To All The Boys I Liked Before

TATBILB: Mr. Soul Mate

Soul mate. A person with whom you have a connection and someone who understands you. I was drawn to that in a way that I felt this feeling again. It developed. As time went by, I realized that I liked him.

I'm in the 9th grade and the Math Buster's club president. It's a big responsibility, and note that it's tiring. Most of my classmates voted for me because they said I'm good at math. I don't want to, but I don't have a choice. As time went by, I liked being the president; even though there were lots of problems sometimes, we would resolve them.

It is recruitment day, and I am nervous because we need to go room-to-room to gain members for this year. By the end of the day, we finished recruiting, and it was fun.

T-shirt for the club is available, and limited members will be given by that day because it's only for the 1st batch. This guy is excited to receive the shirt, but I said it will not be available until next week because he is in 2nd batch. He would always ask me if the shirt was already available.

I stopped by his name while encoding all the members' names and numbers. I know his name already, and his name is John Mark. I like him already. He is tall, intelligent, and always wears a smile on his face. I accidentally got his number because my friend, who is his classmate, and my friend displayed his phone number. After all, he wanted a text mate, and it was a trend to have one back then. We texted each other, and our topic would always be my classmate, whom he liked so much and wanted to court her. He courted her, and they eventually became a couple. I wasn't sad or jealous. Why would I? I have to support them. I bet you are judging me as a masochist by now.

I always go to school early. I know my behavior is not normal because every morning, when I arrive early, I would go down and pass by his classroom. When I saw him outside, I would read my phone. I would avoid eye contact when I see him. I bet he knows that I like him. OMG! What should I do? Nah, I will act demure.

We constantly text each other, and I am comfortable sharing random topics with him. We call each other soul mates because we have the same interests and understand each other. When texting him, I feel like we are close, but when I see him in person, I get shy and avoid him. My best friends know that I like him. I also heard that he and his girlfriend broke up. I'm not happy about it.

When I was looking at something at a bookstore, I saw a friendship bracelet, and I was thinking of buying it and giving it to my best friends and also him. The next day, I wanted to give it to him personally, but I was too shy, so my best friends volunteered that they would be the ones to give it to him. They saw him in the field and gave it to him. I was thankful to them.

I didn't expect we would go to the same school in senior high. I was shocked when I saw him at the orientation. He was at my back when the orientation was done, and my best friend would tease me. I was still shy. I want to greet him, but I just can't. I still have a crush on him. His classroom is next to mine.

I was shocked the following school year because he said we were classmates. I found it hard to communicate with him at first. Still, as time passed, we became close and were comfortable calling each other using nicknames. I call him Dums, short for his surname, and he would call me Dres. We would tease each other. Sometimes, we would go home together. By then, I no longer like him because he is better off as my friend. I realized it when he became my classmate.

My special day has come because it's my debut. I was happy because he did not forget what I told him. I told him that he would come to my debut. I was pleased that day because he granted my only wish. I told him that when we were in 10th grade.

We are both on the Dean's list. The best memory and souvenir I received from him is our graduation picture. My mom took our photo. He suddenly approached me and told me to take a photo together.

Now, we are in college. We have different universities, but we would chat with each other often. We would talk about how we were doing or some random topics.