"Gabby, ano ba?" Madamdamin akong hinila ni Mikel papaharap sa kanya. Sa gilid ng mata ko, kitang kita ko ang panghihinayang ng mag-babalut.
"Do you want to re-enact the last dates we had? Those that you cannot remember."
Kumunot ang noo ko at nanatiling nakatingin sa kanya. His footstep closing our distance were heavy.
"I can remember those. Just tell me where your memory ends and I will fill the missing parts with me in it."
"S-seryoso?" Napalingon na ako sa kanya.
Tumango si Mikel.
"Siguro mas mabilis mong maalala kapag merong trigger. We will go to the places we've been, eat the food that you loved, do everything over again kagaya kung paano mo naalala ang mag-lakad, mag-sulat at mag-basa."
"P-pero Mikel, si Scarlette."
"Scarlette and I broke up."
"For real?"
Tumango si Mikel, "I want to leave that part of my life private."
"And that was the time when she saw me at your office, right? Sinabi mo lang na ayos sa kanya ang lahat para hindi ako ma-guilty."
"Too late for the guilt now, Gab. Like what I said, I want to keep it private."
Nakakaunawa akong tumango.
"What's the catch?" I asked.
"No catch."
"Rules? What will be the rules?" I asked.
"No touching."
"Sayang naman."
"No Kissing." Dagdag niya,
"Wag na lang kaya?"
"I won't force you to do this pero kung papayag ka, tell me what your last memory is, then let's fill the blanks in."
---
"Are you sure this is your last memory?" Lukot na lukot ang mukha ni Mikel habang nakatayo siya sa harapan ko. The aircon in full-blast didn't help to cool down the temperature. I can feel the heat rushing through my veins and I cannot help but to be perverse.
Tao lang, Beshy!
"Eto na nga ba ang sinasabi ko. I don't want you to think that I am flirting with you, ito talaga yun Mikel. Ito ang huli kong alaala. Then tell me, what happened next?"
"Can you close your legs? Goodness, Gabby!" Napatakip ng mata si Mikel.
Bumangon ako at nag-pamewang. Itinakip ko ang suot na roba sa aking katawan.
"Ano, Mikel. Did you successfully pop my cherry on our fifth anniversary?"
"God, No! We stopped. I stopped you because I want to preserve it for our marriage."
"Then which part did it happen? Kinabukasan ba? Dali, let's sleep and wait for tomorrow. Golly, I can't wait!"
"Gabby.."
"Mikel. This is my last memory. Sabi mo you will help me to re-enact everything."
"Gabby, just the most important bits and pieces. If we re-enact everything, that would be 2 years!"
"Ay, ang impatient mo doon. Para dalawang taon lang."
"Gabby.." Mikel roughtly said in a warning tone.
Humalukipkip ako at bumalik na sa kama. Mikel asked me to use his room. Yeah, I know. Masyadong makapal ang mukha ko dahil pumayag ako. But if I won't, we cannot start this idea of his. I told him that my last memory was this, our fifth year anniversary at hindi ako nagbibiro doon. You think it was a joke?
Ex. 12
Start from the beginning
