When Day 32 Starts...

Chapter 25 - Goodbye

Nagulat ako nang sabihin ni Mira sa 'kin yun. All this time pala, she was trying to contact Kent to reach out to me. Alam kasi niyang kung sa akin sya unang lumapit e hindi ko sya papansinin pero iba kapag kay Kent. And she was right. So she caught my attention and now she wants to meet up with me.

Iniwan ko sa salon yung phone ko nang matapos sila and told them to tell Kent na may pinuntahan lang ako and that I'll meet him later. Tapos kami naman ni Mira ang nagkita sa isang coffee shop.

She was beaming when she saw me walk inside the cafe. Hindi ko alam kung bakit parang ang saya-saya nyang makita ako, Yumakap pa!

"Sorry, I was just—w-why don't we sit down?"

We ordered first before getting into business. At hindi naman sya nagpaligoy-ligoy pa.

"I take it that you already knew what happened between me and Kent."

"Yes," sagot ko na may kasamang tango.

"To be honest with you, Jazz, I didn't really think that the two of you would last this long. I gave it a week. Pinakamahaba na yung isang buwan. But many months later, you're still here. He's still with you."

"It's because I'm different, Mira. I stayed."

Binigyan nya ako ng mapaklang ngiti. "Yeah, I figured that did the trick. When I was with him, he asked me to leave Brent, to start anew. I was about to. He seemed so... perfect back then. I thought that he'd do the trick. Akala ko sya na talaga. And then, Brent contacted me again. At parang bumalik sa 'kin lahat. For a while, I forgot about Kent. Pinuno ni Brent ang isip ko nun. Parang tama lang na bigyan ko sya ulit ng chance.

"Ang tagal ko kasing hinintay yun e. Ang hirap magmove-on. Kahit anong pilit ko, hindi pa rin ako makaalis sa kinatatayuan ko. I was waiting for him. I was waiting for him to come back and tell me that he made a mistake. Gusto kong sabihin nya sa 'king ako lang talaga. And when he finally did it, nagpakatanga na naman ako. Sumama ako agad. Tapos nang magkasama na ulit kami, I thought of Kent.

"Noong una, simpleng napadaan lang sya sa utak ko. I brushed it off. Akala ko wala lang. And then, naging mas madaas. Suddenly, he's all I could think about. And that's when I knew I made a mistake of getting back together with Brent. But when I finally broke the chain and went after him, saka naman ayaw nya na. He didn't want anything to do with me."

"Why are you telling me this?"

"I don't know. I honestly don't know. I just feel like telling you."

"Well, you don't have to. Kung ano man ang nangyari sa past nya, tanggap ko na. Ang importante naman, yung ngayon di ba? We're together now. And I want it to stay that way."

"I don't have any plans of stealing him away, Jazz. And it's not as if I can. Nang putulin nya ang koneksyon naming dalawa, tumigil na rin ako sa kaaasa. He's the kind of person na kapag iniwan mo, huwag ka nang umasang kaya mo pang balikan. Kapag sya ang nagsawa, wala ka nang magagawa.

"And I knew that he's planning to hold on to you for a while too. So I'm not going to get between the two of you. I guess I just need closure and not just from him but from you as well. I know you see me as threat. Alam kong napaparanoid ka whenever someone from his past comes knocking on his door. I've been there, Jazz. I know the feeling.

"All I ask of you is to let go of this idea that I will steal him away 'cause I won't. Not when... I-I already have someone. Well, kind of. Hindi pa ako sure pero... without you and Kent, I wouldn't have met him. So Kent's all yours now."

Can't this day be any more surprising? Sino kaya yung guy na tinutukoy ni Mira? Hm, who knows? I'm not about to pry. Hindi naman kami close. Mira talked some more and for a minute there, medyo naengganyo na akong ayain sya sa kasal ko, kung ikakasal man ako, just for old time's sake. But I let the idea pass. Baka pagsisihan ko e.