November 29, 2004 wasn't that different. The Lozada family gathered in San Juan because it was Uncle Jun's birthday. It was a birthday Uncle Jun said everyone must always be present because the following day is a holiday. While everyone was there, I was in UST, for our annual deliberations for possible candidates for the AB Student Council. With me were friends, fellow prospects, and some members, one of whom was pretty special to me.
See when the Academic Year started, I met these two Communication Arts freshmen from Stella Maris College. Issa and Che seemed inseparable then. As I introduced our political party to them, I felt a weird attraction to Che. She was all smiles and had a somewhat irritating pitch when she shouted, but she was "kwela" for lack of a better word to describe her. But beneath all the smiles I felt that she was fragile and is this loud and cheery exactly because she's hiding it from the world. I wanted to take care of her.
Che was in no way attracted to me. Kinikilig sa harapan ko yan pag nakikita crush nya. But I persisted. I brought two umbrellas in my bag everyday since the first time I met her. One day, it finally rained during dismissal, and I chanced upon Che and Issa sharing a small umbrella. I pulled out my umbrella like it was just their lucky day that I had an extra one. Of course, it only gave me a chance to see her again.
I was able to get on her good side at least. There was always that awkwardness because she knew I liked her, so building up a friendship with her was a bit difficult. She got through it though, and at one point during the sem break I got Issa to tell her we could all watch a movie together, then cancel at the last minute so that we could go watch that movie by ourselves. Truthfully, I forgot which movie it was. I just remember how nice it was that we were able to pull it off.
Eventually, I got the courage to express my feelings for her. It was in Benavides Park, fondly called "Lover's Lane" in UST. There we were, sitting on a rock, with tears falling because of all the emotions being poured out, all while Issa was trying her best impersonation of a rock while everything is happening around her.
"Gusto ko maging sigurado muna ako..." was ultimately Che's message that night.
And so, November 29, 2004, weeks after this scene happened. It was a rainy day, and there were no classes in UST, true to the GMA's habit of switching holidays. Che kept looking for me like some clingy kid. Later, she would borrow my cellphone to send a text message. She held my hand more that day, and I didn't mind. As we were going home she kept asking if someone replied. I checked, but there weren't any messages. As we rode the FX to Pasig under the Pureza Station of LRT 2, she finally told me to write a message. I opened it and saw the words already typed in:
"Sigurado na ako. Mahal kita. :)"
And a happy, exciting feeling just poured out of me. I didn't want to go down from the FX, but she insisted that I go. I did, and we went our separate ways. I don't know how her ride was, but I know she got home safe. From Kalentong, I walked to San Juan while it was raining lightly, and some of the roads were flooded. I didn't mind, I could finally say Che was my girlfriend.
Every 29th of November, we celebrated it together. She knows of my family's traditions, but we always make it a point to celebrate our anniversary together. I'd come late to Uncle Jun's party, or be somewhere else during this day for the past nine years. I honestly can't enumerate every single date that we had every November 29 since 2004. We've had so many special moments that I've forgotten which happened on the 29th of what year. But this year is going to be new.
Today, as we mark our 9th year anniversary together, we're celebrating it apart. It is a consequence of the choices we made. It's quite sad not to be celebrating this day with her, but there's still a lot to be happy about because we made the choices that we did. Happy should always outweigh the sad.
We're living in the "now", and we don't want to speculate as to how the 29th will turn out next year or the year after that. Right now, we know that we're celebrating it apart; sad with the fact that we're miles away, but happy with our decisions that got us where we are now.
Tonight, I'll be coming to Uncle Jun's birthday celebration without Che by my side for the first time since November 29, 2004. Just like every other year that this celebration happens, we're another year wiser, and another year grown up. This year may have seen the most grown up decision we had to make for our relationship.
Happy 9th, Che.
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