Love Thy Neighbor (Completed)

Chapter 12 - Recalls

Rosales Residence - Candelaria, Quezon

Benji already liked Sinagtala Obispo since elementary but he does not have the courage to tell her what he feels because he did not know how.  Though they were neighbors they never had a close encounter with each other.  Most of the time it was her father who takes care of their small store.  At school, they never had a chance to be in the same section. Therefore they had different set of friends.   Actually, Sinag only got one friend, that is Katrina then eventually on the later part of their fourth year high school, Jorge started hanging out with them. 

He vividly remembers almost eight years ago, the first day that she smiles on him.  That was one of the best days of his life.  Then in a few days, Sinag started greeting him with her simple hi and hello.  He felt happiness in his heart upon recalling the times they occasionally walk together going to school.  They started to be friends since then though not as close as she was with Katrina and Jorge.

Until one day, he saw a card with a rose on Sinag’s desk very early in the morning.  He got curious about who could have been sending those to the girl he was enamored with.  He has been seeing a rose and letter on Sinag’s desk for several days already. 

In his jealous heart, he did not have second thought on reading the card.  All he wanted was to know who was the guy that he thought would be his rival in Sinag’s attention.

Carefully he pulls the card from the envelope and his eyes widens when he sees that the card is from a certain Benji Rosales.  He got confused as he did not remember an instance that he sends her a rose and a card and he is the only Benji Rosales that he knows in their school.  Someone was scheming on her and he was obviously being used on that scheme. 

He was very mad and decided to find out who could have been doing such foul play to Sinag.  Until one day, he was able to find out that the schemer was his classmate and friend Trisha.  He wasted no time and talk to her about the scheme and Trisha admitted that she was the one sending the cards and the rose to Sinag and make her believe that those were from Benji. 

Trisha admitted that she wanted Sinag to divide her focus between her studies and her admiration to Benji.  Sinag was their batch candidate for the highest honors and Trisha does not want that to happen because she believes that her friend Helen deserves the honor.  Benji warned Trisha to stop scheming on Sinag and let Helen fight fairly for the valedictorian honors.  But despite that, Benji decided to keep it to himself as he thought that the scheme gave him an advantage to Sinag anyway. 

Trisha continued on sending cards and flowers to Sinag regardless of Benjo's repeated warning until he got tired of cautioning his friend.  It was on his advantage anyway, so he just let Trisha continue with what she was doing.  

Undivided attention was what Sinag has been getting from Benji since they became friends.  And that attention gaves Sinag the additional drive to excel more in school wherein her grades soars and she ia close to sealing the valedictorian honors for her.  Benji was the happiest and promised himself to pursue Sinag after their graduation.  

He was relief when Trisha finally stopped sending flowers and love letters to Sinag. But little did he know that Trisha was determined to steal the highest honor from Sinag for her bestfriend. Trisha also notices the special attention that Benji gives to Sinag and this made her came up with the decision, to disclose to Sinag the truth about the flowers and the cards. 

She knows that Sinag will have a broken heart once she tells her that they played on her and Benji was aware of such scheme.  In Trisha’s mind, Helen may not get the valedictorian honors but at least she’ll be able to break Benji and Sinag apart.