LOVE NOTES [Complete]

I PUNCHED HIM

A/N: For alJNtaeyang at sa lahat ng #JulNiel shippers. ❤

Julia POV:

        The first time I talked to Daniel John Ford Padilla he called me an ugly, fat cow.

         Now, given this was in kindergarten, I should have just cried and told our teacher, Ms. Rodriguez. Well, umiyak naman talaga ako, but I certainly didn't go running to Ms. Rodriguez so I could hear the satisfaction in Daniel's voice once he eventually called me a tattletale. No,....hindi katanggap-tanggap ang bagay na iyon. I was a proud girl, even back then.

        So, umiyak and eventually ay tumahan ako, tumayo ako na para bang walang nangyari and with all the might a five-year-old girl could possibly have, I socked him in the face. No one expecting that I will do that not even my bestfriend Liza.

      I remember sitting in the timeout corner of the small room with Liza, feeling so smug while I listened to Daniel Padilla's blubbering like a little baby. I can still imagine his red-rimmed black eyes with tears pouring down his face.

        However, I underestimated Daniel. Kung iniisip ko na sa simpleng pagsapak ko sa kanya ay matatahimik na siya....mali ako. If anything, it had just made him more determined. So, day after day, year after year, I endured the name-calling, the fat jokes, the cornering after school with his friends by his side, the pranks…

          Just about everything a little boy could do. But, Daniel exceeded expectations and always managed to make it worse.

        And just when I was absolutely certain that I hated him, so much that I vowed to myself I would make him suffer when we get old, Well DJ...his nickname.....would do something that would confuse me. He would make me not hate him so much and actually make me like him.

         Like the one time in seventh grade when we officially graduated to middle school. Entering that year, I was still an awkward girl. So, an eighth grader by the name of Patrick decided I would be his new plaything. And one day, Daniel noticed Patrick taunting me during class, binabato niya ako ng mga papel pag nakatalikod ang teacher namin.

       Now, I hadn't really cared if Patrick was the one throwing paper balls at me. For some reason, I was terrified that DJ would join in with him. It made goosebumps spread over my arms and my heart pound. Only DJ could do that to me. So, suddenly afraid, silent tears had begun to escape down my chubby cheeks. Daniel, of course, saw them and probably thought it was because of Patrick.

          And the next thing I knew, the teacher was yelling and Daniel and Patrick were on the ground of the classroom, kicking, hitting, and possibly even biting. It was the most spectacular and horrifying thing I had ever seen. When the teacher finally managed to pry them apart, Daniel looked smug albeit slightly bruised, and Patrick was the one crying with the most damage.

      After that, word got around. Wala nang nangahas na bumully sa akin, except, of course, for my favorite tormentor. I even said 'thank you' to him that day once he was released from the office. He had just shrugged and looked at me with those dark eyes of his and replied with,

            "You're mine."

          I was too flustered and thankful that I didn't even argue with him even if I did feel that spark of something he always evoked in me.

          Entering high school was a lot different from middle school. Daniel Padilla became known as 'hot'. But I didn't like the word 'hot' that girls described him by. To me, he was 'gorgeous'. His black hair grew so that it brushed against the collar of his shirts, he grew taller and filled out. He looked so different, but I still recognized his eyes. I would always recognize them.