DEAR ANDREA, BY ELIZABETH

Andrea, my tangi.

Fourteen years, although on and off. Ang tagal na din, noh? Nagsimula tayo nung eighth grade, and we were going strong until our sixth anniversary—pero hindi na tayo inabot ng so called "7 year itch" dahil nag end ang relationship natin that year, after our sixth, because you told me that this wasn't working out. That we weren't growing, that we weren't ourselves, that we were staying just because we had to, and not because we loved each other; and so I let you. I let you leave, because I know you needed it, because I know that whatever makes you happy I will give, even if it means that it wouldn't be with me, but part of me was frustrated and angry by how you were growing so mature nung natapos na tayo.

I blamed myself; ako ba? Ako ba yung may problem, was I the one na nagiging dahilan kung bakit hindi ka naging kasing mature then how you were growing on the years after we had ended? Nagalit ako, I kept blaming myself, blaming fate, blaming you, kasi I thought that we were okay; I didn't know that you weren't. So eight years passed, eight years na hindi tayo nagparamdam sa isa't isa, eight years that I had disappeared from you until that reunion, when our group started talking again, and I had inevitably crash landed into your orbit again.

I had feared to interact with you ulit, kasi there are doubts na I was the one who made you feel that way, na hindi naging healthy relationship natin because of me, but that all changed when I learned that you were leaving, six months after we had interacted again—I knew I had to take a chance, to try again, kasi I thought na it was better to try again than have myself be over thinking about this, and there I knew that you also felt the same, that you were wiling to try again. LDR didn't bother me, this time I knew there were a lot of sacrifices to make, and I had to do it, kasi I am going to make this work. Two years after that, we had been together again.

Ang saya ko that day—even if you didn't have to, you paid for my ticket and I was able to spend a year or two with you overseas, and it was like our love story had been renewed, put back together, and this time both of us are going to make this work. Make us work.

Fourteen, going forever. Through the years, ikaw lang, mahal ko, my tangi, ikaw lang ang iibigin ko, and I know that in myself, na kahit pag tinanong mo ko right now kung magpapakasal na tayo, kahit sa West lang yan, papayag ako. Grand weddings can wait, I know I can get married to you anywhere.

I love you so much, Andrea. Through thick and thin, kaya natin to.

- Elizabeth, your tangi.