"Kill Me, Attorney." (Law Series #3)

PART TWELVE: HE IS BACK

"@Neska. This is CODE RED. Meet me outside the building. NOW."

I blinked for the hundredth time and yet, nothing changed. The message didn't disappear at all.

Muli kong tiningnan ang nag send ng message at maka-ilang beses ko na iyong ginawa pero grabe pa rin ang kalabog ng dibdib ko sa t'wing mababasa ko ang pangalan n'ya.

'Cliford Andrius Blake.'

I bit my lower lip.

Ang purpose ng codes ay para sa group message. Bakit s'ya mag a-announce ng code at para sa akin lang?

My eyes widened.

Does it mean something...?

Ah, Neska. Aasa ka nanaman ba? Syempre oo!

Dali-dali akong lumabas ng elevator at nang makapunta sa lobby ay natigil ako nang makita ko s'yang nakatayo sa labas. Palubog na ang araw at napakalakas ng hangin.

I went out and stood few steps away from him. He was wearing his white polo tucked inside his gray pants. His hands were inside his pockets and his eyes were fixated at the sky.

I smiled weakly.

How can a grown up man be this soft?

Wait.

Where is the code red?

What is the emergency?

"5 centimeters per second," he suddenly uttered.

Confusion swallowed me.

"Huh?"

"It's one of the few Japanese films I like," he followed.

I nodded understandingly.

"5 Centimeters per second is the average speed of cherry blossom falling," he added. "Figuratively, it is also the rate of two people's hearts drifting away from each other as time gradually passes by."

I gulped.

"Takaki and Akari, the male and female leads, had chances to inch this gap, but the universe was just too strong to fight against with. In the end, they have to accept things, that just because you have connected strings doesn't mean you won't get lost. True love comes once and once you lost it, it won't come back and all other loves after it were just distractions to lessen the pain of the love you lost. Afterall, love cannot conquer all and it doesn't win all the time because at the end of the day, reality does."

In a sudden, he looked back and our eyes met. I felt the sudden jolt inside me.

"What do you think, Neska?" he asked. "Should we...start inching the gap now?"

"Andrius..." I uttered, can't think of anything to say. His eyes were looking deeply in mine.

"One step," he said.

He then took another.

"Two steps," he added.

And he took another one.