“Ah! Ah!”
“Pwede na? Nag-re-record na?”
“Makintab ba ‘yung noo ko? Ma check mo nga kung makintab ‘yung noo ko sa screen.”
Nanginginig ang kamay na napindot ni Heath ang pause button sa remote na hawak niya. Suspended inside the four corners of the screen, a woman in her early 20’s smiled laughed her heart out at her own antiques. No amount of baldness, dry molted skin and frail body can tamper the vibrancy she emitted.
Naihilamos ni Heath ang kamay sa muhka niya habang wala sa sariling minememorya niya ang muhka ni Venice ng mga oras na iyon. Heath lost count of the days he hadn’t seen her and looking at her now made him realize how badly he missed her.
Naalala ni Heath ang tanong ng mga reporter sa kanya. “Heath, kamusta na si Venice?” they would ask.
Everyone knew that Venice wasn’t doing fine but they just had to ask it from him. Not because they cared… It’s simply because they were just curious. They were curious why Heath paraded like nothing happened. Heath would always in return flash a practiced smile at them. A smile he rehearsed hundreds of times just for the cameras.
Kung alam lang ng lahat ng tao na hindi na niya nakita si Venice magmula ng iniwan niya itong nakakabit sa mga makinang tanging nagbibigay ng buhay dito. If they knew that he just couldn’t bring himself to touch her… to be with her… to look at her. Not in that state.
Tandang-tanda pa niya ang amoy ng kwarto ni Venice nang mga oras na iyon… The whole room back then smelled only of one thing; Death.
So he had to run away.
He was afraid that the next encounter with Venice meant him letting her go forever so he buried himself with non-stop work to the point of exhaustion. He didn’t want to remember Venice and as a result Heath didn’t even want to look at Hezekiah. From a distance he would steal glances at him and when his son looked back he’d turn his back away from him.
The last time he heard, Hezekiah was doing exceptionally well at school, even without him by his side. Nangunguna ang bata sa lahat ng subject nito magmula ng i-enroll ito sa school na gusto ni Venice. Nakikipag-usap na din daw ito ng tagalong sa paaralan nito. Reports of Hezekiah’s milestone came from other people because he failed to witness all of it.
Everything related to Venice was painful to him. Walang pwedeng salitang makakapagpaliwanag sa nararamdaman niyang sakit sa tuwing naaalala niya si Venice. Memories of her that came in snippets were like shrapnel embedded bone deep.
Then one day, out of the blue, Venice’s mom handed out a camera for him. Sabi nito pinapabigay iyon ni Venice. His mother-in –law tried to understand him though she was also hurting. Ito ang matiyagang nagbabantay kay Venice sa hospital pagkatapos niyang iwan sa ere ang asawa.
BINABASA MO ANG
A Whisper of the Heart - COMPLETED
FanfictionHe was wide awake but right at that moment he knew he was standing in front of his worst and biggest nightmare. People might have forgotten HER but definitely for HIM it was not the case. The last thing Top Philippine Celebrity Heath Ford...
