You Are The One

Ch37: Side Trips

Alex never felt as depressed. She tries so hard to please Josh para hindi na sila magtalo. She starts to hide the Alex that she was with Rob. Middle of the work week, nag-decide sya na magpunta sa lumang bahay since nasa kanya pa naman ung susi neto. Alam nyang may meeting sina Rob at Marcus with clients kaya late uuwi ang dating housemate. She went straight to the porch and sat there, listened to the wind chimes and look at the fireflies that are starting to come out. She missed that. She missed home. She missed her and Rob's bonding moments at the porch. She missed their boardgames. She missed everything. Before she go, she grabbed a piece of paper from the pile sitting on the coffee table and started drawing a stickman figure of herself and taped it at her usual spot sa porch.

Rob got home around 11pm and opened the fridge to see that the ginger beers have been refilled. He immediately felt excited thinking Alex might be home and started calling out her name. When he realized she was nowhere, he took a can and went to the porch and saw her stickman drawing. He looked at it and smiled - at least he knew Alex WAS there.

After finishing his ginger beer, he stood up and walk his way to Alex' room. The boxes are still there. The picture they had during the fiesta in Nueva Ecija was framed on her bedside table. He laughed at the sight of himself wearing Tatay Pong's old farming clothes. He saw a hand-lettered quote on an A4 paper pinned on her cork board, took it off and sat at her bed reading it~~

"Only once in your life, I truly believe, you find someone who can completely turn your world around. You tell them things that you've never shared with another soul and they absorb everything you say and actually want to hear more. You share hopes for the future, dreams that will never come true, goals that were never achieved and the many disappointments life has thrown at you. When something wonderful happens, you can't wait to tell them about it, knowing they will share in your excitement. They are not embarrassed to cry with you when you are hurting or laugh with you when you make a fool of yourself. Never do they hurt your feelings or make you feel like you are not good enough, but rather they build you up and show you the things about yourself that make you special and even beautiful... You can be yourself and not worry about what they will think of you because they love you for who you are... In their presence, there's no need for continuous conversation, but you find you're quite content in just having them nearby. Things that never interested you before become fascinating because you know they are important to this person who is so special to you. You think of this person on every occasion and in everything you do... You find strength in knowing you have a true friend and possibly a soul mate who will remain loyal to the end. Life seems completely different, exciting and worthwhile. Your only hope and security is in knowing that they are a part of your life." - Bob Marley

Kinuha nya ang quote at binasa ulet sa sala. Line per line, everything reminds him of Alex. Suddenly his phone rang. It was his best friend, setting dinner and drinks that weekend to catch up.

The folllowing day, na-late nagising si Rob and Mang Nestor has been waiting for him outside for more than an hour. Sininsin nya lahat ng papers and folders from the coffee table, plus his laptop and rushed his way out.

Pagdating ng office, everyone was already in the meeting room with Marcus to give everyone the floor to talk about updates regarding each one's or each team's project progress. He sneaked in at the back and nagkahulihan sila ng tingin ni Alex, and both smiled at each other. He noticed Josh looked at them too, so he immediately looked away.