When and How I Met Him Part 1

Here I am chilling out here inside my bedroom while listening to my all-time favorite love songs. I have stumbled upon “When I Met You”, an APO Hiking Society classic, which was revived several times. I am amazed with Sarah Geronimo’s version. Her sweet voice touched my soul. I remembered how I met my then-boyfriend and now husband, how our love story started. Some call it love at first sight. In reality, it was not. We call it destiny. It was a love story that was five to ten years in the making. Only God knows the exact waiting period of our hearts. What matters most was when we committed ourselves to each other on that fateful day, we never let go ever since.
My husband fondly remembers how he, as a high school student, was introduced to me, who was still an elementary grader, by my uncle and his friend. They dropped by the house to borrow my dad’s motorcycle helmets. However, I don’t remember this particular incident anymore. I did not have a diary back then so life was undocumented. I was probably in Grade six if I am not mistaken. He said he was intrigued by my unique name, and welcomed the idea of having a girlfriend like me, who was not from the same town where he lived.
My first vivid memory of us meeting each other was when I was fifteen, and he was seventeen. It was the annual fiesta in my grandparents’ place. My family was there with the rest of the clan. He was there as one of the guests of my uncles, my mom’s first cousins. He was also a friend of my cousin. We interacted on the same circle so we had the chance to be introduced to each other. We played badminton and watched a basketball game on television. Even if we have talked for a few hours only, I sensed that I have known him more. We share the same birthday month – October, so we connected. I developed a crush for him because he seemed naturally sweet and very funny. Of course, I confided this secret to my cousin, who did not approve of this feeling. She said he had this reputation as a playboy, and even if he expressed that he was interested in me, I should not fall prey to his charms. I tried to suppress my feeling, and carried it for a year or two. Nevertheless, I have remembered him several times and secretly wished to see him again. We had chance encounters, only acknowledging each other’s presence, but they were uneventful. I heard he already had girlfriends so I played it cool and acted as if it did not really matter at all. Honestly, for some funny reason, I resented the bad news secretly. I realized I still had that crush for him after all those years.