Marco
Jeff was right, it was no longer important that she was planning to go with me. I left her. I need to live with that.
Ganito ba feeling ng broken hearted? Lahat mapait. Chocolates, mapait. Waffles, bitter.
Even the colors of leaves suddenly seemed dull.
Her birthday was coming up.
Last year, we didn't celebrate it together but her family threw her a party. We were already in good terms then but I didn't even think of getting her a gift, until after. This year, I already have her gift but I guess I won't be able to give it to her.
I took the blue velvet box from my drawer. This was the set of emeralds she was looking at. As usual, she held off buying it because she hadn't saved enough and didn't want to dip into the funds she set up for gifts to family, so she walked away from it. Luckily, they were still available when I got back.
Jewelry will never make things right though. And at this point, I wasn't sure what will.
*
"Marco! Some friends are inviting us for a house party. You up for it?"
Having nothing better to do on a Friday, I said yes. "Who's the host?"
"Lucas, from Marketing. He has a friend who's here for a few weeks - from Manila, actually. Anyway, he's throwing a party for his friend. There's videoke, I hear."
That night, when we arrived at Lucas' house in the suburbs, I noticed that a lot of people from work and I ended up seated with Natalia.
We were laughing at one of the stories of the engineers when Lucas suddenly called out, "Sam! You made it! Welcome! Guys, this Sam and his friend-"
"Anna."
Anna was smiling at everyone but I knew she had seen me and Natalia.
Somehow, I ended up standing in front of her. There was something different about her. Her haircut was a flattering wavy thing that flowed down her back, and it looked lighter. She looked leaner as well.
"Anna."
"Marco." She nodded, giving me a small smile but nothing else.
Her companion, Sam, looked at me then her and back again. "You know each other?"
Anna nodded. "Yes, he is..." I waited. Then, she said, "He's good friends with my cousin."
Okay. That hurt.
That Sam guy took her away before I could say anything further. Who was he? Boyfriend niya? Then, I remembered, I had no right to ask.
Natalia came up to me. "Isn't that your wife? She's with Sam now?"
"Wala kang pake." I muttered, still following Anna with my gaze.
"Huh?"
I turned my attention back to Natalia. Hindi nga pala nakakaintindi ng Tagalog ito. "Nothing. Just drop it."
As the night wore on, I noticed that, though she was close to the guy, it didn't seem intimate. She didn't even allow him to escort her to the rest room or put his hand at the small of her back.
Lucas goaded Sam to sing, then teased Anna. But, to my surprise, she declined. "I don't sing."
I looked at her and raised a questioning brow when she caught my eye. But she just turned away as quickly.
