From: Your Secret Admirer

Chapter Nine

I remembered our conversation at the coffee shop. Somehow, now I understood what he meant by his questions. "You should not think too much on what other people might say about you and your talent. I can see that you really love to paint and draw. If you care too much about what other people might think, then you will never be happy."

"They say painting is just a waste of time."

"They?"

"My dad."

"Well, I'm sure if you showed him your murals, I bet he would understand. In fact I think he would be proud of you and your works." I gave him an encouraging smile. "You're really good at this. And you not painting is a waste of God-given talent."

He gave me a lopsided-grin that suddenly gave my heart arrhythmias. "You're a bad influence, Ice Cream Girl."

I giggled. "Nobody ever said that to me before. Usually my friends say I am dependable."

"You're cool," he said. "I think I like you."

That was the second time I heard him say that. But he sounded casual. Too casual. Should I put any meaning to what he said? Oh no, I blushed.

He suddenly turned towards the exit. "C'mon. I think its safe outside. I'll walk you to school."

I followed behind him. I could not let him see the smile spread across my face.

***

"You've been losing weight, Ky."

"Oh you think so, Ry?"

"Yeah. You're looking good. But you know, you always look good, Ky."

"You are such a friend, Ry!" I said followed by a chuckle. "Maybe it's because of those salads you've been giving me for lunch at school? I think it helped me to lose some pounds."

Ever since I told him that I liked the Caesar salad he had given me before, he started supplying my every lunch with salads or salad wrap. Again, I saved lunch money, and avoided eating my used-to-be-favorite dish: Pork adobo with rice for lunch. Mom and I really liked eating authentic Filipino cuisine, which was the reason why our small restaurant offered different variety of Filipino food with a twist. Our Favorite was pork adobo with coconut milk.

"Well, glad to be of service," he said.

It was a Saturday morning, and our exams finished yesterday. Ryan woke me up as early as six and hauled me out of bed to accompany him to jog at the oval inside the Grand Stand which was located near our school.

It felt good, actually, to feel the morning sun touching my cheeks and feeling the sweat dripping from my forehead. Disgusting, I know, those sweats that is. But I imagined them as "fats burning" and it encouraged me to just keep on jogging.

"We should do this more often, Ry," I suggested.

"Sure. I'm free Wednesday morning."

"Yeah, okay. Wednesday it is."

"Cool. So it's a date then."

"Yeah. It's a date." Then I remembered what Mer had said about Luke feeling threatened with my closeness to Ryan. What if Olivia felt the same way? "Uhm, Ry. Do you think it'll be okay with Olivia if you and I still hang out like this? I mean, wouldn't she be jealous or something?"

Ryan shook his head as he wiped the sweat of his brow with his forearm. "Nah. Olivia's cool about it. Nothing to worry. Why you ask?"

"It's something that Mer told me. Luke asked me about you, and Mer said he probably feel threatened. Anyway, I know it's stupid and it's nothing. But you know Mer --she has this crazy idea that Luke might be jealous."

Ryan looked to be pondering on his thoughts before he looked at me in the eye. "So you and Mer think he's the Mystery Man?"

"What? Oh, no. not yet. He's one of the candidates, though."

"And who are the others?" Ryan asked as we made our way towards the bleachers.

I sat on the first surface while he settled on the one above me. "Franco and Mark."

"Franco? The Franco Soriano? The gangster Franco?" he asked incredulously.

He was directly behind me so I craned my neck and looked over my shoulder. "Why do you act so surprise? Bad boys could be my type, you know?"

He opened a bottle of mineral water and handed it to me. "Okay, if you're really into leather-wearin', summer lovin' guys."

I rolled my eyes before I took a swig of my water. He just had to mention Grease. Why couldn't he just let it go? It was just one time when I drooled over John Travolta singing Summer Nights. "You and the rest of our generation have no respect over the utter coolness of Grease."

He suddenly grabbed my shoulders and pulled my back towards him and started massaging my shoulders. "And Mark Cruz? Have you forgotten I picked a fight with him for making you cry? I lost my front tooth when he punched me in the face."

"That was long time ago. And you exaggerate --you did not lose a tooth. Besides, people change. Mark seemed to be a nice guy. We've been exchanging text messages now. A little to the left please."

He placed a slight pressure on my left shoulder. "He still calls you Dumbo."

"His name of endearment for me," I joked. "You worry too much over me. I thought you and Mer wanted to prove that the curse is not real?"

"Yes. But I just don't want to see you get hurt."

I twisted and faced him. Placing my hand on his knee, I said, "I will get hurt, eventually, if the curse is real. But everyone will experience getting hurt from time to time. I just need to suck it up when that time comes. Don't worry, I'm a tough girl now."

He gave me a small smile. "You know I'm always here for you, Ky, right?"

"Yes, I know, Ry. And I'm glad you're always here beside me."