The Lost Diary of Rizal

Capítulo Cinco (CHAPTER V)

CHAPTER V

Capítulo Cinco

I fiddled with a lock of my hair out of nervousness and bit my bottom lip. Where are they? I looked around the entrance of the amusement park. I caught sight of a familiar chestnut dyed hair in the distance.

"Adele!" I called out. She noticed me and ran over.

"You're early." She smirked at me. I checked my watch. It was already three fifteen in the afternoon. I was told we'd meet at three.

"Aren't you the one who's late?" I pointed to the face of my watch.

"As you know, Filipino time. No need to come early. I would've arrived at three thirty if you didn't text me." She rolled her eyes at me. I hate that excuse.

Filipino time, in translation it means thirty minutes or an hour late than the actual designated time.

"Let's go get a smoothie. I'm parched." She pulled me to the nearby shake stand.

Adele ordered her usual strawberries and cream smoothie while I checked the menu to choose mine. I decided on the Very Berry, a mixture of blueberries, raspberries and strawberries. All artificially flavored, of course, or maybe imported syrup. The Philippines aren't able to grow berries in its tropical weather. Except in Baguio City, a mountain top city, there are some strawberries being home grown there.

The seller handed us our shakes and a fat plastic wrapped straw. We took a seat on a bench across the stand and spent the next ten minutes slurping our smoothie and waiting for the others to arrive. I asked Adele about today's group date and exactly who are we dating with. She really didn't give me a concrete answer. I bet she is as much as uninformed as I was. And I thought Christoph told her everything.

"So why did you agree to this date, anyway?" I asked her.

"I was just bored." She replied simply and played the straw between her teeth.

"Oh" I muttered. I knew she was holding back but I'm not the type to ask. Sometimes she is so hard to talk to. I don't even know how I managed to get through a whole semester with her as my companion.

"Alright, I'll tell you. Only because you forced me to." She said unexpectedly. I wanted to point out that I didn't really force her to, but I kept silent.

"I'm in love with Christoph." She whispered loud enough for me to hear. That wasn't a shocker. Almost everyone at our school is, including me. Or at least, I was. Not anymore. I'm—

I swallowed a painful lump in my throat. I'm here to get over him. Clearly, the feeling's not mutual. I turned my attention back to Adele. She was clearly holding back the urge to pour everything out on me.

"And so?" I provoked her. "Everyone is."

"It's not like that, or anything like your feelings towards him. It's not the same at all. I was already in love with him since we were like four." She said her face contorted with exaggeration that I can't help laughing.

"What's so funny? It's the truth!" She frowned at me. I apologized and asked her to go on. So this is her story.

Adele and Christoph had been childhood playmates since they were four. They used to be neighbors till Adele's family migrated to the States when she was thirteen. She spent four years there and returned to Philippines to have her college education here.

Before she left, she and Christoph had a moment. They vowed that they would one day find each other again and be together. They were only kids when they made that ridiculous promise, but Adele had sworn to keep it. That's why she returned.