Heartbeat Road (Completed)

III

QUINE's

KAPAG ang dalawang tao, parehas na nahulog sa hukay na ginawa nila...asahan mo nang parehas din silang masasaktan.

That is why no one should underestimate love. You shouldn't use it as a game to make somebody fall for you, or use it to hurt someone...

Cause love? It transform's evil to good, it makes the weak strong, turn's ashes to fire...and the other way round.

Pero hindi lang love ang delikadong bagay, pati na din own expectations.

Kung siguro nakinig muna ako bago humusga, hindi kami aabot sa ganito. Pero alam ko ding hindi ko dapat sisihin ang sarili ko, normal lang sa tao na unahin ang survival niya.

Ang kaso lang...sa pag-ibig kase walang survival of the fittest... Walang paunahan, walang pagalingan, walang palakasan. Kase hindi naman yung kompetisyon.

Kung siguro, nalaman ko na umalis si Avery papuntang amerika nung araw na umalis ako papuntang Australia, siguro nagka-usap pa kami ni Van.

Van gave everything he could to me. He made me feel loved everytime, despite him being broken from his life.

I now realized why I handed pain better than him... It's because of my family and friends, something he didn't have. Why he always tells me that I am the best thing he ever had is because I really am and is...the only thing he have.

We didn't come this far to only come this far. I'll stay with him no matter how hard life will be, I know — and sure— he'll do the same thing too.

I cried because of him. My heart once been broken because of him. But at the end of all that? He made me smile, he made me want to live longer. He made me pray for an endless time whenever I'm with him . He made me want to be someone who can also make him smile and feel lucky to have.

His beauty took the air out of my lungs. His words made every flower in my garden bloom. His every kiss makes my heartbeat fast. He is my first love, my first heartbreak.

And my last.

After all. I thank heaven for bringing me to him. I never thought that I could be the only flower on his garden, but I am.

I want to watch more sunrise and sunsets in every places we could visit together. I want to make more memories with him. I want us to wander together and see the beauty of life hiding in every corner of the sea, of the forest, of this world.

I'm still scared, scared of our end. But Van said, he too is scared. And I thought, Isn't it beautiful to be scared of losing each other?

I know I deserve the whole universe, fortunately, we all deserve the whole universe.

He did though gave me something worth more than any universe, and that made me want nothing else but him, and his fragile heart.

VAN's

WE traveled. We make a lot of memories in every places our feet could take us. We spent the years just going places to places.

At first, it was part of my therapy. Well, our therapy. Quine didn't left me despite of everything.

Months after we graduated from college ay bumalik kami sa tinuturing na earth's heaven, sa Switzerland.

She's the most beautiful girl I've ever seen that day, wearing a gown with the color of sunsets. While I'm wearing the whitest tuxedo I've ever seen.

That night, I held her body close to mine as we became one under the massive dark and shining sky, and nothing is more special than being the only one in her entire life to have her that way.

After a year, we're very lucky to have a twin. We named then Dayneiris Summer and Vespereign Elliot.

Before our wedding, inayos ko na din ang koneksyon ko sa papa ko. I asked for his forgiveness — I don't why I asked for it— and blessings.

Binigay niya naman saken yun. Humingi din siya saken ng tawad, at kahit na hindi niya ako tunay na anak, ayos lang. Matagal ko na din naman siyang napatawad.

At lahat ng yun, dahil kay Quine.

A lot of  years later.

Quine and I decided na sa Australia na lang kami manirahan, sa bahay kung saan siya lumaki. Para iyong palasyo, may napakalawak na berdeng bakuran at mataas na pader sa paligid.

Kasalukuyan ngayong nilalaro ang mga anak namin ang mga alaga naming aso.  Habang kami naman ni Quine ay magkatabing naka-upo sa wooden bench sa tapat ng maliit naming fountain.

Nakapatong ang ulo niya sa balikat ko habang ang ulo ko namam ay nakapatong sa may ulo niya, at yakap-yakap siya ng mga braso ko.

Sunday ngayon kaya wala kaming trabaho. I'm an engineer now, actually engineer ni Quine. Ako lang naman ang siyang nakatoka sa mga buildings and other infrastructures na pinapatayo nila at balak ipatayo. As much as possible, we make time for our kids and of course to the both of us. Our family weight more than anything in this world.

"Hon?", tawag ko kay Quine.

" Hmm?"

"I Love You," walang araw na hindi ko sinasabi sa kaniya yun. Wala kaseng araw na lumilipas na hindi ko siya mas lalong minamahal.

My love for her grows more each day.

" I Love You, too." sagot naman niya saken sabay halik sa labi ko. At wala ring araw na hindi ako kinikilig kapag sinasabi niyang mahal niya rin ako.

Someday, our kids will surely gonna love someone they'll be too afraid to lose. And when that happens? I'm gonna tell them how my fate change after a girl hit my vintage car in the middle of a crossroad. How that girl became my first love, and my last.

Actually, it's kinda funny that it took me almost seven years before ko naalala kung bakit parang nagka-kilala na kami dati. I can't help but smile at that sweet memory.

Now I know why I wanted to love her that much and be with her for the rest of this life, and it's because I promised her. Hindi ko man natandaan noon, naalala naman ng puso ko.

Songs:

1. I Miss You, I'm Sorry- Gracie Abrams

2. Architecture- Maisie Peters