Betty Dalton and Elías Santamarina-James have been dating for seven months of pure bliss.
In Betty's eyes, their relationship is nearly flawless, if you don't count his insistence to sleep with her and his constant need for reassurance.
It's the fir...
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Falling in love with Elías was like getting on a plane, jumping and hoping that the parachute would open without checking on it in the first place-the harsh wind of reality slapped me across the face and I was left picking myself up from the cold hard ground.
I wasn't alone though. I had Juanse
I met him on the first day of elementary school but I was bound to meet him any other way.
My family's starter house was in the same neighbourhood as his current one, the home that had his entire life carved into its walls was two blocks from the property I vacated when I was two and moved back with my parents to Quezon City. When we returned, three years later, we settled down in Daisy Creek close enough to Willow Vale to end up going to the same elementary school as Juan Sebastián.
We were the only children who would rather sit by the window staring at our backpacks instead of introducing ourselves in front of the whole class.
I turned to my right and gazed into the warmest brown eyes laced with dark lashes that fluttered anxiously as he made circular motions with his thumbs, up and down, up and down-thus I gripped his fingers with mine and caught both of his hands and shaped our hands in the form of an everlasting hold.
He said he was scared of saying his name out loud for our peers' tongues might twist themselves pronouncing it, maybe even on purpose, so I repeated his name as many times as I could and the words seared themselves into my skin.
After that we became inseparable and whenever we got overwhelmed by the noise surrounding us during class, we would stop and write one word in our respective languages which meant the same and encompassed how we felt being together.
Bibo.
Vivo.
It was enough to know the other one was okay.
One of my cousins, Beatriz, used to tease me about how he and I looked like foolish little kids in love and even said that the pictures we had together of me dressed in a white dress from our first communion were our wedding pictures-not only was she weird for pairing kids together when she was already an adolescent-she was wrong because although he was the one who occupied a special part of my heart, his brother was the one plaguing my mind.
I was a walking cliche.
And he was leaving with his girlfriend tomorrow.
"Iced caramel latte with so much sugar it gets stuck on the bottom that you can't even stir the whole thing," Juanse announced as I opened the door for him, making his way to the kitchen.
I closed the door with my foot and followed after him. He had put down our drinks-his predilection was always a cold brew with the tiniest amount of sugar-on the counter.
