After We Happened

III. It Was A Joke

Kabanata 3

It Was A Joke

It was already three in the morning when I finally decided na pumasok na sa kwarto. I bet they're all asleep, so now I can sleep peacefully.

Dahan-dahan akong pumasok at sinara ang pintuan sa pinaka-matahimik na paraang alam ko.

Gulat ko nang gising pa pala siya. She's reading a book at tanging ang lampshade na lamang ang nagbibigay liwanag sa kaniya.

"Eleanor and Park?"

She didn't answer, she was just staring at me intently. "She looked like art... and art wasn't supposed to look nice, it was supposed to make you feel something."

He was my art.

He always made me feel something.

"You've already read this, huh?" sarcastic ang tono niya doon.

"I miss my reading buddy."

Ipinikit niya ang kanyang mga mata nang tumama muli ang paningin niya sa akin. "I miss you, Torianne." I said it wholeheartedly and sincerely. I really missed each and everyone of them.

Apat na taon...

Maya maya pa ay nakita ko nang may lumandas na luha sa pisngi niya. I quickly ran to her and hugged her... and she hugged me back.

"I miss you too, but at the same time I hate you," aniya nang natatawa-tawa.

"I know... and I'm sorry."

"How can I not forgive you?" she asked me. "You're my favorite cousin and my sister from another mother."

"I'll make it up to you. I promise."

"Then... start telling me something."

"Okay then..."

We, then decided na sa labas na lamang kami mag-usap dahil baka magising ang dalawang mahimbing na mahimbing na ang tulog habang humaharok pa.

"Why did you leave?" she suddenly asked. "Bakit hindi mo man lang kami kinausap after what happened?"

"I'm sorry..." I started. "It was really painful to the point that I couldn't accept the fact that we still breathe the same air and oxygen," tumawa ako, para hindi niya maisip na nasasaktan pa rin ako.

She was just looking at me. Those pair of sad eyes that screams of pity. Isa sa pinaka-ayaw ko. Ang kaawaan nila ako kung sakaling malaman nila ang totoo.

"What really happened, Daff?"

"Why are you asking me that question? Alam niyo naman ang nangyari, hindi ba? Nandoon ka naman nang mangyari 'yun, hindi ba?"

"Daff..." she called out. "It's not about that. I know you had a reason, I know you had your reasons why you did that, but I still can't understand why..." she trailed off as she was saying what she was supposed to say.

"You still don't understand why I decided na hindi sumipot sa mismong araw ng kasal namin?" I asked.

She looked stunned for a moment, but then she frowned. "Please, tell me why? Gusto kong malaman ang totoo."