Love in the Time of Vanity Fair

Chapter 4: Rolling Stone

According to Aristotle, man is a social animal by nature which means that we cannot survive on our own. As we brave our way into this erratic world, we seek to establish relations. As children, emotional attachments are fostered by motivations that make us feel secure. And then we grow up, meet people who come and go and people who choose to stay. Permanent fixtures in our lives that somehow give us security through their constant presence. Fixtures whose absences are deeply felt.

I checked my wristwatch for the nth time and let out a breath. I surveyed my class for the last time and dismissed them. This week has been unsettling.

"Oh, bakit parang walang nakabuntot sa 'yo ngayon?" Kathleen asked as she sat on the chair across me.

I just shrugged because I didn't know either. Ian has been missing in action for the past week. He hasn't shown up at the university and he didn't show up to our session last Saturday.

Nasaan ka nga ba Ian Marcus?

...

I squinted my eyes towards the man in front of me who was chuckling.

"You think you're so smart?" I asked with a raised eyebrow.

"I got you exactly where I wanted you to be, didn't I?" He shot back with a shit-eating grin.

Sighing in defeat, I raised my arms in surrender and laughed with him, shaking my head at his cunning tactics.

"THIS is a one-time thing, di mo na ako mauuto," I said while gesturing wildly in front of me.

"We'll see," he challenged with a smug smirk.

He got one over me so I might as well make the best out of the bind I have found myself in. The night progressed with us sipping the wine and talking about everything that could possibly be under the sun. He's a good conversationalist, gotta give him that. It helped that there were awkward silences the entire time.

"What's your favourite book?" he asked in between sips from his wine glass.

I hummed in contemplation but there was only one that was on the top of my mind. "Pride and Prejudice," I answered as I fiddled with the stem of my own glass.

He scrunched his eyebrows. "Why?" he asked in a particularly curious tone.

"Have you read it?"

He nodded. "It was a required reading for my Literature classes in undergrad."

Unexpectedly, it drew a smile on my face. "'Diba it was first entitled as 'First Impressions' because the story basically revolves around the impression Elizabeth gathered from Mr. Darcy na he's prejudiced and so proud? And then Elizabeth was also proud. But then, they both discovered that these things are but hollow and vain sentiments. It just shows that first impressions are not really reflective of a person, so we cannot really judge someone base on one meeting. Human personalities kasi are complex so if we really want to get to know a person more, we'd have to put effort in getting to know them kasi those efforts will be worth it once we get through the defense mechanisms that a certain person puts up," I explained to him as he listened.

He hummed in agreement. "Do you think Pride really is an egregious character?" he asked as he looked me in the eye with mirth in his eyes.

"Honestly? Not really. I mean too much pride obviously is terrible, but sometimes we also need it to feel satisfied with ourselves, for ourselves. I mean, we should be given the leeway to feel proud of ourselves for accomplishing something. It doesn't even have to be huge – surviving alone is worth being proud of. We just have to check ourselves every once in a while to make sure our pride do not blind us from seeing the best of things," I answered him with my thoughts