- Tina Pascual
- Oct 18, 2019
- 5 min read
Updated: Aug 31, 2020
Part 1: WHILE I WAS HEAD OVER HEELS IN LOVE WITH LEON, I HAD RAIN
“You must see him! He’s too handsome. Everybody in the gang was attracted to him”, Ellie assured me. “I guarantee, you will like him too. His name is Rain”, she added while we were going down the stairs for her to Introduce me to him.
After Rain and I was acquainted, I sat in front of him while he was busy doing his assignments. He was quiet and poker-faced so I assumed the same aura to myself. I felt nothing special and different from what my friends had told me about seeing him for the first time. Its not that he wasn’t handsome like they claimed him to be. Its just that I felt no sparks at all.
Few days had gone by, I gathered with my peers at the park for a planned birthday surprise. It was Rain’s. The party went well and when it was time for all of us to go, he stood up and made an awesome speech. I was startled and moved not by its content but because he did it with so much conviction. I heard leadership, command and power. I discerned someone who had so much potential of being a somebody. That night, I was convinced about him.
Many days had past, Rain remained a campus heartthrob. I noticed he’s a good dresser and exudes self-confidence. On the other hand, I had been busy with my love interest - with someone I am falling in love with - Leon, a very comical and jolly person. Sadly though, Leon is too consumed with my beautiful friend, Beauty.
One day, Ellie came rushing to me. She wanted me to accompany her going to a bookstore to see Rain. “He was there! Please come with me. I wanted to see him even from afar”, she exclaimed. So we hurried and saw him there.
Rain was busy choosing books to buy. “See! I really like his style. And I’m cool to admit that I am crushing on him so bad!”, Ellie told me with so much admiration on him.
He was wearing a navy blue shirt and jeans. In my mind, “Yes, he has good taste.” I very much agree with Ellie but I chose to keep silent as I believe it wasn’t that important for me to say anything.
After a while, we tailed him from afar while he goes to a fast food restaurant to buy a chocolate coated sundae.
I can’t exactly remember how I got tied with Rain. Perhaps, its because of the common friends we had. One night, I just found myself in a shared taxi, going home with him. We were both living in the south of the metro.
Approximately, we spent 2 hours on the road talking about our weaknesses, the things we like to do for fun, the sports we always wanted to play, his brother who just recently died of cancer, his course enrolment struggles, his father’s job as an architect and many more. One thing that sticks to my mind though - its how close his face to me, his eyes twinkling with happiness and his smile that never fades until he finally arrived in his destination and I was left to continue my own journey.
That first ride home started our closeness. in fact, he tries to piss and tease me about looking like the old famous actress. Even if he wasn’t successful in poking me, our friends started to call me, Amelia, the veteran’s actress name.
More days had past, Leon and Beauty started dating each other. I was so heartbroken and my world began to shatter. I tried to move on alone and shut the people around me. I was so hurt that I began not to see my friends.
Until one day, Rain bumped at me and told me that he wanted to see me after class. I felt a bit of excitement but I unconsciously suppressed it. Nevertheless, we continued this set-up for the rest of the semester.
Often, he will extend his hand for me to hold as I go out of the class. Other times, he will start to call my name outside our classroom if our instructor doesn’t dismiss us on time. Always, we will hang out first before we will finally ride a shared taxi home.
Our favourite routine is buying a chocolate sundae in a fast food restaurant where Ellie and I used to follow him from a distance. Then, we will sit at the nearby park and enjoy the ice cream together - often without a word from each other. This was actually the moment where I knew we had gone from friends to best of friends, simply because we are mutually aware that silence doesn’t made us uncomfortable being with each other.
The next semester, Rain started to struggle maintaining his grades, he decided to rent a boarding house near our university. This is when our ‘going home’ routine ended. We still see each other after class though. There are times, we will play arnis* up until evening and there are times we will go to our drama club together for a practice.
I also had a fair share of challenges. My health was hit and I undergone a facial surgery. I took a long leave from classes to rest until I received a call. It was Rain. He asked me to meet him at the park overlooking the Manila bay. My heart leaped a bit to finally see my best friend again.
The set day came, our pals, Ellie and Neil fetched me from home. Halfway to the vicinity, they covered my eyes and let me walk with them for another 30 minutes until we reached the vicinity. When they finally took off the hanky from my eyes, I was surprised!
Rain, had picnic cloth, lighted candles, snack foods, red wine and glasses. He decorated the spot by scattering red rose petals and chocolate candies. Before we sat down to a romantic night, a couple right at the far end crawled out from their tent and told me how sweet my boyfriend was. I answered back telling them he was just my best friend.
We happily moved on talking about life in general and savouring the prepared food. Afterwards, we decided to rent a cycled rickshaw. We drove around merrily and when Rain saw a group of street children admiring us, he called them, jumped out of the rickshaw and whispered something to them. So, I decided to return the bicycle instead.
As soon as I came back, the children were all lined up. Rain queued them for a choreographed song and dance complete with props of letters, spelling “I Love You”. I was so stunned and delighted. But more on how he had orchestrated the night. Also, the stars aligned when suddenly, there were fireworks from somewhere. We fancied it until the end of the display. As soon as it dies out, it signalled us that we should call it a night.
Immediately after, Ellie and Neil had left. But Rain refused to take me home. Instead, he invited me to go to a nearby 5 star hotel. Just when I am about to say, “I can't”, he held my hand tightly and off we go...
*ARNIS - Philippines’ national martial art sports. It is a fight mainly using a wooden sticks.
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