Simula (Completed)

Chapter 35

NICHOLAS

My mind was aimlessly wandering around this halfway dream state of mine.

My phone then suddenly started ringing as I was about to fall asleep.

Oh! Who am I kidding?

I cannot stop thinking about her.

I answered my phone without even thinking of looking at the caller ID.

"Yeah?" I displaced my anger on whoever is calling me at this hour.

"Nicholas?" I heard a faint whisper of my name from the other line.

I pulled my phone down from my ear to look at who was calling and saw her name on the screen.

I suddenly yelled "Argh!" and dropped my phone accidentally.

Am I dreaming?

I pinched myself and it hurt.

I guessed not.

So I scrambled to find my thrown-out phone from this dimly lit room.

"What do you need?" I replied.

Tsk! That came out too harsh, I thought.

"Uhm,..." She started.

I think I scared her a bit.

"I'm sorry for disturbing you, but I think I needed to talk to you." She stuttered.

"No, I do need to talk to you." She followed sounding more determined than the last statement.

"What do you need to talk about that can't wait in the morning?" I questioned her sounding a little bit intrigued...

...just a little bit.

"I want to find the answer to what I'm feeling right now." She suddenly said.

Why does she ask questions so straightforwardly?

"Why do I feel my heart beating so soundly whenever I'm with you? And why does it feel like it was a being crushed if you're not beside me?"

She asked as if these things were normal questions to ask the man who loved her all his life.

How dense can she be?

"Hannah, you're smart." I started.

"Why don't you think about it?" I said coolly, even though my heart is beating like a wild horse.

"I did think about it. It's just that, I don't know if it is the right answer. So I called you to maybe try to enlighten me." She said to me.

"I think..." She softly said.

"...I like you." She finally blurted out.

I just held on to my phone, my gaze transfixed as my eyesight started to get blurry.

Did she just say what I think she said?

"Hello?"

"Nicholas?!"

"Are you still there?" I heard a very faint feminine voice on the line.

That brought me back to earth, "Ye...yeah! Still here." I mumbled.

"Huh? What did you say?" She asked.

"I lo..love you too." I continued to mumble.

"What was that? I didn't quite hear it." She said sounding sincerely confused.

"I can't believe you still mumble nowadays." She followed as she started to laugh.

"Hey!" I snapped.

"I don't mumble. My voice is just tired and weak from today's activities." I defended.

"Yeah! Yeah! Whatever!" She said nonchalantly.

She did not believe me.

The nerve of this woman!

Wait until I get my hands on her.

"This is nice." She suddenly said. "I thought you were mad at me."

That brought back my memory of why I was angry at her in the first place.

She was already taken and she kept on pestering me.

However, why did she still say she liked me?

"What will you do about you boyfriend?" I asked cautiously.

"What boyfriend?" She sounded puzzled.

"Where did you get the idea that I even have one?" She said.

"And what about you?" She continued.

"What about me?" I countered.

"What about your girlfriend? She might get pissed that you kept on spending your time with me." She said.

I was surprised.

WTH! What's going on?

Lost in translation, anyone.

"Look Hannah!" I suddenly said.

"Yes?!" I heard her say.

"Listen to me and listen very well," I said slowly.

"Okay." She simply said.

"I did not have a girlfriend, ever." I said.

"You did not have one, ever." She repeated.

Then she whispered, "Are you perhaps...uhm, gay?" She hesitatedly asked.

I fumed.

Relax Nico.

Keep your cool.

This is the girl you love, remember.

I let out a long breath and said, "Hannah, I'm not gay. Hindi ako bakla!"

I thought I heard her say "thank god" under her breath.

"I have not had one because there is this one person that I have been waiting for my whole life." I said seriously.

This is it.

It's now or never...

...as my heart kept on beating wildly.

"And that person is..." I stammered. "..."

I was about to say "you" when our phone call got suddenly disconnected.

"Hello???" I said too loudly.

Did she just hang up on me?

WTH! I was confessing here.

Come on!