He Likes Her

Ruben's Point of View

Magsasalita pa sana si Jade ng biglang may umepal. And guess who the hell it is!

"Tsk, Ruben! Hinahanap ka na ng lahat tas nandito ka lang pala!" Si miss clean freak, a.k.a. Eliza Rodriguez. Everyone in the club is nice and friendly, all except her. And just like Jade ewan ko kung ano ginawa ko sa babae na 'to at inis na inis sya sa'kin.

"Can't you see i'm in the middle of a conversation here?" Tas nang mapatingin sya kay Jade, nagbago ang masungit nyang mukha at naging mabait. "Are you a friend of Ruben?"

Wew, bipolar ata ang babae na 'to.

"Uhh yeah." Sagot ni Jade. It seems that she's quite surprised to meet miss clean freak here.

"Can you just visit him some other time? Kailangan pa po namin magpractice para script reading. You see, may deadline kami kaya kailangan na ni Ruben bumalik sa loob."

"Ah, it's okay! See you later na lang!" Paalam ni Jade with a huge smile on her face. Pagkaalis nya ay napasimangot lang ako dahil ang epal talaga itong si miss clean freak.

"You could've just waited a few more minutes, kinakausap ko pa kaya sya." Sabi ko sa kanya.

Ngumisi si clean freak, and i swear, kung hindi lang sya babae nasapak ko na sya dahil nakakairita sya tignan. "Bakit? Girlfriend mo ba 'yon? Did i ruined your sweet time with her?"

I've been getting these kind of assumptions lately. Karamihan ina-assume nila na girlfriend ko si Jade. Well we're practically engaged by our parents so calling Jade my girlfriend isn't any different-- but then again, di nya alam 'yon.

Shrugging the random thought, sinagot ko si clean freak. "It was just a normal conversation okay? Ngayon ko lang din sya naka-usap dahil medyo busy ako.

"Pfft. Sa ibang oras mo na lang landiin girlfriend mo! Dahil pag oras ng theatre club dapat ituon mo ang oras mo sa pag practice kung ayaw mong bumagsak ka sa art subject mo." Bitter lang? Napa-iling na lang ako sa babae na 'to.

Habang nagpapractice, naisip ko na lang si Jade. Maybe ililibre ko na nga lang sya pagdating ng Sabado para makabawi ako.

Jade's Point of View

Naalala ko kahapon nung na-meet ko ang secret girlfriend ni Ruben. At first, akala ko masungit sya pero when she talked to me mukhang mabait naman sya. She's also kind of pretty at bagay naman silang tignan ni Ruben.

Nangiti lang ako dahil gusto ko talagang asarin si Ruben sa girlfriend nya, kaso di nya alam na alam ko ang sikreto nya hahaha!

Nang maayos ko na ang sarili ko, bumaba na ko sa salas at naghintay na lang sa busina ng school bus ko. But unfortunately, dad was also there having his coffee. Usually maaga syang umaalis ng bahay dahil marami syang inaasikaso sa trabaho nya, pero mukhang di sya busy ngayon.

When he saw me wala man lang akong narinig na goodmorning, nagpatuloy lang sya sa paghigop ng kanyang kape at sa pagbasa ng mga emails sa phone nya.

As i sat down with him, kinuha ko na lang ang phone ko at nagcheck ng newsfeed ko. Then unexpectedly, he talked to me! "So how's school lately?"

"A-Ah, okay naman po." Sagot ko.

"Good to hear." Then that was it. The end of our conversation. But this is how we really are.

We may be related, but we're both strangers to each other. Thank God when i finally heard the bus from outside. Nagpaalam ako kay dad at lumabas na ng bahay.

And like my usual days, school is boring. Then medyo busy si Ruben sa pag-aaral, and especially sa theatre club. Pero makakasama ko naman sya nitong Sabado.

"I'm gonna head to my club now, bye." Paalam ni Ruben. When he left, i kinda felt sad again.

I can't help but feel lonely when he's not around.

"So nagkaayos na kayo ni Ruben?" Biglang tanong ni Bella.

Napatingin ako sa kanya. "Uh yeah, bakit?"

Ngumiti lang sya. "Wala lang. Byeee!" Tas umalis na rin sya. Bella is such a weird girl. Not that i'm assuming stuff about her, pero parang nakasubaybay sya palagi sa sitwasyon namin ni Ruben.

After that, dumiretcho na ko sa locker ko. Parang napawi ang lungkot ko dahil alam kong may supresa nanamang inihanda si August para sa akin. And when i opened my locker, merong letter na kulay blue at isang candy rose na kulay pink.

Tinignan ko yung candy at may note na nakapalawit rito, it says I hope you had a nice day -- August with a smiley face on it. Tinignan ko naman yung letter nya at nanlaki mata ko sa nabasa, it's just that i couldn't believe it.

He literally just said:

Meet me on the rooftop.

Nagmadali akong pumunta sa rooftop kung saan makikita ko na si August. And as i got there, my heart began to pound as fast as the wind. Nakita ko syang nakatalikod sa akin at nakatingin lang sa mga ulap sa langit.

Oh my gosh, pakiramdam ko parang nasa anime lang ako sa ganitong set up. Unti-unti akong lumapit sa kanya habang pinagmamasdan ang likod nya. I faked a cough and he suddenly turned around to look at me.

And i couldn't believe it. This guy... oh my gosh!

He smiled and gave me a pink rose. "I was worried that you won't show up."

So he's August?

"W-Why did you want to meet me here?" Tanong ko.

He chuckled and took my right hand. "Isn't it obvious?" Tas bigla nyang hinalikan kamay ko!!

"Wha-- !" Binawi ko ang kamay ko at napalakas ang tawa nya. "Did i scare you? I'm sorry. I just thought you would be okay with it." Napakamot pa sya sa kanyang ulo.

I felt quite uneasy, i never expected August to be like this. I thought August would be a gentleman or the calm and reserved type. At mas lalong di ko ineexpect that August would turn out to be--

"Let's get straight to the point, why did you call me here Leroi?" I asked him.

From a face that you can't take seriously to a serious one, he confessed with all sincerity. "Jade Garcia, i called you here because i want to tell you this... I like you."

to be continued