Track 07: Mahiwaga

The One I Once Loved
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[ Now Playing: Araw Araw by Ben and Ben ]


 

A year and three months later, Seulgi and Irene celebrate their anniversary albeit a little late; it's graduation season, after all. 

 

Third Year ends smoothly for them and Fourth Year comes hurtling like a speeding truck—but they can do anything as long as they're together, right? 

 

Of course, Fridays are still for Psychology—though lumipat na pala ng ibang school ang Prof Terror nila, so they'd been met with a new teacher nicer than the last. Since magkaiba pa rin sila ng course, Fridays are the only day they have classes together; but unlike before, it's starkly different. 

 

Well, for one, Hyo-seob and Joy broke up, a month after they got drunk. Joy thinks she's hurting the guy by leading her on, and who is Seulgi to interfere with that? 

 

Yun nga lang, Wendy has someone. 

 

She is often seen loitering around the halls with Chaeyoung Park, and Seulgi realizes one day na almost pareho sila ng real name ni Joy (which is Sooyoung Park), and they stayed together until the end of Third Year, when Joy figured out that she'd confess to Wendy to get these feelings off of her chest. 

 

'Di rin kasi sinabi ni Seulgi na pareho nilang gusto ang isa't isa, because both made her swear not to—turning it all in a very complicated affair. 

 

Pero yun nga, Seulgi did not know what happened in the course of the final year in college dahil somehow, even with Joy confessing, hindi sila nagtuloy—and Joy finds herself seeing Hyo-seob again. 

 

Marami ding walwalan moments na naganap, both with Wendy and Joy separately in Joohyun's form, at doon nalaman ni Seulgi na napakalakas pala uminom ng girlfriend niya. Tatlong böte lang naman ng soju ang nilaklak, wala pa ring epekto. 

 

Pero anyways, they've both become busy na preparing for graduation na it took three months until mismong graduation day for Seulgi to ask out Joohyun on a date which would happen on the evening, since for lunch may lunch date sila with their friends. 

 

On their graduation day, Seulgi Kang finds herself crying over her crooked tie and the smallest of things while Joy is visibly laughing at her, habang si Wendy naman ay tahimik na parang nagmumuni-muni sa kung ano ba ang dapat niyang gawin. 

 

Hyo-seob arrives, and Seulgi frowns as the small smile Wendy has on her lips completely disappears. 

 

But she only reminds herself to talk to Wendy (again) about it later because her focus immediately shifts to the girl in front of her, looking as beautiful as ever in their uniform and graduation toga. 

 

Tangina, ang ganda, is the only thought that repeats itself in Seulgi's mind, over and over again, and she finds herself falling farther beneath the depths with the girl laughing at her while she's moving closer. 

 

"You're staring so much," Irene says, and Seulgi blushes red with that, "Baka matunaw ako niyan, Mahal." Joohyun says, smiling as Seulgi pushes her gently to stand in front of their building to take a picture—she brought her film camera this time. 

 

"One… two… three… Smile, Mahal!" Seulgi says, laughing as Joohyun shyly put up a V on her fingers as a pose, and with a click another spot on the film is occupied by her. 

 

"It's been such a year, ano?" Seulgi asks as she adjusts the camera, and this time it's Joohyun's turn to capture a photo of her. 

 

"Joohyun," she says, fishing something out of her pocket and opening the lock as she puts it around the neck of her lover, the letter sitting upon her neck that sends feelings of happiness and love upon its wearer. 

 

An 'S' sits upon the chain in gold, and when Joohyun moves the girl's crooked collar, a 'J' sits upon Seulgi's neck—a clear affirmation of their love. 

 

"Seulgi, you didn't have to—" 

 

"Pero I want to," she says, "I'd do anything and everything for you, Mahal, please know that." Seulgi says, caressing her cheek as she hugged the girl tight, pero iniwasan niyang malukot ang toga nilang dalawa. 

 

"Hoy, mga lovebirds! Jusko kayo, napakalalandi niyo talaga. Tara na!" nakangiting sabi ni Joy habang tahimik lang na nakasunod si Wendy at si Hyo-seob sa kanilang tatlo. 

 

"Tabi na kami ni Irene, tas tabi kayong tatlo ni Hyo-seob. Kita nalang tayo dun sa harap later!" nakangiting sabi ni Joy at hinila na si Joohyun bago pa man sila makapaglambingang dalawa ni Seulgi ulit, and the sulking girl soon finds herself in the middle of a staring war between Hyo-seob and Wendy, pero bago pa magkainitan ay agad nang tinulak ni Seulgi ang dalawa papunta sa uupuan nila. 

 

The graduation rites was smooth sailing, a lot of crying and smiling and realising that it's finally over, and that they're going to have to be ready to face the reality of finding a job whether they like it or not—but Seulgi knows well that she could take it in stride, because she has Joohyun. 

 

Speaking of Joohyun, the girl is now walking up to the podium with a tight-lipped smile upon her face; Seulgi could see that she was nervous, because she knew that her girl had never been such a fan of big crowds, but here she was—on a stage in front of hundreds of other student, ready to give her speech. 

 

Joohyun is this batch's valedictorian, after all. 

 

"To be honest, I did not prepare any speech due to lack of time and I had been too nervous knowing that I was to deliver a speech to my fellow students," she starts, and all that Seulgi has is a wide smile—she almost forgets to take pictures, and asks Wendy (who laughed at her frustrations) to videotape the whole affair. 

 

("Videotape? Napakaold school mo naman, Seulgi." Wendy says, laughing out loud at her but nevertheless gets the job done.) 

 

"But I will just take it in stride, because sometimes life does not prepare us for things that it would throw us with, just like how it does not prepare us to meet the people we would eventually spend the rest of our lives with or be given the best job and life opportunities to us when we least expect it. The best thing we can do is be ready."

 

(Joohyun then looks at Seulgi, and the tight-lipped smile transforms into the most beautiful smile she has in store, and Seulgi feels like she's won at life. "That's my girl," she whispers under her breath.) 

 

"Be ready to be champions, to be the absolute best but do not be afraid to make mistakes, because our mistakes can just be what we need to learn what is needed to win in life. Let us all be champions, be winners for the rest of our lives. This is Irene Joohyun Bae, the Class of 2022's Valedictorian, Thank you."

 

The audience soon all stand up, clapping their hands as Joohyun bows at them as an added formality, then moving down into the seats and engulfs Seulgi in the tightest hug that she could give, never minding the people watching all of them as Hyo-seob makes way for Joohyun to sit down next to the girl. 

 

("Oportunista talaga," Wendy says under her breath as she finds him shuffling towards the seat Joohyun had abandoned, which was beside Joy. "Napakagaling.") 

 

"Ang galing mo," Seulgi says, smiling as she could no longer keep it in herself, holding the girl's hand tight and even taking pictures of her blatantly–she's sure that the film camera is already nearly filled with Joohyun's pictures. "Hangang hanga na talaga ako sa'yo, Mahal." she says with a smile, and she could have kissed the girl right then and there if not for Wendy fake coughing and the students watching them intently. 

 

"You'll get your kiss later," Joohyun winked and promised, then kissing Seulgi's hand, "For now let's enjoy this." 



 

 

"Please welcome, the Class of 2022 Graduates!" 

 

Nagsihagisan na ang mga cap sa ere, at niyakap na ni Joohyun at ni Seulgi si Wendy na mangiyak-ngiyak na dahil nga tapos na ang kalbaryo nilang lahat sa buhay—no, mukhang madadagdagan pa ito dahil kailangan na nila maghanap ng trabaho, but they can finally relax for now. 

 

"Tara na!" Joohyun says, a laugh escaping her as she drags Wendy and Seulgi out from the stands, and Seulgi feels like her heart could burst right then and there, watching the girl run in front of her—there she knows na she's made all the right decisions in her life. 

 

Choosing the university kahit na malayo ito sa bahay ng parents niya, causing her to rent an apartment and live on her own. Choosing that course even with the pressure from her parents to do better than a Dance degree, hell even misclicking that Psych class unit on one faithful enrollment

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Comments

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forgotme #1
Chapter 18: Grabe nman mapanakit..
Wala bang part 2 ung continuation 😁✌️
sluggiebearr
#2
Chapter 18: wtf did i just read 😭😭😭😭😭 ang sakit sakit ng puso ko sobra ano to
xantheaverielle
#3
Chapter 18: Sobrang sakit ng fic na 'to. Cried too much from reading this. So beautifully written and so painfully good. Made me realize so much. Thank you for this work, author!
Reveluvteddy #4
Chapter 18: This is really good. Hurt so good 💔
seulsbear
#5
Chapter 5: Ang ganda ng story na 'to! Nasa chapter 4 pa lang ako pero parang may ib-binge read ako ngayon😭

This story deserves more comments and reads! I'm guessing the reason why di gaanong kilala 'tong story na 'to even tho it's so good is because you didn't put a "seulrene" tag on its own sa description. I was only able to find this story through twitter :((
RVSone0105
880 streak #6
Chapter 5: Haist talaga seulrene!! Panindigan niyo rin ang kilig ko sa inyo, galawin niyo na ang barko juseyo 🥺 missed ko na kayo 😭
spagtitty #7
Chapter 18: Thank you so much for this masterpiece, author. I never knew I needed a beautifully written fic in my life. god im so glad dementia runs in my family and because of that i can read this again and again and again and experience catharsis 🧎🏻‍♀️
spagtitty #8
Chapter 14: ṣ̸̛̺̞̯̬̍̏̓̀̅̚̕e̶̘̤̪̟̭̰͑ư̵̳̱̥̙͆͐̌͋̂̈̈̅̍l̵̥̓͐̈́̓̌̃͂̅͝r̶̯͇̪͓͈̭̫̟̉͑͛̏̿̊è̶̛̙̙̭̖̦͐̀̓̐̓̓̇̀ņ̷̖͈̱͍͗́ê̵̬̗̪̫̆́̍͆͛͠f̷͈̹̜̦͍̱̉͐̉̅̈́̃̚͠l̵̫͂͗͆͌̈́̎̃̎͝ủ̶̡̡̻͈̠̤f̵̰̬͎͚͇̯̓̈́̌ͅf̵̡͓̙͕͓̞̳̞̀̍͋̚͜͜͝