In universities here in Manila, diversity of cultures is quite a common thing. When I was studying in my university, I used to avoid people from different races, not because I'm racist, it's just because I always had a hard time dealing with them before.
That was always my reason to avoid them, it's like a motto that I carry around with me that I include in my philospy.
My name is Reggie and people in my university call me 'Thunder'. Why? Cause I love rock music.
I just love that rave that always 'booms' like a thunder. For some people, it's jsut a noise that I do to waste my energy. Byt who are they to judge, right? For me, my thunder is my oxygen. It's the reason why I tick.
Today is the first day for a new semester and there are a lot of new faces here in my class. Some are Filipinos and others are otherwise.
We have Americans, Japanese, Korean, Chinese, Latvians, Germans and Mermans. Hahaha, just want to make you laugh.
Since everything is scrambled up during that day, I had to sit with people that I don't know.
Man, with good luck, this pretty girl sits next to me. She's so pretty that I can't stop stealing a gaze at her from time to time.
This girl I'm talking about is named Min Jah. She's a Korean, but I did thought that she is a Japanese.
I tried to greet her with 'konnichiwa' and all she did in response was bow and make some sounds that only she could hear.
Hmmm. Maybe Koreans are just like that. Maybe she's just shy. Don't know. OMG, did she just cursed me there?
The class ended up in no time, time passed by like hours were just seconds. I don't know how it happened but all I do remember is I was so busy writing down notes and memorizing Min Jah's face during the whole session.
Sometimes she notices me looking at her. Then I'll look away, pretending that I just gazed at her by accident.
Now tell me, do I make any progress every time our eyes meet? Maybe? Right guys? OH NO! Why would I want to make progress with her, am i falling in love to her. I feel happy every time I see her eyes looking at me though.
Well, that was the first and last time that we sat together to share the same table in that class. The next day, she started hanging out with other Korean girls in the class. I think that's pretty normal.
One day, we had this party in our university, it was like an acquaintance party of some sorts. You know universities, they do parties.
I came on the party with my friends and spent some of the time with them in the party. Then after a few hours, I got bummed out that I just looked for a quiet place to be alone. It didn't took me that long to find this empty classroom.
It's already 7:00 PM that time and I already had spent about an hour in that classroom. All I did was chill and listen to my 'Thunder' that time.
Then suddenly Min Jah came in alone. Where did her buddies went?
When she came in, she saw me and we had this moment that we looked at each others eyes. Man, she was so beautiful that evening, but wait, a tear dripped on one of her eyes. What? Why?
That very moment was a perfect moment to get to know her. But even so any romantic intent or any predator prey instinct didn't came into me. I swear. I just felt the worry about her that time.
The first thing that came into my mind when I saw her crying is the possiblity of her having a 'break up' just moments ago. But even so, I wanted to talk to her, and so, I approached her.
"Hi, I'm Reggie, you know me?"
"?", she just looks at me with her surprised eyes. That made me get frustrated a little. Just for relief for the moment , I suddenly offered my hand for a hand shake. And we did a hand shake.
"Hello", finally, I heard her voice clearly for the first time.
"I'm Reggie, I'm your classmate in..."
"I remember you, we shared a table during our first day in our statistic class"
YES! She remembers! Even did our accents were funny, I felt like we were fully connected. It's like the same vibe in that scene in that Steven Spielberg movie titled E.T. where the child and the alien touches each other's finger tips.
not mine, got it from Google
"Are you okay? I saw you crying, did something happened?", my heart was pounding that time when I asked her, cause somehow I inside me I don't want to hear from her anything about a 'boyfriend' fight. Even so I deny it here, I am really just hoping that she was single.
"It was my sister", thank God, no 'boyfriend fight'.
"She didn't allowed me to go in this party"
"Did you two had a fight?"
"Yes and I don't really get it"
"Why?"
"I don't know why does she always puts me away from things that makes me happy"
Wow, suddenly she opens up to me. Am I winning her already? To tell you the truth, during that time, I felt like I was holding a really fragile object that could break with even the slightest touch.
"You know, I think she just really loves you"
"What?"
"I mean, she just wants to protect you"
"Yes, I know that she loves me, pero nasasakal na ako"
All of a sudden I got shocked, she spoke tagalog. She just said that she can't breathe anymore with all those things her sister was doing to her.
"Nakakapagtagalog ka?"
[you can speak tagalog?]
"Oo"
[Yes]
"Bakit di mo sinabi agad?"
[Why didn't you tell me earlier]
"Di ka naman nagtanong eh"
[You didn't asked]
That moment broke the ice between us. We spent the whole evening chatting together, it was a really memorable night. And cause of that, we dated out.
I walked her home that night. She was really afraid that her sister will reprimand her for escaping their home to go to the party.
When we reached the gate of their house, she clinged to me really tight before pressing the door bell.
I walked her home till the gate so I could talk to her sister and try to pursuade her from scolding Min Jah.
Well, it worked. The moment her sister saw me with Min Jah, her sister just felt the trust on me. She just acknowledged me on that moment.
We dated for almost a year and a half and we were so happy during those times. We did had our fights too but we just always end up forgiving each other in the end. We thought we will have each other forever during those one and half years but we were wrong. Her family needed to go back in Korea cause of business, Visa and family issues.
It was a really sad time for us during her departure. She was the only girl I loved that much other than my mother.
Right before she left, I promised her that I'll get rich and go to Korea to pick her up. When I told her that, she didn't replied and just looked at me and said 'good bye'. I don't know what does that stare mean even until now.
It's already three years now since that day we last saw each other. This year, my earnings started to grew. Next year, she will be graduating from her master's degree.
You know, I'll share you something, between you and me, cause you made it till this part of this story. I think I'll be meeting her again next year, good luck to me. :)
So where is the rain word here? Well to tell you, Min Jah's relative call her rain cause she usually gets tantrums. Yeah. That's it, she's a cry baby.
what did I just wrote today?
this work is a fictional work, any relation to the real world or any events are pure coincidence
the picture is from pixabay, don't flag me