May the journey of my Althea and Mariz touched your beautiful heart. This is the last update of their love story. Have faith, keep safe.
—————
Epilogue
Wearing my denim shorts, fitted white sleeveless top, and my usual white bulky shoes, I greeted my friends. Unang una kong nilapitan si Luke.
"I missed you," he said in between our tight hug.
"Me too, bro. I missed you." Sambit ko habang manaka-nakang hinahaplos ang likod niya.
I then proceed to our other friends. Kauuwi lang ni Luke dito sa States and he decided to stay for a year to study.
"How's your business, dude?" Stacy asked. She once confessed her feelings for Luke and that's when I figured out that Luke has a thing for me.
Now that Stacy already has a boyfriend, hindi na namin ulit pa napag usapan 'yon. Isa pa, I've always been open about my sexuality and Luke knows me well.
"Good." tumatango tangong sambit ni Luke. "After a year, I'll know better how to handle our business. My sister is still young and impulsive to handle it. At hindi siya mukhang interesado." He added.
Nagkaroon ng ibang topic after that. Natahimik ako nang may pumasok sa restaurant na kinakainan namin. I immediately stood up and went to Nathalie.
Humalik ako sa pisngi niya at ngumiti siya sakin. Nang hinapit siya ng katabi niyang babae, doon ako napaatras. Halos dalawang buwan din kaming hindi nag usap.
"Sige, we'll just leave." Nakangiting sambit ni Nath.
"H-hey," pigil ko sana ngunit hinatak niya yung kasama niya palabas.
I guess we're really done? I don't know.
We were together for almost four years. Tapos ngayon ganito?
No proper break up. Unti-unti siyang nakikilala at kumakalat ang pangalan niya. Doon din nagsimula ang mistulang pag kalimot niya sa akin.
I've always been into photography and my friends kept on teasing me about it. Na kesyo pumasok ako sa industriyang 'to para mapalapit sa ex ko.
Isha approached me with a magazine. It's from Paul Grey's issue of the month.
"You're so lucky you haven't been on a shoot with her. Kailan mo kaya magiging model yan..." naniningkit pa ang mga mata ni Isha nang sabihin niya yon.
Si Nathalie ang cover. Wearing her one piece summer outfit from Paul Grey, she managed to look elegant.
"What?" Natatawang tanong ko. "That's ridiculous. I'm so over her." I even rolled my eyeballs.
"Really?" Tanong niya pa rin na parang hindi naniniwala sa akin.
"Yeah..." sigurado at pinal na sagot ko.
Alam kong wala na sa akin 'yon. Siguro dahil rin sa halos isang taon na kaming hindi nag uusap. Pero ganon katagal na rin kasi kaming hindi nagkikita.
Ang minsanang tawagan namin ni Luke ay naging araw-araw. Kadalasan ring naroon yung girlfriend niya.
Mariz, Luke's girlfriend is such a shy type of person. Palaging kakaway lang sa akin o kung minsan naman, eh ngiti lang.
That's when I actually had a crush on her.
Puta. May pa-crush crush pa ako ngayon. This is so not me. And to vividly think about it, it's my bestfriend's girlfriend.
