Taking Risks

24

HER

The sound of the ocean waves crashing against the shore is a soothing music after my short stint at the hospital. After being cooped up in that white, sterile room - the openness and vastness of the ocean is a welcome reprieve. I close my eyes and revel in it. The ocean would always have a certain hold on me that I know cannot be topped.

Oh wait. Scratch that.

Something has already topped that.

No. Scratch that again.

I meant someone.

And that someone currently has his arms around me as I lean back on his broad chest.

RJ.

I smile a little at that thought.

"What are you thinking?"

I open my eyes and look over my shoulder towards him. Reaching up, I plant a soft kiss on his chin just because I can, making him chuckle, his arms tightening around me.

I don't answer immediately. Instead, I look back towards the ocean and cuddle further into his embrace, my bare feet digging into the cool sand.

"Hindi ka ba nilalamig?"

I shake my head in answer to his quiet question. The sun is about to set and pretty soon, it will be colder than how it is right now. But I'm fine. I feel fine. Warm even, because of him. And I tell him so.

"Hindi. Kasi nakayakap ka, eh. Dami mo kayang taba, pampainit," I poke him at his non-existent tummy to tease him.

"Woi. Wala akong taba diyan!" he berates me and I giggle softly when I see the way he suddenly pouts like a five year old deprived of candy.

"Ok. Ok. Sige, wala na."

"Grabe siya. Porket siya, wala talagang taba, anywhere. Kaya super sexy, eh."

"Hmp. Bolero."

He tightens his arms around me even more as he rests his chin on my shoulder, kissing my cheek before settling down. We probably look like your normal, cheesy couple that I know if Katring can see us - she will cringe and tease us like crazy.

But I don't care.

This is a first for me - having someone wrap their arms around me to shield me from the cold. Having someone with me as I get to experience the one thing that my heart has always longed for. Having someone to smile up with as we gaze into the sunset. Tons of firsts for me. And I hope to experience many other firsts like this with him. With RJ.

"Huy."

"Hmm?"

"Ang tahimik mo na naman. Sigurado ka bang ok ka lang? Shouldn't we start to head inside? Ano bang sabi ng doctor mo?"

I resist chuckling lest he think I'm laughing at him. Though I really am in all actuality since he did sound like such a mom with that statement, a worrywart mom even.

"Huy, Menggay. Ano ngang sabi ng—"

"That I'm perfectly healthy but that I need to develop my immune system more by being out and about. Just like this. Huwag lang daw i-overdo pero dapat lumalabas ako palagi. So don't worry na, ok? I'm ok. And I will tell you naman if I'm not."

Ahh... RJ. Ever since a while ago, after his talk with my mother, he's hovered a lot over me, to the point that I had to raise my brow at him a couple of times for somehow, overdoing it a bit. Not that I mind really, but it's something that he hasn't done before that it made me start to wonder what he and my mother could have talked about.