Her Hero

Surprise

Sabay sabay na kaming pumasok kinabukasan. Nag convoy kami ni Xavier. Hindi na nagdala ng sasakyan si Meera dahil susunduin naman daw sya ni Kuya. Medyo nainggit ako ng konti dahil dati nung hindi pa ako pwede mag drive hatid-sundi rin ako ni Kuya.

So...konting review sa lobby or asaran bago kami naghiwahhiwalay tatlo. Magkahiwalay kasi kami ng room assignment. Iba ang proof at subject ni Xavier samin ni Meera.

We finished the exam sooner than the others. As usual, I reviewed my answers before I passed it to our proctor.

I was surprised to see someone familiar at the hallway. He's leaning on the wall with a paperbag on his right hand. He wears a pastel yellow poloshirt tucked in a khaki skinny pants with a dark blue loafer. It made my heart skip a beat.

"Oh to the M to the G...You're Xymon is here!" Meera pitchy whispered to me.

I ignored him. My nerves are out of place.

"Hi..." bati samin ni Xymon.

"Hi..." I gulped before I continued, "uhm...are you looking for Xavier? He's at the last room to the right." That was almost a husky whisper. My voice is shaking. I am tensed. I gulped again.

He grinned before answering, "I wasn't looking for Xavier. I am actually waiting for you."

His response is not helping me. "Why are you looking for me?" I tried to control myself while my inner self is wildly jumping and screaming in celebration for this moment.

"I brought you something. I asked Ate Melba what to put inside. Please accept my apology for what happened yesterday." He hand me the paperbag and peeked inside. Ate Melba knows that today would be a good day for Chicken cordon bleu with corn, carrot and broccoli as side dish with fried rice and Cucumber juice.

"What happened yesterday?" it was Meera. I facepalmed. I almost forgot.

"I'm sorry Xymon...This is my bestfriend Meera. Meera, Xymon. Xavier's older brother." I introduced the two.

"I hope we could hang out more. Mom would be happy to meet you too." His hands are clasped together as if he's just proposing a business plan.

"Meeting the parents na agad?" Meera teasing me.

"Yeah. Mom is aware the she's my baby brother's girlfriend." He answered Meera.

Meera looked sideways, "Oh boy..." and she sighed while shaking her head. All the positive jittery feeling run down from my senses and I started to tense for different reason.

I began to sweat, " You know that isn't true. We explained it to you yesterday." I tried to calm myself.

"Whether it is a pretense or not. Mom would be delighted if you'd help us convince my stubborn brother to help us with the firm."

Nainis ako bigla. I am surprised as well because I thought I'd always be convinced by his charms but my annoyance is overpowering "I'm sorry Mr. Ramirez. First, you know for the fact that your brother and I aren't in a relationship. So better clear that out with your 'Mom'. Second, I'm not a pawn that you'll send to your brother to convince him to do things. Third, your business is not my business. I have things to do as well." sa inis ko sinoli ko sa kamay nya yung paperbag.

"Lastly, I don't think this is apology. I don't accept bribes." hinila ko ang kamay ni Meera and I walked passed him.

"Thay was unexpected..." she commented as she tried to keep up with me.

He ran after me pero hindi ko sya tinitignan. "I'm sorry if you feel that way. We are just desperate..."

Huminto ako sa paglalakad and faced him. Kalmado pa ko. Hindi ko kayang mainis sa gwapong muka nya. "Why don't you just leave him be. Let him decide whatever he wants to do with his life and leave me out of it." Affected ako kasi alam ko yung pakiramdam na gustong maging independent.