The 100th Guy (English - Unedited)

[CHAPTER NINE] Words...

Chapter Nine

Words left unspoken

“There’s no way I can understand this, Midori.”

            Dwaine wore his reading glasses and put his eyes only an inch away from the paper. It was a sketch I made. I was squandering time at my brother’s restaurant and had nothing to do so I just wrote a scientific explanation about the guy who was bothering me a lot these days. Then, Dwaine came into picture and there was no one I could talk this to but him.

            “Look, you said you felt something. Like you want to see him again. So why did you not introduce yourself to him?”

            I got the paper from his hands and pointed the word at the center. “Because I am sick, ain’t I?” 

“So? Just because of a sickness that will be cured someday you got rid of the man who could make you happy?”

I leaned backward on my chair. Dwaine was just normal and he was still the same as ever. I already told him that I had brain tumor, that it was cancerous and was not getting any better. But he did not react too much. Just like how Avril faced me one night when he was watching cartoon, he talked to me like I only had fever. My Mom, Dad, grandfather and even Flip were all as normal as he was even though I already had this. It was only Jane who had this complexion of asking how was my day every passing day, how was I feeling or how was my hospital visit. In short, she was the only one over reacting on this issue. I could not help but sigh.

“Dwaine, you’re tiring me. Don’t you get it?”

            “You are the one tiring me, baby. Listen. If ever your sickness gets cured, isn’t it too vexing to just let a Mark Isen de la Fuente of the sought- after Kyela Marjorene pass by without even saying hi? Or what if… Just what if… That cancer won’t go away,” he knocked on the wooden chair he was seated on. “Isn’t it more appropriate to introduce yourself to him? You only live once! Spend that only life wisely! That’s just it.”

            “What if I fall for him? Or what if he falls for me? Won’t it be difficult if the time comes that… you know…”

            Dwaine blew the part of his hair which fell on his eyebrows. “It’s your life, Midori, so the decision is yours. But if I were you, I would introduce myself to him once I got the chance to see him again. I know how, do you want to?”

            I just shook my head at Dwaine’s craziness. “Stop it. Like I would buy it.”

            “Well, it’s for free.” He drank his coffee before he talked to me again. “But where did you get the name Betty? Seriously?”

            “I don’t know. It just popped in my head.”

            “Was it Betty Boop? Betty Crocker? Betty who?”

            “No, no… It just came. Out of nowhere.”

            “The name does not fit you.”

            “Why? That’s too offensive on girls whose names are Betty!”

            “True! You using that name is offensive on their part because you just ruined their beautiful names. It really does not fit you.”

            I just slacked my jaw in disbelief, not knowing if I should laugh or just strangle him. “You really know how to ruin my day, don’t you?” His silence led me to bringing up Maisen on the table again. “But he said he had never been serious on any girl. He might just hurt me. He might just waste my love.”