"Today, I got scolded by the bald old math teacher, Mr. Shiro. I laughed my ass off when he slipped on the floor at the classroom this morning. You remember him right? We used to make fun of him whenever we had the chance… I wish you saw his wig flying off when he slipped. It was hilarious.

I met a really cool guy last night. His name was Ruka. He's an awesome dude, you'd like him immediately. He's a bit of a wuss though, a worry-wart too…

You… are you happy?

You've really gone to a very far place… I can't even reach you…

I was… I was fine seeing you and Ren together you know?

It wouldn't have mattered... if it meant being together with the two of you, then I could've endured it. I could've endured the pain of seeing you two together. I could've endured seeing you two kiss. I would've endured seeing you two getting married someday…

Why'd you choose to leave anyway?

How could you… the two of you leave just like that?

These past few days, I've been remembering what happened to you, to all of you. I'm being eaten by guilt. You probably wouldn't know now though.

You didn't even have the chance to blame me.

Jaime… I'm so sorry…

Forgive me…"

Hyuuga Natsume:

A very popular co-worker of mine. The first time he was introduced, the women in the office immediately latched themselves to him, to no avail though.

He was mysterious to say the least. All we knew was that he was being punished by his father, which was the owner of the large company we were working at, by the way. Everyone befriended him… wanted to anyway. He was as silent as a graceful cat. He never really talked with anyone. He never went with us when we party, and he never attempted to speak to anyone.

He was a god damned poker face. That's what we all thought. I only found out recently that he was also a student like me. And wow, he was a two-faced man. At school, he's really cheerful with all of his friends hanging by his side.

I've never actually talked with him too. I wouldn't have noticed him if it wasn't for the noisy girls whispering all around the building about him. It's also impossible NOT to have heard of him. It was kinda hard when the man is practically glowing and is already as popular as hell without even trying.

Who could've known that this guy was as emotional as other people are? He's definitely not the person I thought my 'hope' would be. Didn't even think that this guy had a complicated love story and life like he does. One look at him and you'd immediately assume that he could have any girl he wants. He also doesn't look like the kind of guy who'd be insecure about relationships and worry about being rejected.

This must have been a mistake.

I took a look at the guy in front of me. He was also looking at me.

"You… are you really Hyuuga Natsume?" I asked. I was looking at him suspiciously.

"What do you think?" he answered.

Well, that spoke volumes that it really was him.

I sighed.

"But I didn't know you were this kind of a woman." He suddenly blurted out.

"Ah, unfortunately, I'm not here for something like that." I told him. I knew what he meant.

I took a look at our surroundings and looked for any sign of Sarah. She wasn't there though.

Suddenly a door opened and I saw a blond guy wrapped only in a towel. My eyes almost bulged out.

"H-hyuuga! Y-you turned Homo?" I exclaimed, shocked.

Perhaps this guy was too depressed about Jaime and turned to the other way. Never thought this was possible but it had been a very long time since Jaime and Ren died.

Hyuuga looked really confused.

"What are you talking about?" he asked. He was apparently surprised.

"I think this is a bad time to come out. I'm gonna order pizza." The blond guy excused himself.

I was back staring at Hyuuga.

I didn't want to waste time so I grabbed the violet flash drive from my bag and showed it to him. Sure enough, he was surprised at seeing it.

"Are you the owner of this flash drive?" I asked him directly.

He immediately snatched it and looked at it closely.

"Where did you get this?" He asked, his voice menacing.

"I found it two weeks ago in a café. I looked everywhere for the owner ever since. And I'm sorry for listening to the audio recordings." I told him.

I had suddenly felt awkward. I felt like I was intruding at 'something' all of a sudden.

"Why?" Hyuuga suddenly said.

"Why what?" I answered. I was a bit curious about his reaction. I was really excited to meet the owner of the voice I had heard. I just felt a bit disheartened by the fact that the guy I almost seemingly admired was the silent décor of the company I work at.

"Why'd you want to find its owner? You should've just thrown it away." He told me. His voice. It was this voice. The familiar sad tone it consisted. Hah. It really was him.

"Are you still talking to her?" I paused, looking directly into his eyes. "I heard about what happened to both of them three years ago." I continued. The moment I mentioned 'them', his expression changed into something I couldn't quite understand.

I thought he would be like his usual office self, but he answered.

"Of course I still talk to her. You… didn't you open the last recording this drive has? Aren't you… curious about it?" he asked me, holding on with my eyes. We stared at each other. I didn't notice before. He had a very beautiful pair of ruby eyes. It was making me a bit jealous.

"It's really beautiful…" I muttered silently. I didn't know if he heard though.

I smiled a bit before saying anything.

"I wanted to listen to it after I found and proved that the person I was listening to all this time was real. I… wanted to believe that the emotions I felt when I heard your voice was something I could believe in for real. Did you… did you really love her?" I asked him.

I felt like I shouldn't have asked him that question. I immediately regretted it.

"I wouldn't be suffering right now if I didn't…" he smiled, slightly.

We were silent for a few moments before he started talking.

"In a way, you're like a stalker."

I huffed.

"It was my fault." He started again.

"What?" I asked him, furrowing my brows.

"I… didn't want to see them happy together… that's why I suggested their parents to celebrate their engagement in Hawaii." He paused, closing his eyes and putting his hands together while frowning. "I caused their death… if I didn't…" he stopped. It was probably hard for him.

I watched him as he struggled to control himself.

"You wanted an escape." I told him.

I saw him clench his fists and his face hardened.

"It wasn't your fault." I said simply.

"I wasn't your fault that you loved her… you probably treasured Ren as well. Wasn't that the reason why it hurt so much?" I asked him.

"I wasn't your fault." I repeated.

When I saw his lip bleeding, it hit me like lightning. My eyes widened and I immediately stood up. I hugged him.

"It's also okay to cry." I said.

It was heart breaking. All these years… did he always think that their death was his fault? Had he always believed that it was him who killed them? It didn't take a genius for someone to know what happened to this guy.

He was suffering.

I felt my right shoulder getting wet.

I almost wanted to sigh. Men really- even when they're crying- he didn't even let a sound go astray.

I quickly opened my eyes. Reality slapped me on my forehead. Did I just- did I just hug? No, I AM still hugging.

…

Well, whatever.

Xxx

A month after that, I became really close with Natsume (I call him by his first name now) and I was constantly exposed to very angry packs of wolves that I call distressed women. I discovered that Natsume didn't turn Homo and it seemed like I was getting unfortunately attracted to him.

Sigh.

Life really was full of surprises.

For example, a week after the poker face cried, our manager asked me out in front of everybody in the office. And like a prince claiming his princess, Natsume swept me off my feet, literally. He grabbed my hand, carried me like a princess and told the manager.

"This is mine."

Huh. It wasn't romantic. He told them I was a thing for goodness sake, nevertheless, it worked like magic to me.

And you can guess what happened to us after two years.

THE END

I finished this really fast just now. It felt like if I didn't finish this today, I would've finished this for maybe 6 months later?

I hope everybody enjoyed this story^^

A reply to everyone who reviewed in the 2nd chap:

Eka19: Yes, it's really bad here. I have to thank God that our place is far from where Yolanda wreaked havoc. I hope your family here in the ph is safe.

AnimeMango: Yep they knew each other^^ btw, I keep seeing your name in FM's review list. Thank you for reading this story (as well as the others) I really appreciate people who takes their time to review :D

xNatsuMikanx: It's okay if you're a little rusty in Tagalog. It's understandable if you've been living abroad for a long time^^

crimsonprincess: Thank you very much! I hope you read this chap and had a great time^^

PH News about:

Earlier, I heard some bad news from my mother. It seems like people from uh, I don't remember where, but people ransacked a Gaisano mall and took everything they could get. I was really disappointed with people at that place. It would have been completely understandable if they took FOOD only, but I saw in the news where people took many unnecessary (not really unnecessary, but still!) things. I saw some people took appliances and toys and I guess they took whatever they saw inside the mall.

To be completely honest, there are many people who are willing to give support for those who needs help in our country and it got me thinking that people should've patiently waited for the relief goods that are going to be sent to them. I remembered a college teacher saying that people nowadays doesn't have discipline. And even if I didn't want to, I regretfully take this incident as an example of lack in discipline.

Anyways, it's over and done with. I still pray for all those who died, those who've lost their loved ones, those who've lost their homes and properties and those who are in need of help. God bless them all.

Oh and I heard there was another typhoon coming. It's nerve-wracking. I hope everything'll be fine in the end.