His Silent Addiction

02

I took my bag from the floor, na halos hangin lang naman ang laman, and ws about to stand when he added something na nagpakulo lang ng dugo ko.

"But since you're already here, ba't 'di mo na lang din hintayin matapos ang meeting ko please? Mabilis lang yun since-"

"Shut up Caffeine," I interrupted him and stood. "I can go home by myself."

"Eh pero kasi," he paused midway nang titigan ko ito nang masama. He finally admitted defeat. "Fine, but you have to treat me to lunch."

Ngumuso ito at nagpuppy eyes pa na parang bata. Napailing na lang ako at hindi na ito pinansin as it's almost five in the afternoon.

"Sige na, inaantay na ako ni Cider. Go attend that damn meeting of yours," I told him before leaving the room.

The sun is just about to set and the sky is almost turning orange.

I can feel the remaining warmth of the sun colliding with the cool air. Tahimik lang akong naglalakd when I heard loud voices from nearby.

Akala ko wala nagsi-uwian na ang lahat? But then thinking of it, it's only five in the afternoon and lots of student still spend it within school campus. Karamihan sa kanila ay ayaw lang umuwi, habang ang iba marahil ay wala nang bahay na maituturing na kanilang uuwian. Home is different for everyone after all.

Hindi ko ito pinansin hanggang sa palakas na nang palakas ang ingay. Parang mga babae itong nagtitilian sa tinis ng mga boses.

I can't help but feel confusion and fear at the same time. Minumulto ba ang school namin? Kailan pa? But listening to the voices, hindi naman ito humihingi ng tulong. In fact, from the sound of it, parang natutuwa pa ang mga ito.

When my curiosity could no longer be helped, I stopped from walking and looked around for the last time to check. Pero hindi multo ang nakita ko. I saw a familiar face heading towards my direction. The pair of eyes looked confused staring at me and it might be my hallucination but I caught him grin while running towards me.

It was fast, everything seemed to happen in a blink of an eye na hindi ko na napansin ang bigla niyang paghatak sa akin and now we're just both running.

"What the fuck dude?" sigaw ko sa kaniya that he didn’t seem to hear and kept on looking behind him and my intuitions were right. Someone, a group of girls rather, desperately called for him as he drags me away with him.

———

He ran and dragged me to nowhere. He’s incredibly fast. It’s only a good thing that I was actually able to keep up with his pace.

But what the fuck is his deal?

Tumigil kami sa pagtakbo malapit sa playgroud sa school. Ilang kanto rin ang tinakbo namin at hindi ko rin alam bakit dahil naramdaman ko naman tumigil na ang mga babae sa paghabol nang makalabas kami sa gate.

I don't know his reason but I surely caught him smile while we were running. Hinihingal na ako't lahat-lahat pero ngumingiti pa rin siya?

Sa sobrang pagod, ramdam ko ang pagtagaktak ng pawis sa likod ko, meron din sa mukha ko na parang kakatapos ko lang ikutin ang buong field dahil late na naman ako sa klase ni Sir Udon. I leaned on my knees, trying to catch my breath. And when I finally found my voice again, I looked at him who’s still out of breath.

“Tangina, anong problema mo?” I asked and then saw that he's still gripping tightly on my wrist. “Pwede ka nang bumitaw.”

I saw him flinch and immediately remove his hands. “Sorry, I didn't notice.” Yet he never looked up once, like he’s trying to hide something or what.