Our Journey Together (Philippines - Tagaytay City)

They left Manila before sunrise and they arrived at Tagaytay City past 9am.

It's relatively cold compared to Manila. Since it's still early, they just checked in at the hotel, left their bags and wandered around the city. The walked around near the lake.

They are simply happy walking and taking pictures not minding about the time. Just contented being together.

...

It's past 3pm when they decided to have lunch. It's so late for lunch but they never noticed the time when they were walking.

They sat down at a restaurant near the lake. While waiting for their order, Jungye noticed a man looking at them or looking at Shin. They are seated near the terrace overlooking the lake and the man suddenly stood up and walked towards them.

The man was taller than average height of Asian people. Lighter than brown skin and has a small eyes like Shin. The man stopped behind Shin.

"Lee Shin? Is that you?

When she heard someone called her name, she slowly glanced at her back to see who called her.

"Lin Mark? What are you doing here?" she was surprised to see him there..of all places..

"So it's you... you look good..all those years that we haven't seen each other..." his eyes was sad and at the same time glad to see her. Then he glanced at the man sitting in the other side of the table. "Care to introduce me with your....friend?"

Shin: " Oh Kiel Jungye, this is Lin Mark... he is my friend."

Mark extended his hand to shake Jungye's and he corrrected what Shin said "I am actually her....boyfriend... I mean ex... but we never had a closure" then he looked intently at Shin and said " we never did talked, you just simply left and I never saw you again.."

Shin was about to say something after she heard what Mark said but decided to close her mouth again and just stare at him.

.....

Mark is her first boyfriend during university days. They were having a bad time and a lot of misunderstandings during those times. They never had a chance to fix things up because her father died and she decided to go back to the province to be with her family. When she returned to the city to finish her last year in college, they never had a time to see each other again due to their conflict schedules until she just gave up not to see him again so she can focus on their family's current situation. He was her first love and she was his..

.....

Shin was startled thinking what to say to him. For few minutes they just stare to each other until their orders arrived.

She didn't noticed the darkened expression of Jungye's face. He is clutching his fist so tightly and glaring at the man looking at Shin as if he wants to throw him out of the window and drown him to the lake.

...

Good thing their orders arrived, it broke the awkward situation.

Mark: " Ok enjoy your meal... I will go here later after you're done... Hope you will give me this time to talk... you owe it to me" Then he looked at Jungye and smirk before he walked back to his table and continue eating and chatting with his companions.

Jungye just waited for the server to leave the table. He is looking intently at Shin who was looking down and averting his gaze.

Jungye: " So.... what's that all about? Mark huh? "

Shin: " He was my first boyfriend...first love... We were having rough times few months before my father died. Then we never had a chance to see each other and talk about it. We just parted ways without saying anything to each other."

Jungye: " So what's your plan? Do you want to talk to him?"

Shin: " I have to...to give clear side and closure about our chapter together. Perhaps it's been so long, I have to talk to him."

Jungye: " What if he wants you back? Or if he say he still loves you?" his eyes looked at her with the hint of sadness.

Shin: " nah.. it's been so long... Just probably to get a closure and that's all." she smiled assuring Jungye that there is nothing to worry about. Mark is a nice guy during their college years but the latter part, he became busy, he was about to graduate political science and planned to continue to law school. They were having difficulties due to time conflicts.

.....

After their meal, Mark came back to their table.

Mark: " Where is your hostel? "

Shin: " The hostel is...just near here."

Mark: "Ok..would you like to go there first or we can meet later?" then he looked at Jungye.

Shin glanced at Jungye waiting for him to say something but he just kept silent.

"We can talk now, we passed by a park near the lake. We can talk there." Then she stopped and face Jungye. "Jungye, I will come back later... will you be ok walking back to our room?" Jungye just nodded and gave her a passionate kiss and embraced her tightly. His eyes looked at the man standing behind Shin as if warning him that Shin is now his.

.....

Shin and Mark walked back to the park which is just 10 minutes walk away from their hostel. They sat down at the bench near the lake. No one dared to speak for few minutes, they just stared at the lake.

Mark decided to break down their silence. " Shin about what happened years ago..."