Letters to a Mysterious Stranger [ONGOING]

The Life I Owe, Part 2

*Note: I made some changes on this part, particularly that last meeting with Jervie before he leaves. I figured that it would be nicer to see them cry together, and make Jervie almost confess.

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(Sent on Aug 10th, Saturday, 9:17 pm, Llanishen Street)

To: prisoner24601@mpu.edu.ph

From: jerusha.abad@gmail.com

Dear Zorro,

He stayed on for another week, sleeping on Julia's cramped floor. Julia said she offered her bed to him, but he would have none of it.

He said he was helping Julia with her website and fundraising project, but a lot of the work that he was doing I think could have been done in Manila. I'm not sure how much his next cellphone bill will be considering the number of calls he made from here.

He helped me with the planning and preparation of Filipino Night for the Internationals fellowship yesterday. We decorated the auditorium with fiesta-like banners. I cooked adobo, sinigang, ginataang kalabasa and palitaw with Julia. Jervie went all the way to in London just to get touristy posters from Philippine embassy. Some of the boys wouldn't come for fear of getting "burned" at church, but that's just them. But George came with his own version of Bistek with garlic, and Gerry brought lumpia. Steph and Ada made their own version of pancit canton after finding a recipe on the net.

People loved our presentation of Filipino history and culture. Alex, a Welsh guy who leads international men's Bible study, gave me a pat on the back saying, "At least now I know more about the Philippines than Imelda Marcos' two thousand pairs of shoes." I also talked about Filipino customs habits. Steph kept teasing me after about lip pointing. "I won't be too confused whenever you pout and use your lips to point to objects."

God I am a classically trained soprano. You see, if I didn't get my college scholarship, my backup plan was to get a music scholarship. At least now, I have found a use for my voice. Welsh people have a particular liking for music.

Overall, Filipino night was a success. It beats school preparations for Linggo ng Wika. At least here, I can talk about being Filipino to those who want to know. I am utterly grateful to the people who made everything possible, especially Jervie.

It's now over and he is still here. I'm not sure if he plans to leave at all.

When I talked to Julia about it, she commented, "I don't think he is staying for me."

Of course, I couldn't confront him about it. I didn't want our confrontation to turn into something else. I didn't want to end up confessing something to him that I don't want him to know. That would be disastrous, and we would just end up fighting again because we disagree about something that really matters.

Truth is, I'm a little conflicted about him staying.

Yours,

Judy

(Sent on Aug 12th, Monday, 9:23 am, Llanishen Street)

To: prisoner24601@mpu.edu.ph

From: jerusha.abad@gmail.com

Dear Zorro,

He's gone now. He left this morning. I am both relived and sad at the same time.

He never told me that he was leaving until yesterday. After church, he took me up to that old castle that we went to the first time we met. We climbed the tallest tower, and surveyed the beautiful countryside before us. The wind messed my hair up a bit, but he didn't seem to mind. In fact, I avoided his gaze almost the entire time.