Miss Back to Seventeen
7/06/2015 07:00:00 am
When I was seventeen, my life changed forever.
That’s a line from one of my favorite books, but it doesn’t mean I can’t use it, right? Coz it’s true in my case. A lot of important things happened when I was seventeen.
I entered college and met Sam, Angelo, and Yvette in class, and we became best friends.
Remember when I said in my first entry that Sam and I had been together 8 years? I meant we’ve known each other for 8 years, but we weren’t really a couple for 8 years. I insist on celebrating our friendship anniversary instead of our couple anniversary, because I argue that our relationship really started when we became friends. Friendship is a relationship, is it not?
I know. I am a weirdo.
But if I think about it, I realize that maybe the reason why I like telling people that we’ve been together for 8 years is so that I can pretend that he’s the only boyfriend I have ever had, so I can erase what else happened when I was seventeen.
But we’ll get to that later on. If you read last week’s post, though, you already have an idea that it involved a certain someone named Jason who, by some quirk of fate, also happens to be in Singapore.
Of all the cities in all the countries in all the world, he walks into mine!
“Enjoy the party later tonight, hon,” my boyfriend Sam told me on viber, just as I was on my way to the party after work on a week night. “I’m sure they’ll love the Bonchon chicken you bought. Tell me about new friends you meet!”
“Of course!” I replied. You never said anything about old boyfriends, though.
I managed to find the right block for the HDB flat where the gathering was. I pressed the doorbell, the door swung open, and I found myself face to face with a smiling stranger.
“Hi, I’m Bianca, Patricia’s friend,” I stammered.
“Oh hello! Come in!” she said, unlocking the metal grille door which protected the wooden door. That’s the thing about Singapore apartments – they always have these metal grille doors, which kind of serve as a gate before you can get in. “I’m Sylvia, by the way. Patricia is inside.”
I made my way in and found a group of people gathered around the TV, plugging in the Magic Sing. Patricia greeted me with a kiss, then introduced me to everyone. Of course I didn't remember any of their names, except that of the birthday girl, who was... OMG. What was her name? Dammit. I am so bad with names!
The room slowly filled up with people, and the table soon filled up with all sorts of Filipino food - sweet style spaghetti, adobo, Jollibee chicken joy, and someone even brought lechon (roast pig).
It was a small one, but still. I didn't even know they had lechon here! Whoever brought it said she bought it from a store in Lucky Plaza.
Lucky Plaza (LP), by the way, is a mall in Orchard Road, the most popular shopping street in Singapore. It's filled mostly with Philippine remittance centres (where Filipinos go to remit money to their loved ones in the Philippines), stores that sell Filipino groceries, and restaurants that serve Filipino food, like Jollibee.
L.P. could just as well stand for Little Philippines.
I went there on Saturday to remit money and buy Filipino goodies. Patricia said I should never go there on Sundays because that's the day most OFWs have their day off and it gets super crowded, it's like Divisoria right before Christmas week. I'll take her word for it.
But anyway, back to the party.
Someone coerced me into singing a song on the magic sing. I don't have the best singing voice and normally wouldn't sing in a room full of strangers, but everyone was egging me on, so I finally succumbed to the peer pressure and also because there were a lot of people who were more terrible than me.
Then, while I was singing, "But baby before I let you go, I want to say I love you..." a new guest arrived and wandered into the living room.
I nearly dropped the microphone.
He had bulked up and his hair was now slicked up to a point on his head. He was older but he looked better than when I last saw him.
His eyes met mine across the crowded room, and they widened in surprise. He broke into a smile... that familiar, signature smile that once made butterflies not just flutter, but do cartwheels in my stomach.
He walked towards me and kissed me on the cheek.
"Bianca," he said.
And suddenly, I was back to seventeen again.
We talked the whole night. Then we swapped numbers and continued our conversations on whatsapp.
It's just friendly conversation, nothing to be guilty about.
Nothing that I need to tell Sam about. Right?
Theme song of this episode:
Two old friends meet again
Wearing older faces
And talk about the places they've been
Two old sweethearts who fell apart
Somewhere long ago
How are they to know
Someday they'd meet again
And have a need for more than just reminiscing
That’s a line from one of my favorite books, but it doesn’t mean I can’t use it, right? Coz it’s true in my case. A lot of important things happened when I was seventeen.
I entered college and met Sam, Angelo, and Yvette in class, and we became best friends.
Remember when I said in my first entry that Sam and I had been together 8 years? I meant we’ve known each other for 8 years, but we weren’t really a couple for 8 years. I insist on celebrating our friendship anniversary instead of our couple anniversary, because I argue that our relationship really started when we became friends. Friendship is a relationship, is it not?
I know. I am a weirdo.
But if I think about it, I realize that maybe the reason why I like telling people that we’ve been together for 8 years is so that I can pretend that he’s the only boyfriend I have ever had, so I can erase what else happened when I was seventeen.
But we’ll get to that later on. If you read last week’s post, though, you already have an idea that it involved a certain someone named Jason who, by some quirk of fate, also happens to be in Singapore.
Of all the cities in all the countries in all the world, he walks into mine!
“Enjoy the party later tonight, hon,” my boyfriend Sam told me on viber, just as I was on my way to the party after work on a week night. “I’m sure they’ll love the Bonchon chicken you bought. Tell me about new friends you meet!”
“Of course!” I replied. You never said anything about old boyfriends, though.
I managed to find the right block for the HDB flat where the gathering was. I pressed the doorbell, the door swung open, and I found myself face to face with a smiling stranger.
“Hi, I’m Bianca, Patricia’s friend,” I stammered.
“Oh hello! Come in!” she said, unlocking the metal grille door which protected the wooden door. That’s the thing about Singapore apartments – they always have these metal grille doors, which kind of serve as a gate before you can get in. “I’m Sylvia, by the way. Patricia is inside.”
I made my way in and found a group of people gathered around the TV, plugging in the Magic Sing. Patricia greeted me with a kiss, then introduced me to everyone. Of course I didn't remember any of their names, except that of the birthday girl, who was... OMG. What was her name? Dammit. I am so bad with names!
The room slowly filled up with people, and the table soon filled up with all sorts of Filipino food - sweet style spaghetti, adobo, Jollibee chicken joy, and someone even brought lechon (roast pig).
It was a small one, but still. I didn't even know they had lechon here! Whoever brought it said she bought it from a store in Lucky Plaza.
Lucky Plaza (LP), by the way, is a mall in Orchard Road, the most popular shopping street in Singapore. It's filled mostly with Philippine remittance centres (where Filipinos go to remit money to their loved ones in the Philippines), stores that sell Filipino groceries, and restaurants that serve Filipino food, like Jollibee.
L.P. could just as well stand for Little Philippines.
I went there on Saturday to remit money and buy Filipino goodies. Patricia said I should never go there on Sundays because that's the day most OFWs have their day off and it gets super crowded, it's like Divisoria right before Christmas week. I'll take her word for it.
But anyway, back to the party.
Someone coerced me into singing a song on the magic sing. I don't have the best singing voice and normally wouldn't sing in a room full of strangers, but everyone was egging me on, so I finally succumbed to the peer pressure and also because there were a lot of people who were more terrible than me.
Then, while I was singing, "But baby before I let you go, I want to say I love you..." a new guest arrived and wandered into the living room.
I nearly dropped the microphone.
He had bulked up and his hair was now slicked up to a point on his head. He was older but he looked better than when I last saw him.
His eyes met mine across the crowded room, and they widened in surprise. He broke into a smile... that familiar, signature smile that once made butterflies not just flutter, but do cartwheels in my stomach.
He walked towards me and kissed me on the cheek.
"Bianca," he said.
And suddenly, I was back to seventeen again.
We talked the whole night. Then we swapped numbers and continued our conversations on whatsapp.
It's just friendly conversation, nothing to be guilty about.
Nothing that I need to tell Sam about. Right?
Theme song of this episode:
Two old friends meet again
Wearing older faces
And talk about the places they've been
Two old sweethearts who fell apart
Somewhere long ago
How are they to know
Someday they'd meet again
And have a need for more than just reminiscing
Noted with flashbacks,
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