Free Fall

F F

Beep! Beep! Vivian can hear the vehicles out in the road honking at each other as they travel through a void of traffic, an array of color red lights illuminated by every car, barely moving. She looked at the watch in her wrist, which she only used at such occasions as she thought for some reason, wrist watches are impractical.

She heaved a sigh, filled with worry and annoyance. The time in her watch displays, 7:32, and she screamed profanities mentally at herself for being stuck in the traffic, unfortunately.

The grab driver looked at her through the mirror and he saw her tapping her fingers in her hands as if it were a stopwatch ticking. "Miss, nagmamadali po ba kayo sa event ninyo?" He asked Vivian and scanned her through the mirror.

Event? She asked herself. Of course, who wouldn't think she'd be going to some event when she's literally wearing a green dress that barely covered her knees, and not to mention her pouch, which she borrowed from her friend. And who wears stilettos at a random night in June? Of course, a lot of people go to parties, events, and stuff. And she bet he can see that makeup that she put on her pale, little face.

"Hindi ako pupunta sa event, kuya. May ime-meet lang ako." Vivian told him and sighed as she looked in her wristwatch again and saw a minute have passed.

"May date kayo?" The driver asked and she cringed at that term, 'date'.

She shrugged her shoulder and looked outside, only to see those red lights, those cars trying to pass each other. I mean, why? They're obviously not gonna pass all of those cars ahead who's also trying to pass each other like an emergency is happening. All of these irritated her to the core, and she rested her arm at the window.

"Blind Date raw, sabi ng kaibigan ko. Sinet-up nanaman ako sa ganito eh alam namang wala akong galing pag dating sa mga ganito." Vivian said as she pouted and the driver laughed at the remark. She looked at him with a slightly annoyed face, as she asked what the laughter was for.

"Ganyan ganyan din ako noon eh." He said, making her laugh also. "Kailan yun? 20 years ago?" Vivian asked him jokingly and he continued laughing with her.

"Grabe ka naman Miss, 4 years ago lang. Kala mo ah, eh 30 palang naman ako eh." She gasped at his last sentence.

"May girlfriend ka?" She asked him and he said no. He said he's too busy with two jobs that this subjects don't entertain him, for now.

She heaved another sigh with the thought of being 30 in 3 years and still not having a boyfriend. The past years were terrible. From having no time to date because of her work and commitment to the family, her independence and her fight for survival, and at least 5 blind dates. None of those gave a progress to Vivian's love life. Maybe, through the experience part, yes. But any chance for love? That's long gone.

7:50. She panicked as she saw the time and the road ahead of them. Waiting for this traffic to subside and getting to her destination would take her at least another hour or half, which is annoying considering her destination is literally across the bridge ahead.

Her blind date was supposed to start at 8:30. From the small conversation that she had from the driver, he told her to never let these things past if she's really interested in getting into one. So there's no way she'd want to be late.

He's probably going the're right now, and he's not stuck in the traffic because he lives near there. She thought to herself. How did she know? Because of her friend, which is weird. Why would she give a small background information if this was a blind date?

She can still clearly remember what she told her over the phone while she was calling her yesterday, trying to get help on what to wear. Because apparently, she's not interested in going to one, that's why she's picking a dress that matches her because she has to look good and maybe he'll like her and not find her odd.