Not Into Her

XLII - The Life Of Aprielle

Then another moment of silence came and suddenly I remembered something.

"So what happened to our batch?" I asked.

"Actually, Alex," Francine started. "I've never seen our batch for a long time. The last time I and our batch met was back in '01, our first reunion after Graduation. Back then, I saw our batchmates with their lovers and they looked so sweet with each other. I've noticed that we're not complete though I just counted a hundred, from the a hundred and sixty."

"What happened to Von, Kris, Daniel and James?"

"I heard Von enrolled BSMT in Holy Cross of Davao College and graduated as a seaman after we graduated high school. He's been sailing for three years after college graduation and been married to Charmie after a three-year relationship as boyfriend and girlfriend. Kris enrolled BSIT in Holy Cross of Davao College and married Mikaella after a five-year relationship as boyfriend and girlfriend.

"Daniel is now a Computer Specialist and married Queenie after a ten-year relationship. And James is now an IT Technician and married to his lesbian girlfriend, Aya."

"So," I said at Francine.

"How's your crush, Aprielle, if I may?"

"Yeah. Something like that."

"Well, I and Aprielle have been friends before the '91 Graduation. We've been friends since second year in high school and got some secrets to share with each other. After she heard the news that you're dead, Aprielle got worried at the moment. She even have a feeling that your plane crashed down because of her bad attitude and her rejection on you when she saw you on the canteen after the graduation rites.

"And because of what she learned, she started to cry and begged for forgiveness. She even didn't have a time in making some appointments with her boyfriend and focused on her studies. And, after a three-month silence, her boyfriend broke up with her and told her that he's got a new one.

"Aprielle's got a hard time in finding the one who she really think is the one. She suffered eleven break-ups after the first break-up and most of these relationship were just three months old. And some of the reason why all the boys she dated broke up with her was they found new love with someone else.

"And with this realization, Aprielle started to feel what you feel when she rejected your call on her. She suffered pain, an agonizing pain that she really felt, and thought of giving a second chance to love her after that day. And she finally found that she's crazily, madly in love with you, Alex.

"And when she's twenty-two, Aprielle married to a Korean businessman named Hwang Bai Lei just to keep you away from her mind. But, whenever she was with her husband and got living in a house in Korea, she can't stop thinking of you. Aprielle and Bai Lei planned of having a child when Aprielle reach twenty-four, so after two years, they got a son.

"Aprielle stopped working as a nurse in the Philippines after she got married with Bai Lei and served him as a wife in their house in Korea. They've been living in South Korea, in a small Japanese house-like house in Seoul, before they've got kids, two to be exact. They've been happily living, since they've been married, and in a room.

"But, when her husband died ten years ago and on her firstborn's fifth birthday, Aprielle started to feel sorry on what happened after on the graduation rites. And when her husband laid to rest, Aprielle returned her love on you. She even thought that she and Bai Lei were not meant to be due to their age difference of thirteen years. She's twenty-seven while her husband is forty and, yes, it's a big difference.

"After making him rest, Aprielle decided to go back to Philippines and settled on their house in Luzville Subdivision in Brgy. Panacan. She's living with her son, Brian and Gabriel, on a house near her parents. We've been talking about the new house and their new home and Aprielle promised that she'll stay true to her children.

"By the way, when you're lying on your coffin after you died, Aprielle became sorry on herself. She gone to your funeral and gave your family some condolences. And when you've got buried, Aprielle was on the front crying with your family. She looked that she's so close to you and all of your friends and some of the batchmates are also there.

"After the burial, when Mondays came, Aprielle always gone to the burial spot and always gives your spot some candles and some flowers. She even stayed at your spot for almost three hours, murmuring that she's sorry for what she did that day. She always told the same spot that she's so insensitive at that time and never felt the feeling that you ever have on her.

"Brian also told me that whenever your death anniversary came, Aprielle listened to some of her favorite songs that she tributes on herself like Teardrops In My Guitar, Invisible, Amnesia, and White Horse, while lying on her bed with closed door after she gone to your burial spot. She even always went to a bar and got herself drunk due to her insensitive on you.

"She's got a hard time in forgetting you, Alex. I mean, she's like living in a different world with her imagination of you in her mind. She's crazy, alright. Aprielle didn't have a chance to go and make a meeting with her high school friends and even her husband's burial spot in South Korea. She can't stop thinking about you."

"But one question I will ask on you, Alex." she said, looking at me with her worried eyes. "Are you still into her?"