This is a Love Story

Siyá na Marupók

Remember how magical the Christmas holidays were when we were kids? It wasn't just the promise of finding presents underneath the plastic trees that made it special but it was the genuine happiness that seemed to emanate from everyone.

However, in the silence of a house devoid of any other presence besides himself, Vlad listened to the ruckus of the holiday cheer outside their backyard and felt tremendously sentimental about celebrating another Christmas day as an adult.

He had already spent half of the day staring at the glow-in-the-dark stickers on the ceiling of his older brother's bedroom. A remnant of his nerdy college days.

While it's been years since his Kuya Robert started living on his own, his room remained unchanged courtesy of their mother. And out of all the rooms in their house, he loved his brother's the most because it was a mirror of the latter's unpretentious nature.

He was startled out of his reverie when their landline phone started ringing. He did not bother to unplug the device thinking that no one would call as they had already told everyone that the entire family would be spending the holidays in the province with his maternal grandparents.

It was only under the pretense of a mandatory theater practice that Vlad was able to bail out of the trip at the last minute. He had to do so after learning that his estranged father would be joining them.

"Hello" he answered rigidly.

"Putang iná Vlad! I've been trying to reach you since this morning" Ana's voice boomed from the earpiece.

"Ana, easy lang. Merry Christmas to you muna" Vlad cut her off.

"Ay, sorry" he heard her take a deep breath from the other side of the line "Merry Christmas Vladimir"

"Your mom told me na hindî ka nakasama sa kanilá pagpuntá sa lolo at lola mo because of a theater practice"

Vlad hummed a reply.

"Vlad, I won't pry about your excuse for staying there in the city if you can do me a favor. Actually, I insist that you help me out. I'm sorry for being such a bad friend but I'm desperate" Vlad could hear the tension in Ana's voice.

"I am in Bicol right now, my Mama's hometown. Biglaan kaya hindi na ako nakapagpaalam kay Karl even though we already planned to spend this holiday together. But I made sure that he was already in a good place before I left kaya hindi ko alám kung bakit hindi siyá sumásagót sa tawag ko since yesterday afternoon. Pwedeng walâ lang 'to pero Vladimir you should have seen how depressed he was these past week. Natatakot akó" Ana rambled and panic started to well up in Vlad's chest.

"But Ana-"

Ana whimpered. "I know Vlad but I can't trust anyone other than you to be privy to Karl's situation. You don't have to stay with him. I just need an assurance that he's safe"

And so it was that after what should have been a 20-minute drive but was shorten by almost 10 minutes, Vlad found himself knocking incessantly at Karl's door.

It was already past nine in the evening when he arrived but the whole compound was still bursting with energy as if everyone wanted to squeeze as much joy as they can from Christmas day.

And when the door finally opened to reveal Karl, drunk and beautiful in Asian flush, Vlad felt the tingles of a Christmas surprise.

But Karl's face did not mirror the stranger's delight, but rather it was blanketed in confusion as he tried to approach him. Then, his grip on the doorknob slipped and he stumbled towards the other boy's surprised arms.