Love in the Time of Vanity Fair

Chapter 7: Town and Country

Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs categorizes the conditions that a person must satisfy to reach self-actualization, the highest psychological development. Self-actualized people are characterized by a grounded sense of well-being. However, to attain the latter, physiological and mental needs must first be fulfilled. From the bottom of the pyramid, Love and Belongingness come third, and they require the establishment of lasting and meaningful relationships. What makes this trickier is the risk of opening ourselves to the possibility of getting hurt. Showing our vulnerabilities and taking down the walls we have erected to protect ourselves, to let people in and hope fervently that our actions will not come back to bite us in the ass.

But sometimes, if we go beyond our fear, if we brave the unknown, and cross the lines we have drawn, what we see on the other side may just be glorious. And the laughter of this man in front of me makes me want to erase the lines altogether.

...

We ended up spending the entire weekend in Palawan and for those 48 uninterrupted hours, it felt like nothing could go wrong. But of course, real-life has got its way of popping that bubble of bliss, and the reality that we actually have lives back in Metro Manila came crashing as I found myself hesitant to climb up the chopper. I held his hand the entire way back.

Monday came and I forced myself to part from the comfort of my bed for another day in the university. It was heavily loaded and I found myself crashing from caffeine by lunchtime. I dragged Kathleen to the UPTC to grab some much-wanted coffee from Starbucks and to take a break from the paper works that have collected themselves on my desk.

Lunes pa nga lang ba't parang pinaparusahan na ako?

"Ay ikaw lang mag double shot espresso mag isa mo, baka magpalpitate pa ako mamaya," said Kathleen while we were ordering.

We sat on the corner couch and took a breath after a grueling morning. We could finally have some silence since the shop was relatively empty. But apparently, I was the only one who wanted silence.

Kathleen was squinting her eyes at me as if scrutinizing me.

"What?" I asked since I was beginning to feel self-conscious.

"Something is different with you," she murmured and continued to stare at me. I hissed at her to stop but she suddenly pinched me by the side when she realized something.

"Ba't sunkissed ka?! Saan ka galing?! Nag beach ka nang hindi nagaaya?!" Her words came rattling out of her mouth without pause

This woman has a way of forcing the truth out of me.

I tried to figure how to explain to her what I did over the weekend; how I sought out Ian, with the help of his cousin, to apologize and how it led me to Palawan. However, her impatience us relentless and before she could say anything, I ended up blurting out the truth.

"I was in Palawan with Ian."

Her eyes widened in shock and disbelief once my words registered to her

"His cousin brought me there," I continued and then winced after realizing that I could have kept that information to myself.

"Walang 'ya ka, nag-Palawan kayo nang kayong dalawa lang?!" she almost shouted in outrage, "At kelan ka nag meet the family at kilala mo na yung pinsan ha?!"

I winced at her questions. I tried to avoid her gaze but a persistent Kathleen does not know when to stop.

Sighing, I confessed, "I met her during the gala and the Palawan thing isn't what you think it is," I murmured under my breath, causing her eyes to bulge.