Herroine and Universe

Prologue

“I l-like you.” I was looking at the mossy floor and fidgeting the tip of my dress

“I like you, H-Herroine.” his back was not moving. Nakatingin ako sa sahig pero I can sense it.. I can also hear nothing but my uneven breathing and my palpitations. Tila naglaho ang maingay na tugtugan sa hall kanikanina lang.

Hihikain ata ako any moment.

Napatingin ako sa kanya ng maramdaman kong dahan-dahan syang lumingon sa gawi ko, nanlalaki ang mata pero kalaunan ay pumikit din ng dalawang beses

“Oh.. Wow..” his gaze went to his shoes then leaned on his left and right while bitting his upper lip. He wasn’t comfortable..

I can almost see where this is going. My schoolmates were looking at me, it’s like a mixture of pity and humour. They also stopped dancing nang marinig ang sinabi ko.

“Uhh, I don’t know what to say.. T-thank you?” hilaw syang napangiti habang kinakamot ang batok, I knew it.

Sabi ko na nga ba maling desisyon..Aish stupid!!

I heard gasps from behind. I know our friends was also looking. Alam kong at some point they knew this was coming but no one expected that it’d be here, in front of our schoolmates– No. Sa gitna nilang lahat.

Maski ako–I never expected it to be like this..

“K-kailan pa..?” hindi sya makatingin sakin

“M-matagal na..”  mahina kong sabi, napabalik ang tingin ko sa kamay kong nilalaro

“Matagal na pala.. ano.. S-salamat sa appreciation..” he smiled and tapped my head, nanatili ang ngiting yon hanggang lagpasan nya ako.. The atmosphere was very awkward, parang may makapal na ulap na napapaloob sa hall

My schoolmates were looking at me with sympathy. Some were looking at me like they’re judging me, hindi maitago ang nangaasar na tingin

“.. nga pala.. You should go home. I know you drank.” pahabol nya bago ko marinig ang papalayong yabag ng sapatos nya

Nakarinig ako ng hagikhikan sa side ng Hall

“I told you so..”

Alam ko lang nag-init ang sulok ng mga mata ko

“Hahahaha crybaby!”

I felt the embarrassment. Dapat hindi ko na lang sinabi, dapat pinigil ko na lang ang sarili ko. Ngayon, pakiramdam ko ang liit liit ko, ice cream na dapat matunaw at lamunin ng lupa, maglaho at magevaporate. Hindi ako makapagsalita, hindi ko alam sasabihin ko, di ko din alam kung dapat pa ba ako bumalik sa table namin ng mga kaibigan ko– kahit ang gusto ko na lang ngayon ay umuwi sa bahay, at umiyak sa higaan ko..

I was in the middle of thinking what to do next when someone grabbed my wrist and drag me away from the sea of people watching me

I look up to see who it was and I didn’t expect it to be him of all people.

“Let’s go, Ihahatid na kita.”

His brown eyes were looking at me, walang emosyon, katulad ng dati. Pero I appreciated it, it was comforting.

Tinaklob nya sa ulo ko ang jacket nya.

I cried and cried after that, all night.