The Only Exception

CHAPTER 1

Lisa's POV

I got woken up by the ring of my alarm. I lazily reached it with my hand and turned it off and grabbed my phone which is placed on top of my bedside table. Tinatamad ko pang kinusot-kusot ang mga mata ko while I unlocked my phone with my fingerprint.

As my phone gets unlocked, a memo popped out on my screen.

"GET UP LAZY HEAD, TODAY IS THE DAY."

I know I'm still tired and sleepy, pero the moment I realized what day today is, agad akong napangiti at dali-daling bumangon ng kama ko.

I went to my study table para i-on yung speaker ko. After I connected my phone to it, I immediately played "Sunday Morning" by Maroon 5 kasi that was your favorite song. Napangiti nalang ako at paminsan-minsan ding napapailing kasi to be honest, ayoko naman talaga ng kanta na yun but because you always play that whenever we're together nasanay nalang din ako and naging habit ko nang gawin.

I did a little stretching pa habang nag hu-humm lang sa kanta.

Bigla naman akong natawa when I remembered something from this song, aside from it being your favorite, I can still clearly remember that very first day we met.

(Flashback)

It's almost 8 in the morning and I'm running because i'm late again. And by the means of that, ipapahiya nanaman ako ni Mr. Alfredo sa buong klase. Well ano pa nga ba? It's not like I'm not used to it naman since araw araw naman akong pinag-iinitan ng instructor na yon besides, it was like normal scenario in my every day life na and it wasn't like as if I care pero kasi nakakarindi yung boses niya. Ang pangit na nga ng gising ko mas lalo pa niyang papapangitin so better if maunahan ko siyang pumasok ng room para at least hindi na madagdagan galit ko and I seriously need peace right now.

Sa sobrang bilis ng takbo ko and since my mind is pre-occupied of hoping to get inside the room as soon as possible, hindi ko na namalayan na may kasalubong ako and it was already too late nang subukan ko itong iwasan. Hindi ka rin kasi tumitingin sa dinadaanan mo since you're way too busy banging your head with your earphones on kaya ang ending we both fell on the floor.

Mabuti nalang nai-ikot pa kita bago pa tayo matumba kaya instead of you hitting the cold hard ground, sa dibdib ko ang landing mo and now you're on top of me. I looked up to check on you if you are alright and that's when our eyes met. Based on your reaction, I can't really tell if you got surprised by what happened or you got mezmerized by my looks. Well not to brag but yeah, I'm Lalisa Manoban after all and I got everyone drooling over me. It took you a few seconds before you finally realized our position but instead of moving away, you just stayed still and blinked a few times like as if you're trying to process everything.

Naalala ko naman na late na ako kaya inis kitang tinulak palayo sakin and that's when I stood up and glared at you.

"Di ka ba marunong tumingin ng dinadaanan mo? And you're inside the campus aren't you aware of the rule na no walking around with earphones on?! " I snapped at you.

Nagulat ka naman ng bahagya but I think natauhan ka naman when you start picking up your things.

I just shook my head in annoyance and checked my wrist watch, it says 8:05. Shit.

"Look at what you did! Because of your clumsiness I'm already late! " sigaw ko ulit sayo.

I saw you flinched at bahagya ka pang napatalon which cause you to drop your things on the floor again.

"Tangina ang clumsy ampota." I muttered and I think you heard it when you stared at me for a second pero agad ka ring nag iwas ng tingin.

Since late na din naman na ako and I saw you struggling by picking up your things, and mukhang nagulo pa sa arrangement yung mga papel na bitbit mo which I think is your schedule, I only rolled my eyes and eventually helped you from picking it up. May mga ilan pang papel sa likod mo kaya hinayaan mo na akong pulutin yung nasa harap and the moment you turned your back on me, sakto namang sumayad yung earphone mo since tinanggal mo rin yun kanina.