Behind The Selfies (CharDawn OSC)

Still (2)

"Dawn! Ija, you're here na pala!" She approaches her and tries to not think about what the maid had told her.

"I have here your favorite wine, Ma!"

They make their way to the dining room. She notices that nothing has changed after two decades. The vases, Stella's portraits, & some of her furnitures are still in the same place.

"Nothing has changed 'no, Dawn? I remember 'dyan sa sofa na 'yan, you & Chard fell. Kala ko ano ng ginagawa niyo!"

She laughs, reminiscing the memories they've made here in this house.

"Ma?"

"Yes, ija?"

"Can I roam around the house? If it's okay lang po with you. If not ---"

Stella looks up while helping the maids fix the dining table. "Sure, nak. I'll ask nalang Lauren to accompany you."

Honestly, she doesn't even need to roam around the house because she prefers to stay in the dining room to catch up with Stella but she just can't focus on what they'll be talking if the thought of Richard's room keeps on bothering her.

When they reached the 2nd floor, she tries to remember on which way she'll take, the hallway at the left or the one which is at the right side? "Uhm, Lauren?"

"Yes, miss Dawn?"

"Where is Chard's room? I just got too curious on what you had said earlier." She doesn't know what to feel, seriously. She feels embarassed but at the same time excited on having the thought that finally she'll be entering his room after a very, very long time even if she doesn't have the right too. Ano ka, asawa? She says to herself.

The maid interrupts her thought when she pointed his room. "Here's the key, Miss." She gives the key to Dawn and finally made their way inside the room.

"You know, Miss? This room is like a museum of love."

"Museum of love? What made you say so?" She starts to walk around the room, looking at every picture she sees on the ceiling, on the doors of his cabinet, on top of every table, and the pictures beside his bed.

"Will you let me be your tour guide, Miss? Even just for a few minutes."

Dawn laughs at her. "Sure, sweetie. I'll listen."

"Actually, It has been a long time since I went to this room, too. Madam only asks me to clean this one when her son would call and asks us to clean the room every year."

Dawn interrupts while Lauren is speaking, "Every year? But as far as I remember he doesn't go here? Aaah, yes. He texts me kasi if ever he'll be going somewhere far from me. -- I mean far from work! I don't remember one."

"I don't know, either. As I was saying, Madam told us that her son always reminds her to keep this room and everything's in here, in place. I remember they were arguing because he was about to get married but he never wanted to change all these, I mean to put these pictures in a box and put them in the attic, but at the end, he won. I guess Madam also knows how much her son loves this woman." She points at Dawn's face in the picture beside his bed. "I mean, you po."

The maid continues her story, "Madam Stella knew at that time we were listening to them & to clear things out she told us this - "I know you heard us but I want you to zip your mouth about this, okay? Let's say nalang na one day the Prince is still waiting for his Princess to comeback for she'd promised him that she will - but she never did." Yeah, I still remember..."

Dawn, at the moment, doesn't know what she'll do next. Will she let Lauren finish? or just ask her to stop because it just brings back her regrets. Regret because of the fact that she never came back, regret because of the truth that she didn't believe when he said he was willing to wait, & another regret because she never let him do what he had promised before - to be the man Dawn had always imagined he would be, the man Dawn wanted him to be, the better version of him, I must say. Well, she decided to finish this one, probably because it might clear everything that were left unclear before, to hear the words that were left unspoken, and to bring back the pieces into one, again.

"Uhm, Miss Dawn, I need to hurry na po but before I go, I'll show you this." Lauren leads her to his cabinet and opens one of the drawers in it & finds something very, very unexpected.

"This? This ring. He bought this at around 1993? I thought this was given back to him after their breakup - but I was mistaken. He never had the chance to give this one to her. I remember this is an engagement ring. He planned to do it here but she never came back, you never came back."

Dawn's tears suddenly fall, she's about to excuse herself but Lauren called her again. "Miss, I think now's the time to read this. He wrote this a month before he got married. - I'll go ahead na po!" She handed her the letter written in a yellow pad paper before she went out of the room.

My dearest Taleon,

Next month, I'm going to have my wife na, I'll be on the altar, waiting for her to come near me. She'll be wearing her dream wedding dress and I'll be on my barong, and yet I'm still waiting for you. Yes, believe me or not, I'm still willing to give up all these just for you, I don't care if everyone will go crazy about the change of plans - because that's what we'd always believed in diba? Walang pakielamanan. Probably, if someone sees me writing this letter, he might think I'm doing my wedding vow so early naman but he never knew that I'm writing this for the woman whom I once thought would be the woman whom I will wait for when I'm already at the altar, the woman I thought would be promising me in her vow to love me in sickness and in health, and the woman whom I thought would share the rest of her life with me. I don't know where or when will you be seeing this letter - hindi ko nga alam kung mababasa mo pa 'to eh kasi diba hindi kana muling bumalik pa at hindi kana muling babalik pa. Sana masaya ka na sa buhay may asawa mo. Dito ka pala sa New York kinasal? Ang ganda-ganda mo sa wedding dress mo, Love. Hindi ba 'yan yung design na gusto mo? Sabi ko pa nga noon bakit parang sobrang conservative mo naman yata. 'Tas sabi mo, "Babe, siyempre para malaman nila na this is a new Dawn pag sinuot ko 'tong gown ko - yung Dawn na pang kay Richard lang. Aaminin ko naging emosyonal ako nung nakita kitang suot-suot mo yung wedding gown mo kasi nga diba naalala ko yung dapat na Dawn na pang kay Richard lang. Sana malaman mo na kahit anong suot ko, yung boxer ko na medjo butas na, yung sando ko na sinira mo nung Valentine's Day celebration natin *;)*, o yung Barong na isusuot ko sa kasal ko, yes, kasal namin na dapat kasal natin. Basta sana kahit saan mo pa ako makita sana lagi mong maalala na ito? Itong Richard Gomez na 'to? Ito yung Richard na pang kay Dawn lang...

Always,
Babe.

When Dawn finished reading his letter, she doesn't know what to feel anymore. Gomz, why? She wipes her tears and fixes the sheet of his bed because she kinda made them disarranged because she was gripping on it while reading the letter. She was about to get up, when she saw Stella looking down on her, with tears in her eyes.

"Ma? I'm sorry I went in. I just wanted to ---"

"Dawn, he waited for you." More tears come down from Dawn's eyes when hearing those words, she was going to explain when Stella speaks after wiping her tears away, "... aaaand I'll be waiting for you downstairs! The food is ready, darling." Stella made her way out of her son's bedroom, leaving Dawn in there.

She finally stood up and fixed herself but wait, WHAT ABOUT THE LETTER? She thought. Moments later, she decided to keep it - she puts it inside her bag to let him know that she came back.

I came back, Gomz. I came back.

***
Sorry & thank you for waiting! Ang epic huhu but still! Thank you!!! ❤️ 4k reads yay!