Let's go back to October 19, 1990. It was a Friday and the last day of the first semester. The university semestral break officially started. Students will leave the dormitory to go home.
I'd be leaving home the next day. The boat ride was just 4 hours to the next island where I was from.
Jay, who has been a close friend, would leave on the same day too, but on an airplane bound for Davao City.
But by lunchtime, over rice and sautéed Spanish sardines in tomato sauce and egg, he asked me if we could be a couple.
I almost choked.
"Di ba diay mismatch 'ta? Tambok ko, niwang ka," I asked. ("Aren't we a mismatch? I'm on the heavier side, while you are the opposite.")
He did not agree with what I just said.
I've known him for a few months. He's a classmate of my roommate Naomi, and he lives next door.
There was no way I could decline his confession when, for the few months we hung out, he was gentle and very patient with me, especially with my mood swings, my mental and anger issues.
I eventually said yes.
By the way, Naomi was my classmate from elementary to high school.
When I arrived from Cebu the following day, the first person I told about me having a boyfriend was my little sister, Charmaine. I specifically asked her not to tell a soul.
But by that late afternoon, my brother asked me if I have a boyfriend already.
I denied, of course. But it seemed like he knew about it. I kept evading his interrogative questions.
At the back of my mind, how did he know?
Guess what?
My sister passed the news to my brother right after I asked her to not breathe a word.
Who else would it be?
Fast forward to last Monday, October 19, after work, to celebrate our 36th coupling anniversary, we went at the Silver Diner in Rio for happy hours. This place is just a few steps away from their workplace.
By the way. At the start of the year, Charmaine joined the company that the mister worked for since 1998. They are now colleagues.
Isn't it appropriate to commemorate this occasion with the very person to whom I first disclosed that I already have a boyfriend?
Although my little sister wasn't able to keep that secret too long, I understood why. She was in 6th grade and 12 years old.
She was a child.
Happy 36th "coupling" anniversary to the mister and me, plus our official third wheel since 1990, Charmaine.
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