puhon.

sunsets with you

So if keeping her as my best friend meant having to pretend that she doesn't make me go crazy every time she's near for a little while longer, then so be it.

We're the first ones at the lobby today, beating the other volunteers. Ikaw kaya maging kasama ng morning person sa room.

Aika was full of energy, a cup of coffee in hand as we waited for the others to gather. As soon as we were complete, we headed to our stops for the day.

The morning went by rather fast, an early sortie and a courtesy call to the city's mayor being the only events that we had to attend.

Then came lunch time or brunch for us, and we went to have a meal at a nearby beach, the same one that Aika had pointed out yesterday.

"Malapit lang dito yung last sortie natin mamaya diba?" One of them pointed out, as we nodded in affirmation.

"Tara inom after? Maraming bar dito oh, tsaka maganda sunset mamaya." she said, wiggling her eyebrows while looking around the table.

Various shouts of 'G!', 'Arat!', 'Basta sagot niyo!', 'Mukha ba kong may tinatagong 203B?' went around the table, as the group excitedly planned for the evening.

"Sama ka Miss Aiks?" one of the volunteers asked the woman beside me. She turned to look at me, putting a hand on my thigh before asking, "Iinom ka?"

And despite the layer of fabric that separated her hand from my bare thigh, the touch sent jolts of electricity throughout my body, and I can feel my cheeks heating up as the whole table turned to look at us. I cleared my throat before answering her the affirmative.

"Sige, count me in." she said, her hand moving back to the table as she gave us a wide grin. Cheers erupted from the group, someone from the end whispering, "Nagpaalam pa ata sa bebe", almost out of earshot but loud enough for me to hear.

"Ate Ally, mamaya pa inuman, bat namumula ka na dyan?"

"Ang dami niyong napapansin, kumain na nga lang tayo, malate pa tayo sa sortie sige." I retorted back with the shake of my head.

"Chill ka lang, kaya sila nang-aasar eh." Aika whispered in my ear, echoing my words to her earlier on. I glared at her and elbowed her side, to which she only chuckled at.

We continued our brunch with more kwentos and laughs, along with the occassional banter of the volunteers.

Aika's hand stayed on the table for the rest of the meal, but we were seated close enough that our thighs often brushed against each other, despite the amount of space on either of our sides.

We attended the rest of our sorties, and even made a stop to meet with another volunteer group that had requested to meet the eldest daughter.

The sky was still blue as our last sortie ended, and energy was still high as we headed back to the beach to catch the sunset.

One evidently excited woman was Aika Robredo, whose eyes shone the brightest when she realized we would be catching the sunset.

One thing about Aika was that she loved beautiful sceneries. She basked in the simplicity, calmness, and quiet of it all. She would always watch in awe as the sun sets or rises, a satisfied smile on her lips as she basked in the first and last rays of the sun.

"Sunsets signify the end, but sunrises signify a new beginning." she said as we watched the sun rise on a hill.

It was close to midterms, every professor giving out all their remaining tasks, as students juggled reviewing and finishing their backlogs.