A windy March afternoon it was when I went out of the house, walked towards the school, and fetched a tricycle; the beginning of a journey to be remembered. Blue skies riddled with mellow-looking clouds and soft springtime breeze equated to a ride that made me want to close my eyes in enjoyment.
When I arrived at the rear of Vigan Central Park—as he would insist to call the XentroMall in Vigan—a gush of cold air went fast through me. I texted Roux asking of his whereabouts, he told me to go look for him. If he had been waiting in there for at least an hour, I’m pretty sure he’d be sitting somewhere. And that somewhere is a place with chairs; everyone that frequents the mall knows where that place is—the food court. So I marched my way towards the stairs, entering the food court. It seemed like he wasn’t there, but I walked further forward and looked to my right and there he was, the cute blue-shirted boy in the corner of the food court.
I sat in front of Roux but later decided to sit next to him, I was curious on what he was working on. I looked at him and on his laptop screen, he was working on his portfolio for the work immersion they participated in two weeks ago; and I’d look back at him again, glancing at his perfect face. A cutesy picture-worthy scene, the cute blue-shirted boy and his laptop. I took a picture of it and sent it to him.
After some time, I asked him if he want some French fries, he told me to decide on my own. One of his favorite food is fries and I still remember the “Buy me French fries” video he sent me on TikTok, so I knew he had to have wanted some. And so I bought one, large size, with a flavor he likes, Sour Cream. When it was finished, I grabbed it and brought it to him, next to his laptop. I thought he was gonna say something funny about the kraft brown packaging the fries came with but he didn’t. He asked me for a toothpick so I went to grab one at the stall but they had none so I grabbed napkins for him instead. And when he was out of napkins, I offered my handkerchief to him. We munched our way in the fries bowl—two rats eating at the corner of the food court.
Roux then became thirsty, probably from all the sour cream powder from the fries which would’ve dried his throat. So, I went to buy some water for him. Although it would’ve made it faster, I decided to go to a Robinsons Supermarket nearby instead of buying one at the food court since it was cheaper. After entering, I walked straight to the back and grabbed a liter of bottled water. I proceeded to the rows of cashier lanes and went to the one with the second shortest queue. I would’ve gone to the one with shortest queue until I read the sign above the queue, it said “PWD and Senior Citizen Lane.” I knew then that I was gonna take some time in the queue so I sent him a photo of me with the bottled water, he reacted with a laughing emoji to the photo I sent.
When I returned to our table, I sat down on the metal-framed chair and handed the bottle of water to Roux. He was having a hard time writing the daily narrative report on his portfolio so I helped him out since he was running out of time, I mean I can’t just see him just suffer like that in front my very eyes. After quite a brain stretch, we cleaned our table—like what people should always do—and grabbed our things. I wanted to carry his bag and I offered to do so but he refused, despite countless offers. We then went to the ground floor through the stairs. I wanted to kiss his cheeks at this moment, but I didn’t.
Roux then asked me if I wanted to work at a part-time job. I said I want to but I want something lowkey. He then proceeded with a follow-up question, asking why don’t I go freelancing online. I forgot what I told him, but I tried that during the pandemic and it didn’t go anywhere. I then told him that I’ll try when I turn 18, the same age as him.
As the two of us walked through the cold ground level, we noticed a gloomy atmosphere peeking through the entrance and exit doors at the front of the mall—it was raining. It was the first rain we had this year, Roux looked so happy when seeing the raindrops fall, he looked like a child as he gazed at the rain. I took his umbrella, and before I opened it, he warned me one of its ribs was broken. Together, under the umbrella, we crossed the avenue and walked northwards.
We stopped at the front of Foxton to take some pictures. A panaflex sign of Uratex Foams was swinging with the rain, which I also took a picture of. We continued walking northwards and stopped at the front of a MetroBank branch near a sidewalk corner to wait for the rain to calm down. There, Roux was asked by a man who looked young and old at the same time of where he was from. They exchanged some words which I didn’t understand because of the hard patter of the thousand raindrops but I think the man thought he knew him. And there we were, two rats and a man under the bank’s overhanging eave.
Roux and I both admired the rain together, both gazing at the pretty rooftop garden of a nearby building. I took pictures of him, and he took pictures of me too, even directing me so he could get better shots—he might become a great photographer someday. I then took pictures of the sceneries around us: the raindrop patters against the asphalted avenue, the blue wall of a building made grainy with a screen of raindrops, and a rain-induced urban waterfall on the bank’s eave. When the rain calmed down, we went inside a Mr. DIY branch.
It was bright on the inside, filled with a hue of brightness that was different from the outside. I stomped my feet softly on the carboard laid flat at the entrance to dry our soles off. He handed his bag and the bottled water to the bag counter, and we proceeded to wander off and start our window shopping journey. As we were walking in the pet accessories aisle, the electricity went down and returned shortly after. I was expecting to hear some noises inside the building but there were none, it was unusually calm; a vastly different world from that of what I observed at the school.
Together, we went upstairs where the interesting aisles were. Roux saw a rainbow-colored pop-it-covered notebook and jokingly said it was me. We went onto the children’s toys aisle and there I saw a dino-shaped claw toy, the last ingredient for my best revenge recipe. I grabbed the toy and clawed Roux’s tummy, like how he always pinched mine. I deliberately missed all so I won’t hurt him but then I successfully clawed him. He told me it was abuse and we laughed together. We then proceeded to the cooking tools aisle and there we saw many llanera, a metalware used to cook leche flan—which I just learned to be a dessert he likes. That’s where I decided I will bake one for him someday.
We went downstairs after some time, and we went on to retrieve his items at the bag counter. I grabbed his green bag and carried it for him, finally. It’s the same bag he was carrying during the work immersion just two weeks ago, and it has the Cinnamoroll keychain I gave to him just after New Year, which makes me so happy. We then decided to go to the Two Brothers Grocery to do some fake grocery shopping. It’s something that I did with my friends when we were bored. We just go into the store, fill up a cart, and abandon it somewhere in the store. Roux and I then entered the store, left our things at the bag counter, and grabbed a shopping cart. Aisle by aisle, we grabbed things as we pretended to be shopping for a camping which was too fake, so we pretended to be shopping for a household restocking—a household for the two of us, perhaps?
We grabbed sachets of detergent powder, rolls of toilet paper, shampoos, a box of soap bars, and snacks. Roux grabbed a bag of truffle-flavored Piattos to try but later switched it for a bag of Marty’s Cracklin which was one of his favorites. I still remember how I would always buy a bag from a sari-sari store when I was young, it was my favorite snack. At the noodles aisle, we decided to get some cup noodles after we were done with the fake grocery shopping which was perfect with the rainy weather. Proceeding to the bread spreads section, I learned a bread spread he liked which was Nutella. He hesitated to get one so I grabbed two jars for him. The back of the grocery store was beginning to smell so we just abandoned the shopping car there and went to the cashier to pay for the Marty’s Cracklin he grabbed for us two. There, I pointed him the exact cashier lane where I troublingly smiled as he confessed his feelings to me. After paying, we went to grab his items and went to the exit. He jokingly attempted to go through the entrance door but went back and proceeded through the actual exit.
Going outside, we noticed the orange hues filling up not only the sky but every part of the scenery around us—it was the golden hour, as they say. Exiting the grocery store felt like going through a portal, it felt like another dimension. I took pictures of him and of the orange sky. He took pictures of the sky and of the surroundings too and the photos he took were better than mine, he managed to capture the orangeness of our surroundings just as we saw it, and it was picturesque.
We walked eastwards where we could see the mountains separating Ilocos from the Cordilleras. The sky was so clear it felt like the scene of the mountains we were seeing in front of our very own eyes was in 4K resolution. We stopped at the front of a Philippine National Bank branch and there we took some photos again. Looking a bit up, I noticed the veranda we recently went to was closed off, it was at that veranda where he took the “two birds on a wire” photo. Roux then saw some people holding tanghulu and said he’d want some, I took note of it in my mind so we could grab some when we’ll go for a museum date.
Passing through the Plaza Burgos which exhibited a faint smell of the recently concluded rain, we went to the nearby 7-Eleven to grab some cup noodles. While on the store, we sat down, and he took a picture of us holding our cup noodles. Trying to stand up, I almost dropped his bag which contained his laptop, I really thank God that my reflexes were fast enough for me to catch the bag at that time. We then went to the cashier and as the cashier scanned our cup noodles, Roux asked her if there was hot water. It’s a good thing he asked because the cashier said it wasn’t available and when I asked to just void the purchase, she then said they can’t do it. I had to ask twice just to make sure because I really can’t believe the words I just heard at that exact moment in time. So we just went on with the purchase and went out of the store.
As we crossed the street back to the Plaza, we decided to walk to another nearby 7-Eleven where hot water could be available for our cup noodles. Making our way pass through Plaza Maestro, we saw stalls framed by the drive-thru of Jollibee, to where we walked towards. As we pass through what seemed like another portal to another dimension; we saw rows upon rows of stalls, replacing the sett streets south of Plaza Salcedo. There we saw a stall selling tanghulu, Roux got excited over it so we went to see it. The both of us then went westward, continuing our voyage towards the hot water for our cup noodles.
A scene of a quiet Quezon Avenue greeted us two after exiting the east wing of the Semana Santa Tiange. Crossing it was like a hobby, a profession of mine since we crossed through it for countless times already—night and day. Entering the west wing, I saw a friend of mine with his mother walking towards us, I jokingly hid my face and greeted the two. With Roux by my side, we then left the tiange through the rather boring passageway. Inching near towards our second 7-Eleven, he put his arm around mine, which made me die from happiness on the inside.
Arrive we then did at the 7-Eleven. Remembering our objective, which is the hot water, I then asked the cashier if we could use the hot water dispenser at the store. He told us it was A-okay and so, we dispensed hot water into our cup noodles. After doing so, Roux asked the cashier for utensils, grabbed them, and we went upstairs. A dark floor was what we encountered upstairs, and there were no switches so we had to endure the serene darkness only illuminated by the twilight and car lights. We sat down on the bench nearest to the corner.
I opened the window on his side but he pushed it so it could be open on both our sides, but I opened it on just his side because I’ll just admire his looks anyway. Then, we opened our cup noodles and dug in. As Roux ate his Chicken Sotanghon cup noodles and I was eating my Bulalo one, both of us dipping the Marty’s Cracklin chips into the soup, I decided to take some pictures of him. Seeing it, he then posed for me. He looked at the window and I took pictures of him. His pretty face where the evening hues shone over was a beautiful scene cemented in the photographs I took—he’s the most perfect person I’ve seen.
‘Love’ wouldn’t suffice in describing this feeling I have for him. I’m beyond grateful that I met such a perfect person like Roux, not just because of his looks, his entire personality is so loveable and admirable.
‘You are so cute’ — would be the words I would tell him over and over if only it wouldn’t get irritating after some time. After taking pictures of Roux, I showed him what I took and he looked spectacular. We then proceeded to take a selfie of both of us and ate the rest of our cup noodles. When we finished eating, we cleaned the table, just like we did earlier at Vigan Central Park. We went down the stairs where he almost fell, and went outside.
Roux told me if I was going home already but I still really wanted to be with him at that point and so we walked. Through the calles of Rizal, Jacinto, and then Gomez. When I misheard one of the words he said, he started to accuse and tease me of being ‘suspicious,’ when I’m clearly not. He continued teasing me and I’d jokingly quarrel with him over it; and it was so fun—two rats casually quarreling at the road.
Evening breeze blew towards us, car lights and street lights lighted up the roads we passed through, and the look on Roux’s face as he teased me was cute. I love him so much. We then parted ways at the same place we parted ways at our previous date. We exchanged glances for the last time as we waved each other goodbye. I looked at him a few more times because I know I’ll miss him badly again.
Twenty-eighth of March 2024 is but a day worth reminiscing, remarked by—more than anything—the tranquil of the orange skies, and the cuteness of my blue-shirted lover, Roux.
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