crazy.

It was his surfboard, alright?! His yellow and black surfboard with a drawing of an anchor right smack in the middle of it. Just like...

Oh... Oh... Oh no...

Only then did I start noticing other things about him that made him suddenly all-too familiar to me.

He's a surfer...

Which means he loves the sea, too...

He's tall and his stance is so much like...

May dimple din siya. So...

Can it be?

Hay naku, Meng! Malabo na 'yang iniisip mo ok??

I saw him enter his car and exchange a few more words with his mom before slowly backing out of his driveway and driving off. Before he totally sped off, however - he chanced a look at my bedroom window where I was looking out, probably seeing me move from his periphery and it was an automatic response to just look when you see something move.