Time vs. Effort

Chapter 6

Before he left the concert grounds of the Mall, he took one last glance at her and thought to himself,

“Goodbye, Beth. I guess I wasn’t good enough? I wasn’t good enough for you to risk it all?” he turned away from that place, wanting to avoid anymore pain and left for the parking lot.

Sumakay siya sa kotse, tossing all the stuff he was holding, hindi niya kinaya, he wanted to see her for the last time before he left, dahil alam niya na wala ng makakagamot sa broken heart niya and his disease.

He thought to himself, “hindi kita isusuko,” but how? He had no more chances, she had picked Clarence over him, he then feels the feeling of giving it up and just die far away from her, he had no more reason to live anyway.

He started the engine and started the trip back home, it would be a long ride back home, but he decided to stay a night over at a friend’s house in Vigan.

He drove, thinking of all the happy times they had, the first time they met, the day when they both went to the cinema to watch a movie together, he’d tried to hold her hand, she jerked and he’d make up an excuse that he thought her hand was the box of popcorn, and he noticed her blush. He brought her to a park to watch little kids fly kites because she wanted to. And the most unforgettable, the time she told him he loved her and kissed him.

He shakes his head, trying to forget it.

He focused on the road and noticed he was going to pass by a beach, he noticed the sun was already going to set.

He parked his car somewhere near a rock, and removed his shoes.

He walked on the beach, looking up to the sky, the beautiful orange coloured sky was so beautiful that he wished Beth was there to see the sunset with him.

After meeting some of his fans in the beach, he gets back to his car. He reaches an empty street and drives at full speed, wanting to reach his friend’s place, faster.

He reaches the place after 3 hours of driving… He knocks and his friend, Sheyee answers it.

He lets him in and he starts to open up to him about the updates in the fliptop arena.

“Pre, kung gusto mo kumain, kuha ka lang ng pagkain sa ref, always welcome ka dito, lalabas lang ako saglit, babalik rin ako,” Sheyee says, pointing the small mini refrigerator in the room and shuts the door of the guest room behind Abra.

He sits on the comfortable bed, takes some shiny spoon from his bag, it was the spoon that Beth had personalized for him, he then remembers the day she brought him to her restaurant near Pasig.

“halika, upo tayo duon,” she says, showing the way to the empty seat in a reserved private room. They toast to the success of his album, and his career, and she looks at him in the eyes that wanted to cry because she was in pain.

“Oh, ngiti ka naman,” he said, putting his fingers near her cheeks, making her smile, he tells some inside jokes and she smiles and laughs, he was so happy to see her smile because of him.

“Kain na tayo,” he says, taking the spoon, then notices that there was his name engraved on the spoon.

She laughs a little and tells him, “pinaengrave ko yan, you can keep it, sayo na, remembrance yan na kumain ka na dito sa restaurant ko,” he smiles, takes a bite of the delicious Tuna Paella.

He wraps the spoon back with the same napkin that was from the restaurant and takes out a bottle of mountain dew and takes a big gulp of it.

He takes a look at the refrigerator and sees a few Baby Ruth chocolate bars and a lot of chocolates and sweets, a box of pizza, but he didn’t like cold pizza.