Anthology Of A HERetic

On The Tenth Minute

It was a hot summer day.

The clouds were scattered in the sky as the wind gently shook some leaves on those trees in the island.

There were cars beeping at each other, some pissed drivers were already shouting to move along but hey, what can they do if they're already stuck in traffic.

There were vendors selling off their coconut juice, some even offered a buy one, take one deal. And oh, it was tempting but he needed to be on his way to deliver some package to some girl a few... oh well some more blocks away.

Hot beads of sweat trickled down his face as he thought that maybe it was a wrong idea to wait ten more minutes for that smoothie. It barely quenched his thirst and before he knew it, it was already half empty.

'It was indeed a hot summer day.' Luis shook his head as more beads of sweat roll down. Well, whoever she is, she just have to endure the smell of sweat. It would probably just be a few seconds to sign that she already received the package.

And so Luis continued his adventure down the sidewalk of a noisy Intramuros. He didn't bother to take his bike since the address was just a few blocks away, well it would be if he hadn't had the crazy idea to grab a smoothie first. A wasted ten minutes of his life.

He turned his heel on another left corner but then a view rendered him dead on his tracks. It was a girl, maybe a year younger than he is and she was sitting in the middle of the sidewalk, unaware that it is a public road. Hadn't she realized that she's blocking the way?

So, Luis approached her, ready to give her a piece of advice and maybe some insults to knock her out of senses. But what he realized when he neared her was the faint sound of what seemed to be a squeezed, suffocating, dying cat.

He gently put his free hand oh her shoulder and noticed it rise and fall like she was catching her breath. The girl looked up at him and true to his observation, she was indeed catching her breath.

"Ano miss... Ayos ka lang?"

The girl had that are-you-kidding-me look etched on her face as Luis realized what a dumb question it was. Of course, she was not okay. But then the girl smiled, a forced smile, but a smile nonetheless.

And if she wasn't the one producing those mewling sounds, he would've thought her pretty. Well, pretty enough.

"Sorry kuya. Oo ayos lang ako." The girl muttered weakly as she tries to stand and Luis, the gentleman he was, give her a helping hand. "Salamat."

"Ahh, walang anuman, Miss. Pero sigurado ka bang ayos ka na?" Luis prided himself that very moment as he quickly replaced the dumb question he asked by a little less dumb yet sincere one.

The girl tried to stand straight. She was about to answer when the both of them turned their heads on a guy calling someone.

"Anne!" The guy called out as he neared them. So the girl was named Anne, Luis thought. "Saan ka ba nagpunta? Kanina ka pa namin hinahanap? Paglingon namin biglang hindi ka na namin kasabay. "

The girl suddenly made those mewling, dying cat noises again but this time it was louder and her shoulders shook furiously as she gasped to gain more breath.

"Naku naman, Anne. Ba't ngayon ka pa hinika?" The guy exclaimed in annoyance as he rummaged through the girl's bag. "Oh asaan na 'yong inhaler mo?"

They waited for the girl to catch her breath and after some moments she did. "Nasa bag ni Judith." She answered weakly than before and Luis frowned, thinking that this man was the rudest simpleton he had set his eyes upon. 

"Ano ba yan Anne? Ba't iniwan mo naman sa kanya? Sige, saglit kukunin ko lang. Diyan ka lang ha?" The guy said and off he went to where he came from and vanished. 

Luis followed the guy's retreating form with a glare. Never in his life had he met someone he wanted to punch in an instant. Then he looked back at the girl when he was sure they were free from that guy and was shocked by the look she was giving him. Growing more conscious, he asked. "Bakit Miss?"

"Di ka pa ba aalis Kuya? Baka nakakaistorbo na ko sa'yo." Luis was a bit surprised that she could properly talk now when she seemed to be dying just a few seconds ago.

"Hindi ayos lang, Miss. Samahan na lang kita hintayin 'yong kasama mo. Baka mapano ka pa eh."

The girl named Anne suddenly laughed but her laughter was dull, forced even. "Siguro sampung minuto pa bago sila makabalik." Then she pulled a weird L-shaped thing from her pockets, she placed it in her mouth and inhaled from it. It took moments before Luis realized that the lady had the inhaler all along. "Alam mo ba sampung minuto na akong nalulunod sa hangin diyan sa kalsada bago ka dumating? Siguro malayo na 'yong nalakad nila bago nila mapansin na tumigil ako para makapagpahinga."

"Bakit hindi mo sinabi na nasa'yo lang pala 'yong hinahanap no'ng kasama mo?"

The girl started to walk and Luis felt obliged to follow her. "Para sa'n pa? Hayaan mo na 'yon. Sa sampung minuto na ihihintay ko sa kanila, siguro nakauwi na ako sa bahay no'n".

"Gano'n ba? Dito rin 'yong daan ko kaya sasabayan na lang kita. " The girl named Anne offered him a grateful smile and Luis smiled in return.

True enough, it took them ten minutes to reach the girl's house and as Luis continued on his way, realizing that he was more or less ten minutes late, he just couldn't care. For him, it was the best ten minutes of his life.

And looking back now as Luis heard the church bell ring and he stood there at the end of the altar waiting for his bride to come, he knew had made the great choice of escorting her home and asked if he could come over some time on that tenth minute.

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