Believe me, I lied

Chapter 9

"Wait here" he said as he stops his car in front of a big house. He then starts to unbuckle his seatbelt.

"Mag-isa ka lang dito?" curious kong tanong as I gaze my eyes outside the car's window. This house is really huge.

"No, my friend stays with me at moment, he'll take you home later" he said and then he proceeded to exit his car.

When he closed tha car's door, I took a deep breath and ask myself if I did the right thing. Sino ba naman kasing matinong babae ang basta na lang sasama sa lalaking kakakilala pa lang niya?

But the thing is, no matter how absurd this may look to others, I don't know why but I'm not really afraid with Kevin. Maybe I might've misjudged him on other things, but I don't think he's capable of harming me.

And to tell you the truth, I'm not really afraid to die...but if I could choose my ending, getting murdered isn't gonna be one of them.

Kaya pumayag akong uminom kasama siya. But on one condition, which is...we should drink outside of his house.

You might be wondering why I didn't just choose a bar or somewhere else where I could be more safe, but the thing is, I hate crowded and noisy places. And I'm a private person...so I chose to die in private as well. Just kidding, I'm going to be just okay, am I right?

After a while, he got out of the house and started walking back to the car with a big plastic bag and a blanket on his arms. When I saw that he's getting closer, I unbuckled my seatbelt and opened the car's door. Pagkatapos lumabas na ko sa kotse atsaka kinuha ang blanket sa isa niyang kamay.

"Thank you" sabi niya and I just smiled at him. Pagkatapos, inumpisahan ko ng ayusin ang blanket sa malamig na semento. Yup, were going to drink at the sidewalk. Exciting, right?

When I finished fixing the blanket, he then lays the plastic bag on top of it. And then, he sits on the right side and I sit on the other side. Then, he started to rummage the plastic bag and took a few candles out of it. He lit them up and then put them in the corner.

"Ayos lang ba ang beer?" tanong niya but he wasn't looking at me.

"Sure" sagot ko and then he took two bottles of beer on the plastic bag again and then he opened both of it. He offered me a bottle and I gladly accepted it. And then we got surrounded by a deafening silence.

I really don't know if I should strike a conversation with him when we only agreed to drink. But the silence is too awkward and I think it has a big potential of killing me, so I decided to talk first after I gulp a few drink of my beer.

"Mayaman ka siguro" I plainly said without looking at him.

"Maybe" tipid niyang sagot atsaka din siya uminom sa bote niya.

"You know, I used to dream about having a house like yours when I was a child"

"Lahat naman siguro" sagot niya and I could feel him smiling when he said that, even though I couldn't see his face.

"Right?" I said and then I took a deep breath before I continued. "Nakakalungkot lang isipin, 'yung mga pinapangarap mo noong bata ka, lalong lumayo ngayong tumanda ka na. Kaya naman I stopped admiring beautiful houses anymore"

"How come?" he asked but I didn't answer him right away. Instead, I put down my beer beside me and then I rests both of my hands on my knees and lay my head on them after.

"Because it's impossible for me to have one anytime soon"

He didn't answer me and I only saw him nods a couple times in the corner of my eye. And then he takes another sip of his beer.

"Can I ask you a personal question?" I asked and now I am looking straight at him.

"What?" Kalmado niyang tanong.

"Hindi ba masayang maging successful?" tanong ko atsaka ako tumayo para tignan ang bahay niya na nasa likod namin. And then I continued to blabber more. "Ang ganda ng bahay mo and you have a nice car too. Pero...you don't look happy"

He just chuckled at what I said and then he drinks the remaining content of his beer. And then he looks at me with a bitter smile on his face.

Why does he look more sad when he smiles at me?

"Hindi naman natatapos sa pagiging successful ng isang tao ang mga problema" and then he looks away from me after he said that and I got struck with reality.

Napaka sensitive ko naman. How can I asked him about happiness when she just lost someone dear to her? Nahiya ako sa sinabi niya kaya naman ako napaupo ulit.

"I'm sorry about Miles" guilty kong sabi.

"It's okay" tipid niyang sagot atsaka siya nagbukas pa ng isang beer, at kaagad na uminom dito.

Pinilit ko namang makipagsabayan sa kanya. Kaya kinuha ko ang beer ko na nasa tabi ko atsaka inubos ang laman nito, atsaka ako nag-lakas loob na magsalita ulit. He might as well just think I'm drunk. Bahala na.

"Do you want to talk about it?" I asked looking at him and then he just took a deep breath.

"I really don't know how to say it" he said softly. He looks vulnerable now for some reason "I don't know, everything just happened so suddenly and I'm left with soooo many questions. Why'd she has to go suddenly? And how selfish of her not to even say goodbye to me" tuloy tuloy-tuloy na sabi niya.

"How did she..." and I can't continue what I'm about to say because I'm not sure if I have the right to ask.

"She died saving her sister from drowning" he said---finally revealing what I wanted to know from the start. So that was the reason why he would suddenly look angry when Miles's sister name is mentioned.

I really cant say anything and my heart just started hurting for him.

"I never thought I would talk about her with a stranger"

"Maybe it's because I'm a stranger"

"Yeah, maybe" he said and then he opened another bottle of beer and he offered it to me with a serious look on his face.

"Your turn" he said and I accepted it.

Where should I begin?