It was already that time where summer begins and the heat was starting to become unbearable. The bright rays of the sun were blinding and the surroundings were gleaming, but it brought a bit of gloom inside of me, something that has been lodged inside of me for a while now. I wonder when will I overcome it.
"Juniel, are you joining us today? The manager is inviting everyone for her birthday party." I threw a look over my shoulder to see one of my officemates looking at me, waiting for my answer. She had her hair swept up in a stylish bun and her lips were blood red while her slim arms were on her hips. I shook my head while giving her a small smile – My usual answer.
"You always reject everyone's invitation. Don't you know how to have fun? You're so uptight. Loosen up a little, girl." I gave a huge grin at her banter and waved at her as she left with the others, leaving me alone in the office. I gave a deep sigh and momentarily closed my eyes, relishing at the silence of the empty office.
"That was deep. Where did you dig it from?" Playful eyes met my unemotional ones when I opened it. The guy was six-foot and three inches tall, a tower compared to my five foot and two inches height. He had raven hair and deep, penetrating, gray eyes and a lopsided grin. It was Virgus, one of my officemates.
"Why are you still here? You didn't go to the party?" I asked uncertainly as I hurriedly stood up and walked straight to the door, carrying my bag with me. I was never at ease with him. There's something in him that's making me uneasy.
"Nope. I didn't go with them, because I knew that you wouldn't go. So, I thought I'll just pass and accompany you today." Bewildered with his speech, I stopped on my tracks and looked at him to see if he was just bluffing. But he just looked straight into my eyes and gave me his famous lopsided grin. He's weird.
"Accompany me where? I think you've just made a wrong decision, Virgus. You could still catch up with them, you know." I doubled my speed, but it was nothing compared to what his long limbs could do.
Seriously, every single day, this guy has been annoying me ever since I started working at the office. And I couldn't get why of all the ladies in the office it seemed that he already had his eyes on me. Wherever I went, he's always there giving me a huge grin that's starting to get on my nerves. I really didn't get it. What does he want from an uptight, boring girl like me?
"I know that you always go to somewhere after office hours. So, I think that today, I could accompany you to where you always go. Where is it anyway? A restaurant? A friend's place? Relative's place?" Seriously, I was starting to think that this guy was a mutated specie of a fly who instead of just buzzing around me, was now starting to do rap while buzzing.
I just rolled my eyes at his prying and didn't answer him. I waved at a coming taxi, but before I could open the taxi's door, he was already there, opening it for me.
He was always like that. He's always doing sweet and thoughtful things for me, though I never asked for it. Why was he like that anyway? He's always disturbing me wherever I went, making an effort to help me even if I didn't need them at all. And every time he did it, he always had a smile on his handsome face, making me forget that I should tell him to stop.
"Okay then. Let's go!" Virgus' ecstatic voice wrenched me out of my thoughts and I was a bit shocked seeing him sitting beside me inside the taxi.
"What are you doing?" I asked while pointing at him. He just gave me his lopsided grin again and made his self comfortable, totally ignoring my question. Confused, I looked at the front and saw the driver quizzically looking at us, waiting for the instruction.
My heart was pounding as the taxi heads to my best friend's place. I was heavily sweating though the aircon of the taxi was on full blast. I looked at the guy sitting beside me and I saw him looking at me, too. Concern was written across his face.
" Are you alright, Juniel? You look pale." He said as he leaned closer to me and gently touched my face. For the first time, I got the chance to see his face closely. He had long eyelashes that framed his penetrating gray eyes and his flawless skin accentuated his natural red lips. And there's something in his eyes that's drawing me in, something that I couldn't describe.
Like an electric drill piercing through my brain, I yanked my eyes away from his gaze and looked at the front. It was already close to dusk and it was drizzling. The taxi's windshield was becoming blurry as the rain started to pour more.
"You know, Juniel..." Virgus' voice was just above a whisper, but his words hit me like a bullet. I had hard time breathing. "I like you. From the first time I saw you, I've already liked you. And I think I'm falling for you."
And that hit me even more. It was love? That look in his eyes, it was love. For me? But why? Why was he in love with me?
Tears clouded my eyes as I moved to face him, my pounding heart on my throat. He was smiling. Not the usual lopsided grin, but a heart-wrenching smile that I would have loved to look upon all my life if not only for the cargo truck that's speeding towards us. On Virgus' side of the taxi...
"JUNIEL, are you joining us today? The manager is inviting everyone for her birthday party." I threw a look over my shoulder to see one of my officemates looking at me, waiting for my answer. She had her hair swept up in a stylish bun and her lips were blood red while her slim arms were on her hips. I shook my head while giving her a small smile – My usual answer.
"You always reject everyone's invitation. Don't you know how to have fun? You're so uptight. Loosen up a little, girl." I gave a huge grin at her banter and waved at her as she left with the others, leaving me alone in the office. I gave a deep sigh and momentarily closed my eyes, relishing at the silence of the empty office.
"That was deep. Where did you dig it from?" Playful eyes met my unemotional ones when I opened it. The guy was six-foot and three inches, a tower compared to my five foot and two inches height. He had raven hair and deep, penetrating, gray eyes and a lopsided grin. It was Virgus, one of my officemates.
"Why are you still here? You didn't go to the party?" I asked uncertainly as I hurriedly stood up and walked straight to the door, carrying my bag with me. But I stopped on my tracks at his answer.
"Nope. I didn't go with them, because I knew that you wouldn't go. You wouldn't leave this moment." I turned back at him, bewildered and ashen. He wasn't smiling nor grinning, he was just looking at me intently, sadness and tenderness in his dark eyes.
"It's time to wake up, Juniel. Wake up now."
TEARS streamed down on my face as I lifted my head from the crook of my arms. My uncontrolled sobs rocked my shoulders as my vision cleared and the whiteness of the place greeted me.
When I was young, an older sister told me that dreams represent our hearts' wishes and desires, and I thought to myself, if I have a dream, I wouldn't let it stay as a dream. I'll make it a reality.
But now?
I wish that I could go on living in that dream. I wish that I don't have to wake up. I wish that I could be in that dream forever, and be on that last moments with him... I wish I could...
"Virgus, when I will overcome this pain? When will I let go of that moment three years ago? When will I move on?"
I clasped his cold, right hand and pressed it on my tear-streaked cheeks. It was so hard for me to see him lying there in front of me, pale and almost lifeless, with machines and tubes surrounding him. Grief and regret weighed me down every time I look at him.
It was three years already, but I still couldn't let it go. I still went back to that time, and relive it over and over again. I desperately clung on that moment, wishing that someday, it won't be just a dream anymore. Because on that moment, it was not Virgus' time that stopped... It was mine...
"Wake up, Virgus. Please wake up. I love you. I want to say it to you personally. So please... Hear me out... Wake up."
