Univeristy Confessions 2

[USF] """My Great-Grandma Was Friendzoned By Jose Rizal In College""

"""My Great-Grandma Was Friendzoned By Jose Rizal In College""

       My great-grandma's journal was found in 1953, all in Spanish text. My tito, a Modern Languages student, translated it into English during the 1990's. You can read Analyn Bernabe's journal compilation titled ""A Mediocre Lady"" at Valenzuela City Library Hub. 

       This is an entry from the journal portraying the relationship of my great-grandma and Jose Rizal during their college days in UST:

       We were there. It was just us. As always, it was just us. Before you can reach the granite-surfaced azotea, you ought to climb a narrow cedar ladder mounted on the wall first. It seemed like a restriction and a turn-off to most. That was why they didn't bother to seek the refuge of that roof. Pepe said that people are just like that. They back down whenever the path doesn't look so pretty.

       José didn't mind whenever I accompanied him at the Medicine's roof, just seated there in an Indian manner. He simply red and red as he listened to me talk. From time to time, he would give commentary after my long burst of emotions.

       I know it was improper. I know it was a big inconvenience if we ever got caught. Considering there was no companion or chaperone. But there was no need for a chap for there was nothing. I didn't even know what he thought of me. He never even invited me to that roof. Everytime, I was the one who would emerge there abruptly while he was drowsily comprehending a text there, leaning back on the stovepipe.

       It felt so good listening to him talk. But it hurt whenever his voice would utter 'Leonor Rivera'. He spoke in a carefree manner about her. She wasn't even from Santo Tomas. In my opinion, a man should pick a lady who goes to the same university as he does. Besides, they had a gap of six years, for God's sake.

      I know for a fact that José Realonda was a poet. So one nautical twilight, while my finger circled the grains of granite, I talked beside him with words having innuendo behind.

       ""Should you care what society thinks when you want someone?"" I casually asked while he was contemplating Roughing It by Mark Twain.

       ""I think you shouldn't."" His aloof reply.

       "And is distance necessary if you love someone?"I slipped gradually. There was at present an aura of coldness in him.

       "I think, Analyn, you have a shallow definition of love." I was so frustrated that he seemed not to get it or seemed to intend not to.

       ""What do you think of me?"" I was desperate. I didn't care now what the other ladies would think. I didn't care now whether my roots disown me. However, he grinned at me understandingly.

       ""You're a lost angel. A lost and sad angel. I know angels like you who wander around everyday seeking for their haven to rest from forever. I'm not your haven. I'm not the one who would soothe your tired body from all this waiting.  This ain't your place to settle your wings. It's somewhere else, I guess.""

-MyGrandma&JoseRizalAffair
Not From UST,2010