Gerald hugged Sarah from her back after their lovemaking. Both were wide awake.
Sa pag-aakalang natutulog si Sarah, bumulong ang binata dito ng, “I love you Sarah. Hindi ko na kayang ipilit sa sarili ko na mahalin ng lubos si Carlie. Ikaw… ikaw pa rin ang nasa puso at isip ko. Ikaw pa rin ang gusto kong makasama habangbuhay.”
Parang dinudurog ang puso ng dalaga nang marinig n’ya ang sinabing iyon ng dating kasintahan. Gusto n’yang sumagot but she wasn’t sure where to begin… what to say exactly. She felt all his love with what just happened between them. Ang totoo ay parang namiss n’ya ang binata. She missed how he showed her how much he loves her, all their intelligent conversations and the not-so serious talks at night before they went to bed, the way he made sure that she was always remembered and taken cared of even when they are not physically together. Now she just couldn’t help but compare Andrew to Gerald. But there is still a bigger part of her which says that what they did is wrong… na napakalaki ng kasalanan n’ya dahil nagpadala s’ya sa kanyang emosyon. Pumikit na lamang s’ya at sinubukang makatulog.
Samantala si Gerald naman ay iniisip kung paano kakausapin si Carlie... kung paano ipagtatapat sa kanya ang tunay na relasyon n’ya kay Sarah at kung paano sasabihin sa kanya ang nararamdaman.
********
“Hi Sis! Tuloy tayo sa dinner mamaya?” Trina said to Carlie when she called her the following morning. “I really want to try out that restaurant that you told me about.”
“Oo naman. Kaya lang baka tayong dalawa na lang ha. Busy kasi si Gerald eh.”
“Bakit asan s’ya?”
“Nand’yan lang naman sa tabi-tabi, probably in his dealership.”
“Probably?”
“Hindi pa kasi s’ya tumatawag since last night eh. The last time we talked, sabi n’ya papunta nga s’ya sa Andreas kasi mag-uusap sila ni Andrew. He texted saying that he was there already but after that wala na. Hindi pa rin s’ya nagtetext sa akin this morning.”
“Bakit hindi mo tawagan para malaman mo kung nasaan s’ya?”
“’Wag na. Magtetext naman ‘yun ‘pag pwede.”
“Sis, gan’yan ba talaga kayo?”
“What do you mean?”
“’Yung gan’yan, ‘yung okay lang kung hindi magtext ‘yung isa ng whereabouts n’ya?”
“Actually ako naman ang may gusto nu’n eh. Dati kasi napag-awayan namin ‘yan. Eh kasi di ba dati may time na panay ang labas natin? Maraming beses na hindi ako nakakapagtext sa kanya kung nasaan na ako kasi hindi naman ako sanay. S’ya naman gusto n’ya palaging nakareport sa kanya. So during that time that we fought about it, we decided not to be strict about it. Pero s’ya palagi naman s’yang nagsasabi kung nasaan s’ya, ako lang naman talaga ang nakakalimot.”
“Palagi s’yang nagsasabi? Ngayon lang ba s’ya nakalimot?”
“Well, lately hindi na s’ya masyadong nagsasabi kung nasaan s’ya pero I always assumed na nasa dealership lang s’ya or nasa bahay n’ya.”
“Lately? Since when?”
“I can’t really remember pero lately lang.”
“Since naging maging magkaibigan kayo ni Sarah?”
“Yeah around that time? Teka Sis, what are you trying to say?”
“I promised Fred that I won’t tell you pero kung ganito ang nangyayari, I think you should know.”
