The Boy Behind My Chair

This is a love story.

If you’re curious, feel free to read on, and maybe giggle a little.

I didn’t even know he existed at first. It all started during one lively review lecture. He cracked a joke, an absolutely ridiculous one, that had the entire class laughing like crazy. I can’t even remember what the joke was, but I remember the laughter… and the way I couldn’t stop thinking about it even when I got home.

The next day, something changed. Suddenly, I started noticing him. He sat right behind me in class. (By the way, he and I were classmates during our PNLE review way back in 2010.) He belonged to a group of graduate students from Brokenshire College SOCSKSARGEN Inc. in General Santos City.
And me? I wasn’t even supposed to be enrolled at Nurse Zone Review Center. Our official in-house review was somewhere else, but my best friend Joanna, full scholar and proud cum laude, chose Nurse Zone. So of course I followed.
Minus the full scholarship. Sad life.

I was sure he had no idea I existed. I did manage to make a couple of friends: Yves and Noona.
Noona was my seatmate. Yves was… well, Yves. Friendly to everyone, sitting anywhere there was an empty chair. He was also busy liking our friend Apple.

Noona was the first one to notice I had a crush on him. But she warned me right away: he wasn’t “ideal.” Too many girls around him, and apparently someone was waiting for him back home.

Meanwhile, Yves, being Yves, found out about my little crush and arranged a get-together with the group. We ended up at Mang Inasal for dinner, and It was his birthday.

And honestly? Just the sight of him was enough to melt me on the spot. I already knew he was waiting for someone else, but that didn’t stop my heart from doing its own thing.

I’ll never forget what Noona told me:
“Unsa man imong nakita sa iyaha? Pasakitan raka ana. Bahala ka.”
(What do you even see in him? He’s just going to hurt you. It’s up to you.)

But by then, it was too late. I’d already fallen.

One day, though, my heart couldn’t take it anymore, and I told myself to stop liking him. My boy best friends were waiting outside the review center that day, excited to finally see “this guy” I kept bragging about. But he left early, and I didn’t even see him go. When I told my friends, they didn’t believe a word.

Fast forward to the very last day of PNLE. Everyone was busy packing and preparing to go home. Joanna and I had just left the center to pick up some things, when suddenly, I received a text message, one I will never forget.

“Asa ka? Kung makaagi ka kadali sa dorm kay naa koy ihatag.”
(Where are you? If you can pass by the dorm for a moment, I have something to give you.)

As we walked closer to the dorm, I felt my happiness rise uncontrollably. He was already standing by the door, waiting. And right there, the feelings I tried so hard to kill, came back to life.

He handed me a small brown teddy bear and said,
“Ikaw akong naremember pagkakita ani.” (I thought of you when I saw this.)

That was it. Game over.
We became friends. Then we started dating.
But it only lasted a couple of months. After that, silence. Years of silence.

Yet every year, without fail, I greeted him on his birthday, even with no expectation of a reply. I still liked him. Even without talking, even without seeing him, even when my friends kept scolding me for “wasting my life on someone who didn’t love me back.”

But sometimes, the heart holds on even when the head already gave up.

So I lied. I told everyone I’d moved on. But deep inside, he stayed there, stuck in a place I couldn’t reach nor let go of.

It took years before I finally decided to let him go. I accepted a job in Saudi Arabia. I didn’t tell anyone until a few weeks before my departure.

Eventually, he found out that I left the Philippines.
But honestly, my heart stayed with him.

Then one day, one faithful, life-changing day, he sent me a message.
A message that shifted everything.

The rest is history.

Fast forward to today:
We now live and love each other faithfully, with God at the center of our relationship. From friends to lovers, through distance, silence, and years of waiting, God held us together.

Arguments? Sure. Problems? Of course.
But in every marriage, those are just small bumps.
When you know what you want, when loyalty stands firm, when God stays in between you both, everything becomes bearable. Everything becomes beautiful.

And that, I believe, is the secret to a lasting love. 

Thank you for reading. I hope you liked it :)