Something That Glitters

2 // Your Resident Blooming Girl

Your Resident Blooming Girl

So, I have a problem. Wait, this won't be so dramatic you'd snooze off at second sentence, I promise! So hear me out.

It's been three days since I settled in my new apartment and I still didn't know what to do with my life here. Sinubukan ko na kayang maghanap ng bodyguard job but they're scouting for big-ass male with a degree on Mixed Martial Arts on the side. Urgh! I didn't even know you could graduate in Martial Arts bachelor program! Where's the gender equality on Earth? Don't they know I could protect all creatures with all my heart, all my life?

Well, they're missing out on me. Their loss. I could punch very well, for their information, thanks very much.

Kaya ayon, natulog na lang ako.

I'm feeling so independent, by the way. Noon kasing nasa Manila ako ay magkasama kami ni Saige sa condo. It was during our college days until we worked for the not-so-fun corporate world, and now we parted ways.

Madali lang namang mag-isa because (scoff) I've been alone my whole life, love-wise. I know, I know, 'di ko rin kasi siya isinama sa goals and priorities ko... not until now.

I was so loved by my family and friends that I didn't really need it. Tropa ko lang lahat tingnan ang mga lumalapit sa 'kin because why not, I'm not interested.

Could it be... I didn't have the capacity to love... at all?

Am I... am I a... monster?

I palmed both of my cheeks and pulled it down out of shock and frustration. I was wide-eyed with my mouth hanging open.

"I am a monster!"

Isinuot ko kaagad ang black leather jacket ko at kumaripas ng takbo palabas. I didn't even know where I was going, I just needed a jog to calm down.

Yes. Yes, I am overreacting.

Nag-taxi ako papuntang Times Square. Tsaka na lang ulit ako magtitipid. I am sad right now so I'm giving myself a free pass.

Maraming boutiques ang gustong, gustong, gustong-gusto ko nang pasukin at i-raid. But I was a different version of Snooki right now, kaya pinigilan ko ang sarili ko. Buti na lang din ay hindi ko kasama si Saige rito ngayon, that girl didn't know when to stop. Who I needed now was either Jules or Vie. O, pwede ring si Ate Carina kasi alam kong ililibre niya ako.

Instead, I dropped by to M&M's world in Broadway so I could sweeten my day by a tiny bit.

May malaking billboard ng picture ng chocolate M&M's sa labas ng building and its height was almost at least, as I counted it, seven-storey high.

Walking inside the chocolate store, I was a kid again. And as a kid, I had untroubled feelings and only knew how to cry and make my parents panic. Anyway, I saw their mascot in one corner, you know, that circle guy taking the shape of their famous, tiny, round chocolate but with white hands and feet? That.

Naka-peace sign akong nag-picture habang nasa likod iyon tapos ay s-in-end ko sa group chat namin na magpipinsan.

My brother Elon was the first one to react, giving his list of preferred pasalubong that I won't get him. Neknek niya, nagtitipid ako, 'no! Tsaka punta na lang siya rito, dalhan niya ako ng Boy Bawang.

Back to my chocolate shopping spree, there were these tubes attached to the wall that's two-storey high filled with colorful M&M's inside. I had a plastic bag where I'd put the chocolates in, and I only needed to tap the dispenser of whichever flavor I wanted.