(UNEDITED...expect some errors)

CHAPTER FOUR
"Of Wishes and Fate..."

Dave slowly made his way out of the arena with his nerves totally frayed. He was certainly grateful that he had nine lives to spare. HE lost count though how many times he could’ve died tonight. IF only the cat could sigh...

He began to think what would his alley friends say if he was trounced upon by the stampeding townsfolk? They would probably die laughing and heckling, “there goes our friend, Dave. Brave as he was, he died by being trampled by a thousand Islander slippers! Death by rubber sandals!!!”

Dave shuddered at the thought. He was still a lucky cat despite of this evening’s ruckus...

his paws, Dave looked for his way out amongst the intertwining alleyways shanties built next to each other make. Being in the dark allows Dave to camouflage and feel altogether safe.

Dave suddenly sees from afar... a couple. Under the singular lamppost light, he sees them. A young man and a young woman. The boy was carrying the girl on his shoulders, like a sack of rice. The young lady was erstwhile protesting being carried like that.

Dave immediately recognized her, even from afar. How could he not? She is his mistress.

Kim.

Dave was curious too what she was doing with the young stranger. He had to know.

He scampers into the dark, secretly following them. Unknown to them, the cat became the only witness to their magical evening.

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Kim pounded on Gerald’s back as he was carrying her towards safety.

“Put me down!” Kim shouted relentlessly.

The boy did not respond, instead Kim could hear his breath become shallower by the second. He must be really exhausted carrying her like that. But Kim, despite her protests, liked the feel of his strong arms around her waist.

“I said put me down!” Kim once again warned. “Mister, if you don’t put me down this very minute....”

Suddenly, the guy stops and drops her on the floor. Kim’s bum hit the dirt with loud thud.

“Ouch! Why did you drop me like that?”

Gerald was still out of breath, “You said, put me down...”

“But not like that...” Kim groaned, picking herself up.

“You know what?” Gerald answered, feeling the ache on his back muscles. “For a slim girl, you are very heavy....”

Kim immediately placed her hand on her waist angrily, “Why, who told you to carry me?”

Gerald, still grimacing from their panic exit, decided to be a bit diplomatic. “Miss, if I didn’t drag you off the court, you would have been smashed to death right now!”

“So, you mean to say, I should thank you?”

“Naturally...”

Kim wanted to refute his claim but better senses told her that maybe he was right. “I guess...I should...”

Gerald moved his ear closer to her, “Should what?”

“Thank you...” Kim said with slight hostility.

“Finally!” Gerald said. “There...is it hard to say it?”

Kim pulled off a scornful look, but to no avail. He merely laughed at her some more.

“I said ‘thank you’ already...what more do you want from me?” Kim complained.

Gerald gave her a derisive laugh. “Miss, a thank you isn’t a thank you if you don’t mean it...”

“Who told you that?” Kim chagrined. “Your priest uncle?”

Gerald immediately fell silent. He looked a bit deflated after Kim’s banter. Instead, he chose to speak to her softly, “No, my mom told me that...”

Kim immediately felt horrible, “I’m sorry...I didn’t mean to insult your mom....”

Gerald felt that she was sincere with her apologies. Instead, he said, “Are you always this...hmmm...combative?”

“What?” Kim said in exasperation. “I’m not like that at all!”

“Well, I guess you should listen to yourself more...” Gerald grinned mischievously.

Kim wanted to somehow smack him but as they turned a corner, something amazing held Kim’s breath away.

The next minute, both of them were standing in front of a small chapel. It was no means spectacular, but there was something about the way the yellow lights cast a mysterious glow to the church steps that made Kim want to rush into those stairs. Across the church was a small plaza, similarly lighted by lampposts so old, Kim could almost see that the generations that preceded them there, like ghosts dancing under the glorious glow of the full moon.

“Wow...where are we?” Kim said. “What is this place?”

“Plaza Montanez...” Gerald said briefly.

“IT’s nice...and quiet....” Kim said as she notes the absence of any other restless soul. They were alone.

She grasped her own shoulders and breathed in the classic nature of her surroundings. It felt like she was trapped during the time of the Spanish era, where nightly rendezvous where staged in these places...amidst the turbulent backdrop of Colonial oppression.

IT almost felt...romantic.

“Why, you have never been here this part of town before?” Gerald casually asked, kicking stones on the brick-paved street.

“No...I wasn’t allowed to go past the estero (canals), ” Kim admitted. “I must say... this place is beautiful...”

“I’m glad you like it...my great, great grandfather built plaza this for the town...”

“So, you’re a Montanez?”

“Yes...why?”

Kim gave a sigh, “Nothing....”

“I gathered that you’re a Capulong?” said Gerald, remembering how Barty referred to her as cousin.

“Yes...is there anything wrong with that?”

“Oh nothing...” Gerald said, looking at her mischievously. “It’s just that, a popular saying around here goes that if a Capulong enters the plaza, he or she will die an automatic death...”

Kim gulped loudly, “That is total bull...”

“Hmmm...I don’t know...” Gerald said as he circles her. “A pure-blooded Capulong never once stepped into the park....”

“SO, if it happens, I’m going to be the first one to die?”

“Do you dare?” Gerald said, his eyes glinting.

“Did the saying mention what kind of death?”

“Nope...” Gerald answered. “But I presume it would be something atrocious and painful that none of your relatives ever came here and tried...”

Despite her brave facade, Kim was actually shivering inside. “Uhmm...I’m not like any of my relatives...”

“So, do you dare walk this little path...the path of your demise?” Gerald urged Kim, pushing her back lightly towards the stony walkway to the park.

Kim shivered some more. She was starting to regret the skimpy shorts she was wearing.

“I think...It’s late...I think it’s about time I go home...” Kim said as she hastily turns around.

Gerald laughs as Kim retreats to a few meters back.

“Chicken...” he said.

“I’m not chicken...I’m just cautious....” Kim denied.

Gerald responded with more mockery, “I didn’t know that Ilocano’s are chicken....”

Something in the way he said that made Kim glower at him. She wanted to disprove him. As Gerald turned his back at her, Kim made a sudden mad dash towards the plaza’s center.

As she ran, Gerald’s mouth hangs open as she bravely reaches the old fountain in the middle of the park. Gerald was shaking his head at Kim’s sudden rush of bravery. He was impressed. HE ran after her.

“Who’s chicken now, huh?” Kim shouted as Gerald chased after her.

Kim immediately claimed her victory by standing on the central water fountain, her arms raised in victory. She looked back at the stunned Gerald in triumph, “See? I did it...nothing happened to me!”

“I can’t believe you did that?” Gerald said. “What if the curse was true?!”

“I know it’s not true....” Kim said confidently.

“How...did you know?” Gerald said.

“I can really tell that you made it up!” Kim eyed him carefully, looking for a sudden break in his serious stare.

No such luck.

“I didn’t...make it up...” Gerald said briefly. “My dad told me that story a million times...it must be true...”

Kim gulped once more. It felt like she was in a game of Russian roulette and somebody had just called her bluff.

“But, see? Nothing happened to me...”

“Nothing yet...” Gerald said softly.

“Oh come on, “ Kim said. “You don’t believe in that old folk crock, do you?”

Gerald’s face was really serious. “What if the curse was really true? How prepared are you to leave all the people who love you behind?”

Kim didn’t answer. Instead she stepped down of the fountain’s edge and stomped her way out of the plaza.

“Miss, wait...” Gerald said.

Kim walked further along, not minding Gerald’s pleas. She almost trampled on Dave, who was hiding behind of a trash bin.

“Miss, please...come back!”

Kim closed her eyes as she walked away. She didn’t want to leave like this.

“I totally made it up!” Gerald shouted from behind her.

Kim suddenly halts. She quickly turns around and flashes him a wide grin. “I knew it!!!”

Gerald smiled back gingerly at her.

Kim then made her way back to the fountain with her head high. She feels a sudden shiver as her shoulder rubs by Gerald’s shoulder as she passed by him.  Gerald meekly follows her.

She felt Gerald’s presence even from a few feet away. The way he was looking at her, could make any girl weak on the knees.

Kim tried to focus her attention on the fountain. She slowly appraised it. IT was old, like most of its surroundings. Some semblance of water squirted out from the marble statue in the middle of a brackish pool.

The statue was that of a cherub. His eyes were stony grey and expressionless. Green moss crept his legs but his face was free of any grime. It looked like he was holding a earthen vessel, from which water soundly ripples into a leaf-like catch basin.

The sound of the water rippling was very calming. Kim felt her nervous energy slowly being ebbed away.

Gerald meanwhile stared freely and tenderly at her as Kim allowed herself to get lost in the reverie of the moment. She looked more beautiful now that she was smiling. Gerald felt his heart skip a bit as Kim looks back at him with an appreciative smile.

She was so picturesque. Gerald could not conjure a more perfect image than that of Kim and the fountain. Her childlike quality was once again evident as she reaches out for the water. She laughs at how the cold water gently caresses her lovely fingers....like it was the most precious thing in the world.

Gerald was in awe of her, like he had never been awed before. He was almost too sorry now that he just had lied to her.

Yes, he lied.

It was the way she looked at him in fear, the panic in her eyes...those were the reasons why Gerald told her that he made it all up. Truth was,Gerald believed in his heart that the curse was true.

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He was young then, probably six. His dad, Andres, was fond of telling him bedtime stories.

“What would happen if they would come into the plaza?” the young Gerald asked his dad.

The elderly Montanez, with his face only visible by the faint light the gasera made, sparked his son’s vivid imagination with his wild stories, “Legend says that if a pure-blooded Capulong ever steps one foot into that Plaza your Lolo made...he will die instantly.”

“Why will they die?”

“Because the Capulongs are bad people, Gerald...”

“Why are they bad?”

Andres shook his head. His son was at the age where “why’s and how’s” inundated his every speech.

“Because, they tried to hurt your Lolo and our family. SO your Lolo cursed them...” Andres explained briefly.

“Aren’t curses bad?” Gerald asked.

“Yes, they are...” Andres answered, shuffling his hair.

“Why would lolo curse then? Does that mean he is bad too?”

“Your lolo is not bad, son...” Andres sighed. “He is just protecting us...”

“So, how could the curse be broken?” asked Gerald.

“Hmmm...I don’t know, son. Maybe if one of us, offers his life for a Capulong...maybe that’s when.”

“Really?” Gerald’s face glowed.

“I’m not sure, son...” said Andres. “But what could be more powerful than loving an enemy? Nothing beats that right?”

Gerald nodded.

Andres would then kiss him on the forehead and tuck him in. Gerald then closes his eyes and succumbs to sleep. During those times, he would oftentimes utter a silent prayer before he slumbers. In his prayers, Gerald wished that the curse will finally be broken.

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And now, seeing Kim as the enemy, Gerald had no trepidation in being the one to break that very curse. If he had to give up his life for an enemy as lovely as her, he would do so...gladly.

Kim seeing that he was lost in his thoughts, splashed Gerald some water from the fountain.

That jolted him back to a beautiful reality.

“By the way, my name is Gerald Montanez...” he said, extending a friendly hand.

Kim wanted to say that she knew him, but she didn’t want to sound too eager. She carefully composed herself and briefly clued him in, “I’m Kim...Kim Capulong...”

Gerald quickly responds by saying, “Nice to meet you, Kim...”

Kim searched for a certain look of recognition upon his face but she didn’t find any. She wanted to see if he would somehow recognize her name from before, but Gerald never showed any of the sort.

He didn’t even flinch. IT seems as if he had no clue of her identity as they exchanged handshakes.

Kim was baffled...no, disappointed.

That meant, the Gerald Montanez that she had so many times dreamed about, totally forgot all about her. Kim thought they had that special connection...a connection enough to last a lifetime, but obviously, Gerald thought otherwise.

“Kim...nice name...” Gerald replied.

Deep in his mind, Gerald wished she had a different last name.

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Little did Kim Capulong know, Gerald did NOT forget about her. In fact, she had been a regular visitor of his dreams in the last eight or so something years. HE would spend thousands of hours, wondering what would’ve happened if he and Kim knew each other longer than that brief afternoon.

He replayed that scene on the swings a million times in his mind before now. The thought never got old. IT would still make him smile remembering her.

Of course, Gerald couldn’t forget Kim. She was his first kiss. The moment their young lips touched, her name was forever tattooed in his heart.

Kim Capulong was the one glowing emblem of Gerald’s childhood. If his mind requires him to recollect, he would never fail to remember her. She was an important piece in his life.

But why deny her? Why lie to her once more?

Gerald struggled with himself to answer these very questions. But, Gerald knew he had to do it...for his and her own protection.

Gerald only acted out that he didn’t know her at all because that was what he was instructed to do ever since by his parents and relatives.

He recalls clearly that fated afternoon...nine years ago.

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“Get your hands off her...” said the then heavy-set man who Gerald believed was Kim’s father.

Gerald, afraid of the booming voice, finally lets go of Kim’s hand.

Kim immediately sprinted towards him, leaving Gerald to face his wrath. Fortunately, his own father arrived too. Together with him, were his bodyguards.

“Itay...” Gerald exclaimed as he rushed to his father Andy.

“Thank God you’re safe...” breathed Andres to his ear.

Gerald wondered what his father meant by that. But instead, Andres leaned over to him and faced him eye to eye.

“Gerald, see that girl...” said Andres, pointing to the father –daughter pair twenty meters away from them. “I don’t want you to ever go near her again...”

“But, Kim...she’s my friend...”

“No, she’s not...” said Andres. “She’s your enemy...she’s my enemy’s daughter...that means, she’s your enemy too...”

“But, she’s nice...”

“Gerald, promise me now...never to speak to her ever again...”

“But, why Itay?”

“Because if you do,” said Andres. “I’ll make sure that it’s the last thing you would do in this earth...”

Gerald, never for a second, doubted the sincerity of his dad’s threat. He had never seen him like that before. He knew even then, that he must close all ties to the young girl that was supposed to be his foe.

With pain in his heart, Gerald turned away from her, and walked with his father home.

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“Hoy! Why do you always dream off to space?” Kim asked as Gerald was once again lost in his impervious thoughts. “What is it that you’re thinking of?”

“Oh, it’s nothing...” denied Gerald.

“Why are there more grizzly tales to this magnificent place?” guessed Kim.

“By this time, I thought you must be scared in your pants...being here...in semi-darkness...with me...”

“I’m no ordinary girl, Gerald...” she said. “I’m braver than you think...in fact, I think I might be braver than you!”

Gerald smirked, “that, I don’t doubt...”

“Besides...you’re the least bit scary-looking...” Kim chuckled.

“Hah! I can be scary when I want to...” Gerald said, making a gruesome face.

Kim laughed at his antics. “Nope...you’re too nice to be scary...”

“You too...” Gerald said. In his mind, Gerald was torn. How could his only enemy in the world have a face that of an angel?

Kim was thinking the same thing too. Why would his father warn her about him? Gerald looked nothing like the monster her dad conjured him to be.

“Do you have a coin?” Kim asked him.

“Why would you need a coin?”

“I need to make a wish...” said Kim.

“Wish? That is not a wishing fountain...”

“Who knows...” Kim said, looking down at the bottom of the pool. No coins. “Looks like nobody tried it before...who knows what magic powers this fountain has?”

“It’s funny that you’ve said that...” Gerald revealed.

“Said what?”

“That it’s magic...”

“What magic...this fountain?”

“Yes, Kim...this fountain is magical...”

Kim was obviously intrigued, she kneels down beside it and looks down further into its murky waters.

“In what way?” Kim asked.

Gerald moved closer to her. Together, they leaned into the water. Kim saw Gerald smiling back at her from the water’s reflection.

“As you can see, this is the statue of Eros, or cupid...the god of love...” Gerald explained of the marble statue.

“So, that explains the little wings on his back...” Kim said.

“Yes, he is an angel. My dad said his lolo's lolo imported this statue all the way from Italy in the 1800's..." Gerald revealed further. "But later, the townfolks realized that he was not just an ordinary statue...he is the guardian of what is fated or destined....”

Kim’s eyes widened, “Fated?”

“As you can see, Kim...” Gerald stood up from beside her and reached over to touch the statue. “This fountain is actually a mirror into the future...”

Kim gasped. She has never heard anything so astounding in her young life. She held her breath as Gerald continued with his story.

“IT’s really common knowledge in this part of town, you would hear countless stories about this fountain's powers..."

"What powers?" Kim asked excitedly.

"Our ancestors would say that if a young lady wanted to know who it was she was eternally fated...all she had to do was look into the water and wish three times to the statue...” said Gerald.

“What will happen next?” Kim said impatiently.

“Legend has it that if the young lady’s heart was pure...the God of love will grant her a glimpse of the future...she will see who it was she was destined to love forever...”

Kim eyes immediately darted into the dark waters. Her heart skipped a beat.

“But it’s just a tale...” dismissed Gerald. “Some old, lonely spinster might have made it up back in the day, who knows...you know how it is with old folks...”

“So you don’t believe the myth?” Kim asked him.

“No, as a matter of fact, I don’t...” answered Gerald.

Kim, however, shook her head, her eyes still transfixed on the water.

“Why, Kim, do you believe it?”

“Yes, I do...” Kim answered under her breath.

Unknown to Gerald, Kim had already wished three times as he spoke and Kim felt like the statue heard her silent prayer. There was an unknown sparkle in the water.

Kim, closed her eyes briefly, making her wish heartfelt and valid. She uttered her wishes once more, silently...fervently.

Three times.

Kim's wish, like that of countless young girls before her, was for the God of Love to reveal who it was she was meant to spend her life with.

Gerald suddenly comes up behind her.

Kim opens her eyes and sees his reflection on the water.

“What do you see?” Gerald asked.

“My future...” Kim answers.

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May 5, 2009.
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