Carbonara and Shanghai

Chapter 2: Night Swimming

In my perception in love, I believe in one thing, love comes in unexpected ways. Just like me and melai, I never thought that she and I would end up together. And I had to sacrifice something, for me to get to where I am right now.

Before me and melai were together, we started as friends. I told her to call me Piolo; I know you’re laughing huh? I told her to call me Piolo, just for the hell of it; I meant it as a joke at first, but then, she said, I’ll just call you John Lloyd. And of course I was flattered; in return I called her Bea.

We started texting right after she left the apartment of Laihock.

John Lloyd: “ingat ka sa paguwi Bea.”

Bea: “hehe..thanks John Lloyd!”

John Lloyd: “Kain ka muna bago ka umuwi”

Bea: “opo john Lloyd..”

After meeting her, she never left my mind; there was something about her that imprinted in my mind. Yes, I found her funny, appreciative, and most especially outgoing. One of the traits I’ve been looking for in a woman. It just kept coming on my mind, “sayang naman, may girlfriend kasi ako. Kaya hindi pwede..tsk…”

Minutes, hours, days, and weeks have passed; me and melai, continued talking with one another, she shared her failed relationships stories, her likes and dislikes, her favorites. And I shared my problems with her; most of it was problems with my present relationship with daisy; how rocky it is, and how boring it can be at times. And she would also talk about her suitor, and how great of a guy he was. I don’t know what it is, but when she talked about “this” guy, I kind of got jealous, coz this guy gets to be with melai, and I don’t; I told melai, “this” guy is lucky to have you.

And my dream of having her someday came crashing down. But we still maintained our communication; we were like best friends, “nagkukulitan” as I describe it in a way of how our relationship was going.

After several months of friendship, I was still infatuated by her, and I kind of miss her, coz, I haven’t seen her in a long time, the last time I saw her was after the party of Laarni. I was really eager to see her again. Then nursing week came, I was really busy that week, coz I was an officer of our very own, Student Nurses Organization. Then suddenly I came up with a plan, even though I was busy with stuff for nursing week; I texted up my friends, and told them I would like to set up an outing, night swimming rather. I even texted melai, she even told me, she would go, and she expects to see me soon.

Then unexpected events happened on the nursing week, my girlfriend that time, suddenly stopped texting me, it was days already, and she refuses to see me. As an understanding guy, I kept calm. I was very patient with her. And along with the unexpected events, I was given a big task by the president of SNO; while I was also busy planning with my friends about the night swimming. And of course, the date of our outing has been settled, invitations have been sent to my friends. But unfortunately for me, on the night of our outing, I was called by the president of SNO to help work on an event to be held tomorrow morning, it was rush job..grrrr..My friends flooded me with texts as I was busy on working for the event.

Ralph: “tol san ka na??”

Bea: “John Lloyd, san ka na? Pupunta ka ba?”

I was so pissed I had to be busy that night wherein fact I had to be enjoying together with my friends. But I had to reply.

Me: “tol, sunod na ko, mejo busy lang kasi para sa event bukas..habol ako pre..dyan ba c melai?”

Ralph: “ Uu pre, bilisan mu cren..kaw nagset tapos di ka pupunta..ampf!

Me: “ahaha..uu tol habol ako..”

Me: “bea, sunod na ko dyan maya – maya.. =)”

Bea: “Ok John Lloyd..”

Alas! I was done with what I had to do; shoot! It was 10:30pm already, and my friends were waiting for me. I went as fast as I could to Aleman’s Garden and Hotel, the place where our night swimming was held; as I entered the venue, the first thing that came into my mind was Melai; all I ever wanted to do was sit and chat with her.

Oh boy was I happy? Of course I was, we kept joking with each other, everybody laughed. And honestly, I think we kind of flirted with each other, which was ok with our friends. They even teased us of being together already like “Kayo na ah?” “ayeeee! Ang sweet nyo naman” things like that.

Much to our amusement, we had to call it a night; the swimming pool had to close at 11:30pm, which was really frustrating for me, coz I didn’t get to have much fun, as I would’ve wanted. And instead, I offered Melai a ride in my motorcycle, I even joked her “Ikaw lang isasakay ko no, dahil tayo na diba? Hahaha..”..I guess I was lucky that night, she accepted. As we headed to the boarding house of laarni, where we were supposed to sleep, I had the chance to talk to her one on one. It was kinda romantic, coz I drove slowly so me and Melai could have quality time, plus there were stars. Just think about right timing, I did a hell of a job. (hahahaha)..

Me: “melai, may sasabihin ako sayo…”

Melai: “anu ‘yon?”

(to be continued…)