█║▌│█│║▌║││█║▌│║▌║ One shots by QueenLJ 

She buried her face in her folded legs. She covered her ears. The noise from people chattering nonsense and huge speakers that releases rock music is deafening her. She secluded herself at the darkest part of the room.

 

"Want another pot, Vera?" a voice asked. She was sure it is towering over her--waiting for her answer. But she shook her head hard as an indication that she doesn't want another one. She will never want another one again.

 

She fixed herself, grabbed her bag, pinched the bridge of her nose when she smelled cigarette smoke all over the place. She made her way outside that party. Outside that hell.

 

She felt her vision turn blurry. She suddenly felt dizzy. She was close to falling in the cold sement of the streets when warm hands catched her. She wanted to know who it was, but she can't. The dizziness she felt was too much that she fell asleep.

 

She was awaken by the rays of sunlight hitting her face. She immediately examined the whole room she is in. Heck, this isn't mine. What am I doing here? She thought.

 

"Good morning Miss." She heard a voice. She turned her head to the direction of the voice.

 

"I'm DyMa." the boy introduced himself.

 

"Oh. Everyone knows you." She rolled her eyes in annoyance. Of course I know him. How can you not know the Dirhams?

 

DyMa smiled. She hated it when he smiles. She felt sad. She felt that she was the only one in the world who has tons of problems--preventing her to smile. She hated seeing anyone happy. They can't be happy unless I am happy. She cursed.

 

I frowned when he smiled even wider.

 

"Why thank you, it was an such honor for a Vera Dela Vega to know me." she was much more confused. She didn't sense any sarcasm present in his voice. An honor? Am I the president's daughter for him to consider that being known by me is an honor? She rolled her eyes again.

 

"What happened?" Vera managed to ask despite the dizziness she felt.

 

"You see, you almost dived face first to the cold ground last night. But I catched you."

 

So it was him?

 

Vera was surprised. Anong ginagawa ng isang Dirham sa labas ng isang club?

 

Yes, she was from a club last night. She was drinking. But she wasn't a drunkard. She turn to these vices whenever she has a problem with her father.

 

Her dad was a soldier. Her mother died of cancer. Lung cancer to be exact. Her mother isn't a chain smoker. Her father was. Remember the commercial that secondhand smoke is dangerous to the health? That's where her mother acquired lung cancer. Her father was the criminal all along.

 

He killed her mother. My father killed my mother. Her mind was poisoned by the thought. Her heart was full of hatred.

 

"What are you thinking?" DyMa asked.

 

She looked at him strangely.

 

"It's none of your business."

 

Vera attempted to leave the room but DyMa stopped her.

 

"Breakfast?"

 

"No."

 

She stood up. She left the room leaving DyMa smiling without her knowing. DyMa is a strange person for her, sure enough.

 

She entered hell when she entered their house. Her father wasn't there. He may be somewhere around the Philippines, trying to save someone else instead of saving their home.

 

Mean.

Rude.

Insulting.

Unfeeling.

Remorseless.

Aggressive.

Cruel.

 

These are just some of the perfect words to describe Vera when she is at school. Armed with her tote bag that contains nothing but a pen--she just walked at the hallway like she owned it.

 

She was feared. But to everyone's surprise--DyMa doesn't fear her. Instead, he finds her amusing--much to the disgust of the people who knows his feelings for her.

 

He smiled at her when Vera laid her eyes on him. Her eyebrows shot up when he smiled yet again.

 

"Noob." she said.

 

DyMa laughed which made her ever more surprised. He actually remembered her sister--Dama--when she called him a noob.

 

"Thank you." he smiled even more.

 

"You are very annoying. Can you go away?" Vera removed the lollipop from --annoyed.

 

"No." DyMa smiled.

 

"I will never go away." he added.

 

She rolled her eyes and walked past by him. But she was surprised when she felt herself smile.

 

 

Days passed...

 

DyMa has proved to be a pain in the . He always walked with her to and fro her classes. They eat lunch together--not because she wanted to but he insisted. The whole school thought they were a couple. Vera was very much disgusted by the way people thought about them.

 

But she didn't mind it. She didn't feel like protecting herself from the spreading gossips. By what reason? She herself doesn't know. All she knows that she might hurt DyMa if she starts protecting herself from those gossips.

 

DyMa's presence eventually became a habit for her. She won't last a school day without seeing him.

 

She felt butterflies whenever he smiles. She became weirder. She herself knows that. She doesn't want anyone to smile especially when she isn't smiling. But she was mostly surprised when she finds herself smiling back at him too..

 

Little did she know--she was falling in love. Right then and there, when she saw DyMa smiled, she felt something tugged in her chest. It almost stopped her from breathing.

 

I am in love with him.

 

She tried to erase the thought. No, this can't be.

 

I can't be in love.

 

But of course, her mantra won't work. She is really in love and she can't take that back anymore. If only she had be more careful, this wouldn't happen. But a part of her was happy at the thought that her heart wasn't fully turned into a stone. She is still capable of falling in love. It was something she thought she would never learn to do again.

 

But she encountered another problem.

 

I am really in love. A deep one that is. She assured herself.

 

But is he in love with me too? 

 

Thousands of questions flood her mind. What if he isn't? A lot of what ifs.

 

She knows one way to find out. But she doesn't want to appear clingy.

 

Would I confess? She asked herself.

 

She listed down signs. Signs that should come so that she would finally confess her growing feelings for him.

 

1. He should take me out on a date.

2. He should sing a song for me.

3. He should ask about my relationship with my father.

 

She was busy listing the signs when her phone rang. The caller was well... DyMa.

 

She said hi. He said hello.

She asked why is he calling. He said that he is taking her out on a date.

 

Number 1 sign! She thought. She smiled at herself.

 

They were at the front of the same club where they had their first encounter.

 

"Why here?" she asked

 

"Because... this place is very monumental. Can you believe that my first love is a drunkard?" DyMa replied.

 

She felt nervous. Is he telling a story about his first love? She didn't see that coming.

 

"R-really..." she stuttered

 

"Yeah, she was about to fall face first here in the ground. But I catched her." there was a different meaning in his last sentence. 

 

Do I still need the signs? She asked herself. She felt like she doesn't need the signs anymore.

 

She looked at him--surprised. Was he talking about me?

 

"I loved you eversince Vera. And you're so naive not to notice it. And I think I am smart enough because I knew you loved me back." She gasped. Her mind spinned with questions.

 

"Remember your first year in school? When you were listening to loud music at the front of the comfort room?" I nodded 'cause mental images came into my mind. Then some boy snatched my earphones and reported it to the principal. The principal then led me to the class that I never wanted to attend--Good Morals and Right Conduct.

 

"It's you, right?" she asked--astonished. DyMa nodded.

 

"Stalker mo ko." you said again. Dylan Marco Dirham--a stalker? She laughed at the thought.

 

"How about that one I chatted with--about my father? Was it you?" she asked. She remember how he admired her mysterious chatmate for letting her feel loved by his father. And that his father doesn't want anything bad to happen to her. And that he's also sure that her father doesn't want her mother's death. And that he hates himself because he was the reason. She felt lighter that time.

 

"It was all me." he smiled yet again.

 

She was still shocked.

 

"And dear, what would I do in front of a club? Drink? I don't drink." DyMa stated.

 

"I was there for you." He added.

 

She felt confused, amused, happy, contented and many more other emotions.

 

But what overwhelmed her the most is the feeling of perfection and contentment.

 

 

 

 

 

It was loving and being loved back.

 

 

- - -

Sa mga hopeless romantic & walang lovelife, para sa inyo 'to. At kung sa tingin niyo wala ng magtitiyaga at magmamahal sa ugali niyo.... Think again. You are loved. <3

Naisulat ko to kasi ito ang nafifeel ko. Lalo na kaninang madaling araw kasi di ako makatulog. Dami ko tuloy naisip. ö