Of (Heart)Beats and Bylines [Completed]

Chapter 24- Disclosure

"Girlfriends, I have had three."

He continued. "The first one was in high school. She was our neighbor. Her father disapproved of our relationship, arguing that we were too young, which we were. It was nipped in the bud, so we were together for just a month."

"How old were you then?" I inquired.

"Fifteen and she was thirteen."

"Oh. Do you still see her?"

He explained. "Sa Facebook lang. She added me. But we've outgrown each other and we've both moved on. Then, the other two were in college. From the same university. Naging classmate ko pareho. My second relationship happened when we were both freshmen."

"Bakit kayo nagbreak?"

He reminisced. "Incompatible kami. We liked each other pero naman, araw araw kami nagtatalo," he explained with a small laugh.

"Nakakatawa lang. Kahit maliit na bagay, pinagtatalunan namin. Our ideas clashed, so we would argue almost every day. Nakakapagod.

He paused to contemplate on his realizations. "It made me realize that attraction was not enough. It was an exhausting relationship. Pero surprisingly, nagtagal pa rin kami ng almost one year. I guess we hung on because of sentimentality. I was her first relationship, so she tried hard to make it work out of ... what's the word... romanticism? Ako rin, I thought maybe we just needed time to adjust to each other. Pero hindi pa rin eh. We were very different in our perspectives. Parang, I'm looking at it from this direction and she is looking at it from the other way. The break-up was a mutual decision."

"Then six months after, I got into another relationship. I'm not going to lie, it was the most painful one."

"We don't have to talk about it if makes you uneasy," I assured him.

"No, it's okay. I'm past it. Really," he said it with ease and certainty.

"That's comforting to hear."

"May hugot?"

"Yes, actually."

It's my turn to share with him my relationship history. "I've only had one relationship and we broke up because he was not over his ex."

"Classmate?"

"Yes. But he was from a different course.

"How long were you together?" he asked.

"Four months. When we broke up, he went back to her. There wasn't too much drama. I let him go and that was it. We are not friends, not even on social media."

"With me, I deleted her in my contacts. The last one, I mean. The other two are there."

I asked further. "So... what happened? With the last one?"

"She cheated on me. It happened a few weeks after celebrating our first anniversary as a couple. She had a one-night stand with her classmate."

"How did you find out? Did you catch them yourself?"

"The guy was in another fraternity and he boasted about it to his brothers. Naturally, word got around until it reached me. But I forgave her and we took off from where we left."

He continued. "I thought I could move past it, but I was never able to totally move on. I could never fully trust her again. Yun tipong, may kausap lang siya na iba, kung anu-ano ng pagdududa yung dumadaan sa isip ko. It was not healthy at all anymore. So, I ended things with her. Permanently."

"Sorry to hear that," I said.

RJ was quick to refute it. "Hey don't be. We are here now."

"I mean, I'm sorry you went through that pain," I backtracked.