Chapter 26: Past and Forgiveness

It was already late at midnight and Mr. U-bear was driving his humble small car going back home after inviting Chiko and the others for the scholarship program.

Just when he was about to enter the last intersection not far from home, he saw a familiar car parked at the right side of the road.

Upon getting closer, he saw Mr. Gaje standing at the side of the car, with a cold facade and puffing a cigarette like it was the natural air he breathes. His left hand was holding a set of canned redhorse beers.

Upon noticing U-bear's old small car, he sneered in mockery and waved his hand as a call to stop.

The crickets were ringing loudly in the background. The night sky is full of stars and the dark woods brought over a mysterious yet calming peace. The two old friends are standing next to each other while watching the night stars, each with a can of beer on their side.

Tskish~

The sound of opening a canned beer cracked the silent night. Gaje handed one more beer to U-bear and the latter shook his head in decline. Gaje gave him an angry look and U-bear finally took it.

"You never stopped drinking and smoking huh. No wonder your body just keeps getting worst. Have you seen yourself in the mirror lately?" U-bear said while taking a small sip of the cold beer.

"You still sound like a nagging mother I see. I am drunk so just let me be. Just let me drink my sorrows away." Gaje pressed the remaining cigarette stick and followed by a big gulp on his drink.

A gentle smile curled in U-bear's face, "You are not drunk. You are still going to drive so I am pretty sure you have no plans to get drunk. You are just acting."

Tack.

Gaje placed the now empty canned beer at the top of the solid wall they were leaning on. A faint smile followed,

"You never changed you know. You are still that calm, composed, and smart person I know. You knew me better than I knew myself. And I hate that."

"It is getting late. Why did you stop me?" U-bear went straight to the point.

"Can't I share at least one more beer with my old friend?

"I have a family to take care of now. I don't have much time for things like this."

Tskish~

"Hey, take it easy. Remember you are still driving!" U-bear anxiously advised.

"Relax. I thought you know me. It takes more than five bigger bottles to take me down. These measly two tiny cans can't bring down this old man."

U-bear watched his friend took sip after sip before finally, Gaje stopped.

"I hate it. Everything about you. I hate it." Gaje calmly expressed himself.

It wasn't surprising to U-bear who just continued to listen.

"If only you know how much I worked hard to reach my current position. Now I have money, I have a good reputation, I have cars, a couple of expensive houses, and easy women in my reach."

Then Gaje looked at U-bear with a deep frown, "But why am I not happy?"

U-bear took a deep breath, took a tiny sip on his canned beer. Then he pointed at the dark woods and Gaje's eyes followed.

U-bear replied with a deep gentle voice,

"You lost your way. You were chasing after the false light and lost in the dark woods…"

The answer was as simple as that. Gaje's eyes widened in the realization. He too knew it but hated to admit it.

Ever since he left to pursue his dreams, he fell deeper and deeper into vices and wrong choices thinking it was good for him. For his future. But he was wrong.

And now, every time he looked down, all he could see is his bloated belly and a blurry purpose of life.

"Tell me, when was the last time that you actually felt free and happy?"

This question struck hard to Gaje. His mind quickly recalled those days when they were still younger.

They were in college, playing sepak takraw to represent their humble municipality of Madridejos. He recalled the scene of their hard training and the competitions they fought. He remembered those moments when he was still young and active.

He remembered when U-bear would toss a ball for him, and he would chase after it, performing a beautiful sunback or a rolling spike. He remembered Cardo, his old friend who was still alive at that time. The latter would always encourage him to be the best version of himself.

The three of them were the strongest sepak takraw team that represented not just the Municipality of Madridejos but also the entire island of Bantayan. Competition after competition, they fought hard and won.

He remembered those moments when he floated in the air, time seemed to stop as he spun his body mid-air and performed those acrobatic spikes which left the opposing team on the other side with gaping mouth and wide eyes.

U-bear that time was called the Silent Ace, Cardo was the Perfect Setter while he was the Brutal Spiker. They were extremely talented and were feared by most teams.

They even got television interviews and were slowly building their fame. They had their shot for the international meet getting clearer and closer every single day.

Gaje was happy and content. With U-bear and Cardo supporting him, Gaje was able to enjoy the limelight only sports geniuses could actually enjoy.

But a darker secret followed him. His outstanding performance did not come naturally. It was at a terrible cost. To keep up with the geniuses like U-bear and Cardo, he had to resort to illegal performance-enhancing drugs. He also found a way to earn easy money thru betting and gambling.

He thought he was safe until it was too late.

They went on a winning streak for a couple of years until they came to that fateful day on the regional meet. It was the time when U-bear and Cardo confronted him of his drug and gamble addiction.

But Gaje refused to take his friend's advice.

Gaje secretly bet a huge amount of money on his team on that day and he could not help but take his usual performance-enhancing drugs to secure their win.

He needed it not because he was not talented, he took it to give himself confidence.

But U-bear and Cardo did not go with his expected flow.

They were both not performing their best purposely and it forced Gaje to go on a wild rampage.

With all his savings secretly at stake on that match, Gaje was extremely anxious and on the verge of losing his mind. He was not himself.

Slowly their score dropped and they were on the verge of losing. Unable to control himself properly, Gaje turned to his teammates and started a fight. He aimed his fist at his captain U-bear, Cardo defended and their team was instantly disqualified.

It was that time when their team broke up and it was the only time that they lost.

Unfortunately, it was the last time they played together.

It didn't take long for all of Gaje's illegal conduct to come to the public. Even the innocent U-bear and Cardo were not spared by the exaggerated allegations.

As a result, their team was instantly sanctioned, unable to play in any tournaments anymore and ultimately lost their scholarship backing. Their team was disbanded in a day and their names were blotted out of the official sepak takraw top teams.

All because of him.

Ever since then, he never smiled genuinely again. Though he later realized that he was actually talented and doesn't need drugs to be at his best- it was too late.

His bad reputation and terrible attitude caused him to be shunned by the public. Both Cardo and U-bear went their own separate ways and he never heard of them again.

Twenty years later, at present, here they are finally sipping their drinks together. Unfortunately, Cardo was long gone.

U-bear took one last sip before finally putting it down. He only drank about one-fourth of the beer.

"Can't you just down one more before leaving?" Gaje snapped back to the present as he felt U-bear starting to leave.

"It's enough. I am not a good beer drinker and I still have a family attend. Do you want to come and meet my wife and children?" U-bear invited.

"Naah. I am not a good influence. I don't want my bad and dirty dust to stain your clean house. Anyway, I just came to invite you for one last drink before leaving again for Thailand tomorrow."

"You guys are leaving so soon?"

"Yeah. Something came up and Santi wanted to go back to Thailand as soon as possible. After that, I might have to travel to Korea and the US for some important meetings. You know, big stuff." Gaje replied with a faint boasting.

"You sure are busy. Well, please take care on your way. Drive slowly if possible." U-bear said as he took out his keys and was about to get inside his humble car.

"Oh by the way..." U-bear said as he stood just beside his car, "regarding the past. I apologize. I know I was supposed to be responsible for-"

U-bear was unable to continue as Gaje raised his palm to stop him.

"No, It was my fault. I am would like to apologize as well."

Gaje took a deep breath. These words were incredibly heavy in his heart. Though he felt awkward, he knew he had to do this.

"Sorry if my apology took twenty years long to finally come out of my mouth but I hope you and Cardo's spirit could still forgive me."

The two men faced each other with warm smiles. Time flowed slowly and not many words were said.

But for them, it was enough.

"I will forgive you if your team would go easy on my team when we meet." U-bear jokingly said.

"That, I can't promise." Gaje mockingly said as he took out his keys as well.

And they both went into their far different respective cars.

"Good luck. God bless." U-bear gently called to his friend one last time.

"See you on the court someday," Gaje replied as they both started their engines and went separate ways.

"I look forward to that new team of yours. Especially that Chiko kid. Keep them away from drugs for me."

"I will. Take care brother."

And they both left the place .

Only this time, their heart's burden was lifted and the fog of friendship faded under the dim light of the starry midnight sky.

Gaje could smile genuinely again. He was still boastful though.

***

The next day came.

It was about 8 o'clock in the morning, Yang and Gantes arrived early at the school for their formal signing of the scholarship program.

"Where's Chiko? It's already eight! This is bad. Mr. U-bear is strict with the schedule!" Yang anxiously said.

"I don't know. I am pretty sure he knows we should be here at eight o' clock." Gates replied while munching on a handful of Puto Sikwate - a common Filipino morning snack made of sticky rice cake wrapped in a cut of aromatic banana leaf.

Meanwhile, in a small nipa hut in the middle of a distant farm, the sound of roosters made a classic morning sound together with the chirping birds and cow moose in the background.

Laying still on the bed was Chiko, whose body was as stiff as a stick due to the painful body sores.

"M-my body! I can't move again?! Grandmaaaa! Help!"