the peregrine

34

• 𝐍𝐚𝐦𝐞𝐥𝐞𝐬𝐬 𝐁𝐞𝐚𝐮𝐭𝐲 •

She immediately went by the coach to, maybe, apologize since she looked like she was sorry about something.

𝘏𝘰𝘸 𝘤𝘶𝘵𝘦.

Agad naman siyang nagstreching matapos mailagay ang kanyang mga gamit. Hindi naman iyon nagtagal at agad na siyang sumali sa spiking drills ng team.

My eyes were on her all the time, captivated with her delicate features, something that would make you assume that she is a very fragile girl. And suddenly, she grabbed a ball, threw it upwards and towards the setter.

Then, a mere second later, she vaults herself into the air. With one arm raised and the other's cocked back, she spiked the ball over the net with a loud bang.

And all I could think of was how graceful she looked, even after hearing the way the ball hit the floor. Ngunit agad na namula ang aking mga pisnge sa sunod niyang ginawa.

She smiled. And it was the sweetest thing I have ever seen.

But even from afar, I could see how her eyes somehow lacked something. Though I'm not sure what it was, I was sure that it looked somehow dull.

𝘓𝘪𝘬𝘦 𝘪𝘵 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘴𝘰𝘮𝘦 𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘥 𝘰𝘧 𝘢𝘯 𝘦𝘮𝘱𝘵𝘺 𝘣𝘦𝘢𝘶𝘵𝘪𝘧𝘶𝘭 𝘴𝘩𝘦𝘭𝘭.

//

I immediately went back to where the game would take place. And if I was being honest, I almost completely forgot about the practice match that we are here for.

𝘐 𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘨𝘩𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘐 𝘨𝘰 𝘵𝘰 𝘴𝘤𝘩𝘰𝘰𝘭 𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦.

The game ended so fast that I even thought that we just started a minute ago, I wanted to play more tho. Gayunpaman, agad akong lumabas pagkatapos kong magpalit ng damit, the image of that girl still lingered on my mind.

𝘓𝘪𝘬𝘦 𝘴𝘰𝘮𝘦 𝘧𝘢𝘮𝘪𝘭𝘪𝘢𝘳 𝘴𝘤𝘦𝘯𝘵 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘢𝘪𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘧𝘪𝘭𝘭𝘴 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘯𝘰𝘴𝘦 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘭𝘶𝘯𝘨𝘴.

It was a windy afternoon, the sky had a peachy tone to it. Instead of going towards where the vehicle for our team was parked, I went to the opposite.

Bumalik ako sa gym kung saan ko siya nakita kanina. Ngunit sa aking pagsilip sa loob, hindi ko kaagad nakita ang magandang babae, making me sigh in disappointment.

𝘋𝘰𝘯'𝘵 𝘵𝘦𝘭𝘭 𝘮𝘦 𝘴𝘩𝘦'𝘥 𝘥𝘪𝘴𝘢𝘱𝘱𝘦𝘢𝘳 𝘵𝘰𝘰 𝘭𝘪𝘬𝘦-

𝘕𝘰, 𝘸𝘢𝘪𝘵. 𝘐-𝘐 𝘴𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥𝘯'𝘵.

But even before I could stop myself, some hot liquid started rolling down towards my cheeks. I instantly ran away from that place because of the fear that people might see me and think I'm some kind of a loser.

Hindi ako sigurado kung asan ako, pero at least hindi gaano karami ang mga tao. I just hope that no one's going to notice me here.

"Pfft. Aren't you 𝙩𝙝𝙖𝙩 Martinez?" I heard from someone behind when I was trying to wipe away any liquid from my eye.

"Oh right. He was looking down on us earlier. Mukhang hindi man lang kami sineryoso." another one said, but I didn't bother to look at back at their faces.

"Tignan mo to oh, tinatalikuran lang kami- Wait, umiiyak ka ba?"

Napamura naman ako sa sarili ko nang marinig ang kanyang sinabi. Pero mas napamura ako sa kung sino man ang dalawang taong nasa likod ko dahil sa tono ng kanilang boses.