A Fool For Him

29 - Didn't see this coming

"All 4 of you! Out now!" sigaw ng manager.

Nagtakbuhan naman kami ni Jason palabas na magkahawak ang kamay. It was funny how it didn't bothered me. I felt comfortable with him.

Pero hindi yun maikokompara sa comfort na nararamdaman ko tuwing kasama ko si Zero.

"I didn't expect the dinner to come out that way." hinihingal na sabi ni Jason nang makalayo na kami sa Mang Jose.

"Yeah." I, too, was panting hard. "Haay!"

Nagkatinginan kami ni Jason at saka tumawa nang tumawa. Parang baliw kami dito sa kalsada. People would turn to give us some weird glance.

"You were awesome in there, Niui. Hindi ko inaasahang may side ka palang grabe sa kabrutalan!" sabi ni Jason.

"Why, thank you! I'd take that as a compliment." I smiled.

"Who was that girl anyway? He did mention about Zero dating her." he suddenly changed the topic.

I sighed then started to walk. Sumunod naman si Jason. "She's Jied. A desperate girl who wants to take Zero away from me. And the rest is history."

"I assume that history was ugly."

I nodded. "Very ugly."

"Oooh. Maybe she really did deserve those hits from you."

"Yeah right! She deserved every ounce of it," I clenched my fists when the memory came back in my head again. "To be honest, she deserved more than those hits."

Jason suddenly reached for my clenched hand and forced it to open and I relaxed. "Breathe, Niui. Breathe. Don't let her get to you. Now that you had already beated the shit out of her."

We both chuckled. "Yeah you're right. Thanks for the dinner, by the way."

"Wait a minute," he stopped and looked at me, grinning. "Hindi ako nakabayad sa kinainan natin."

My eyes widened at that. "What?!"

"Yep!" he then laughed. "It was the manager's fault anyway. Pinaalis agad tayo without thinking na hindi pa tayo nakabayad."

"Oh my gosh! We ate a free dinner in a cool restaurant! Amazing!"

"First time?"

"Uh yeah. You?"

He shot me his playful grin. "A hundredth times already."

"What?! Grabe ka, Jason! You have lots of money! My gosh! Parang hindi ka lang mayaman, ah!"

"What? Things happen. There was this one time when two guys fought inside the restaurant and the manager got crammed up, naging magulo na dun kaya umalis nalang ako without paying the food I ate."

"Oh wow. Just like what happened right now," I chuckled. "Were you alone? You know, when those happened."

He stopped walking and stared into the nothingness. "Nope."

"Sino yung kasama mo?" I asked.

"My best friend."

Weird. Ba't ang lungkot niya?

"Where is he now?"

"Dead."

"Oh. I'm sorry." I said, placing my hand on his shoulder. Kaya pala ang lungkot niya. I, too, would feel that way kung nawala si Lyn. Tae. Your best friend is like your sibling.

He tilted his head to the side and gave me a weak smile. "Nah. Okay lang. Matagal na yun."

"How'd you cope with it?" I asked.