Someday, I'll Find My Way Home

They end with a beginning.

Almost three months had passed, and I found myself back in UPLB, holding a bouquet of sunflowers while my friends and I waited at the far end of Freedom Park. My feet were trembling as I waited in the middle of the crowd while the commencement exercises was ongoing.

Paula, who wore a thin embroidered magenta dress and white heels, was chatting on her phone and irked at me. "Axel, could you please calm down?"

"How can I calm down?"

"Deep breaths."

I did what she said, but I still couldn't shake of this feeling. "Oh God, I'm so nervous."

"You even dressed up for this," she noted. "Just, be yourself and I'm pretty sure everything will work out well."

She was right. I wore a maroon polo with the initials UP  embroidered in baybayin on my collar. I paired it with my mahogany denim pants and brown leather boots.

Still, I tapped my feet faster, even thought it wouldn't make the ceremony faster. I wanted to scream at the class valedictorian to hurry up so everyone could go home!

Marvin and Candace weren't paying attention to us. Instead, they were eating proven and green mangoes while sitting at the grass. They were behind us so we shielded them from the sun. 

Marvin and Candace wore maroon polo shirt so they could brandish that they are a happily married couple who graduated from UP. They didn't mind us bickering and focused on the Netflix show they were watching.

I was almost sunset when the choir and band started singing UP Naming Mahal.

It wasn't our moment, but all of us stood and straightened our postures. We raised our fists as we sang along our university hymn. Up to this date, I still know the lyrics.

We chanted along the graduation rally that came afterwards. 

Iskolar ng bayan, ngayon ay lumalaban!

As soon as the graduates started falling in line to get out, the people immediately crowded near the railings that separated the graduation area from the spectators. Some organizations started to raise their tarpaulins with their graduates. I pulled Paula so she could help me look for him. Knowing him, he might be lost and get squished in between the crowd.

I pulled my phone out of my pocket and called him. He answered immediately.

"Hey, Karl." I couldn't help but to smile whenever I said his name. "Where are you?"

"Near the exit," he answered. He muffled a curse. "Sorry, I'll call you back later. Text me where you are and I'll find you instead."

I tiptoed to see better among the crowd.

There he was, in his usual textured haircut, holding his phone next to his ear. Before he could drop the call, I shouted, "KARL!"

"You don't need to shout in my ear!" he yelled back.

I ended the call and shouted his name again.

He turned to my direction, and he did his best to squeeze through people just to get out quickly.

Paula tapped my shoulder. "You ready?"

I balled my fist and gave her a determined smile. "More than ever."

We spent the last few months apart, but I insisted that I stay with him during the weekends that he was grinding his thesis and I was finishing my personal project. I gave him time to himself when he said, in his serious voice, that he needed to be alone just to catch the deadline of theses presentations.