It had been too long since we last saw each other. Eight, ten years… she lost count already. And then today, after everything that happened, after everything she went through when she left, she will see him again.

“Ria, do you know what time George is coming?”

A forced smile plastered on her face, she quipped, “no sorry”.

Their friends didn’t know they had a falling out before she left. They just thought that she hastily went abroad because of work. And that they are still in constant touch with each other.

“I think George is still stuck inside the office. He was in a meeting when I left kasi,” said Bernice, a common friend who works at the same company as George’s. “He’s been under a lot of stress lately and he looks haggard all the time. Or siguro nami-miss ka na kasi sobra, Ria!”

Everyone laughed. Even she forced a laugh. He will not miss her. Not after what happened.

Amidst the laughter and reminiscing, a voice that she hasn’t heard for so long, a voice that has been haunting her dreams each and every day she closes her eyes since she left, spoke…

“Started the party without me?”

“George!” “Oy pare!” “Bro!”

She felt hot and cold at the same time. She’s nervous and edgy and she hated it. She gasped when she saw him. Thank God for the loud banter that followed when he asked Norman to move so that he’s seated right in front of her.

He’s the same as before, tall, well-built, tan, and still the unsmiling man she’s met back in high school. But there’s something else in him. Something she could not pin-point.

*to be continued