C13 Twelve

Nakapikit pa si Zev pero ramdam niya ang mahigpit na pagyakap sa kanya ng binata mula sa kanyang likuran. He kissed her hair, her shoulders, and Zev felt loved.

Nararamdaman niya ang pagmamahal nito sa kanya. She feels it in her bones at sigurado na siyang that RK will be her first love and last one. A last one where she can share home forever.

Alam din niya sa sarili niya na hindi siya nito iiwan dahil napaka-gentle nito at handang magsakripisyo para sa kanya. Hinding-hindi siya nito iiwan mag-iisa.

He will make her the happiest woman on earth as he promised. No one can love her katulad ng pagmamahal nito sa kanya. He's not just his boyfriend, but a friend. Reese as her soulmate will always be her foundation of facing trials. Her armor to beat trials and challenge of life.

Humarap siya rito. "Buenos dias, mi Amor," bati niya na sinabayan pa ng matamis na ngiti. Zev received no response from him but he kissed her forehead instead, paulit-ulit siya nitong hinagkan sa noo at ulo niya.

There's a part of her system that wanted to ask why he suddenly like that, kung bakit ang 'sweet' nito sa gano'ng oras, but because of the hundred kisses, ay nakalimutan niya ang itatanong sana niya. Sa mga nagdaang araw ay may napansin siyang lungkot sa mga mata ni Reese. Hindi niya alam kung bakit, wala siyang ideya. Ang tanging rason na alam niya kung bakit minsan itong natulala at nalulungkot ay dahil sa mga kabiguan at pagiging ulila nito sa ina and his bitter circumstances before. Pero hindi ba't tinanggap na nito ang masalimuot nitong nakaraan. Pero bakit minsan ay wala ito sa mood nito.

Ngunit hindi ugali ni Zev ang magtanong kung okay lang ba talaga ito, because Reese always finds ways to change the subject. But she loved him, his voice, his precious blood. She love Reese's profession.

Mahal na mahal niya ito kahit minsan ay hindi ito open sa kaniya tungkol sa mga problema nito. Pero bilang kasintahan nito ay gusto niyang malaman ang mga problema nito at tulungan itong mag-recover. She's willing to help him in all the ways she can.

Zev now and then was so sure that Reese will be her last, will and always be, her Romeo, the blood that flows in her veins, he's the blood that kept her alive. He will be the father of her future children. Habang iniisip niya iyon ay parang may sayang nabubuhay sa dibdib niya. She can't wait na magiging asawa niya ito at magiging ama ng magiging anak nila. She's willing to wait naman at mabuting mas makilala niya ito ng husto.

Zev open her eyes para salubungin ang tingin nito. There's a smile in those golden-brown eyes now. Smiles can't be only seen in lips and mouth but from all apart.

Nagkatitigan sila habang yakap nila ang isat-isa. She gave a smacking kiss on his lips.

"Mahal na mahal kita." She whispered.

Ikinulong ng binata sa mga palad nito ang mukha ng dalaga, at pinag-sawa ang sarili sa pagtitig sa kaniya. Wala talagang ideya si Zev na malapit na itong umalis ng bansa, at iiwan siya nito. His heart cries. Nasasaktan si Reese, dapat noong una ay sasabihin na nito ang plano nitong iyon. But he couldn't, a one tears, one sob, a pale face, and a one please from her enough to make him stay.

Kayang baguhin ng kasintahan ang plano nitong pag-alis ng bansa sa pamamagitan lang ng isang luha niya. That was the reason kung bakit ayaw i-open ni Reese ang plano nito. "Once upon a time," He said and forced himself to smile, sinisiguro ng binata na may ningning ang mga matang nakatitig kay Zev. "My beautiful fictional character happened to exist. I fell in love with her traits. She's a woman lives beyond fiction, every time I read my work's I feel her breath. I saw her smiles on the book, her voice bruited page by page, humming love." huminto muna ito nang maramdaman nito ang pag-init ng sulok ng mga mata nito. He was about to cry, but he had to control it.

Pansamantalang tumingala ito, then he sighed silently. "I thought everything was just a dream. Look! She's beside me now. Her blue eyes like an ocean stared at me, she's exist, and I fell in love with her even more. There's a door in the book-"

Hinaplos niya ang pisngi nito. "And I love the writer who breathes me for life through the ink of his pen. I am alive, I might live beyond fiction. Everyone knows that fictional characters are impossible to exist, they're too perfect to exist. This cruel world is afraid of their perfect personality and characteristics. No chance for them to be born in the human world. But as for me, you gave me hope, as if by magic my heart started to beat. I fell in love with the man who wrote me," She said idiomatically. Zev considers herself as a fictional character because so many boys wanted her to become their girl, pero sinlamig siya ng isang babaeng nabubuhay sa isang kuwento. She considers herself as a fictional character considering that she was the woman who suddenly disappeared when she saved him on the Mediterranean, alam niyang hinahanap siya nito noong nagising ito sa hospital, pero hindi na siya nagpakita pa.

That was a few years ago pero ito na ang lalaking 'yon, became her lover, so much tales to tell. Mistula siyang isang karakter ng isang libro. That even the reader wanted her to exist because of the mysterious beauty she had-as described by the writer himself, ay wala sa kakayahan ng isang fictional character ang lumabas at magiging isang ganap na tao. That unless played by some actor like Hardin Scott to Hero Fiennes Tiffin.

That's why marami ang nasasaktan dahil sa kondisyong fictophilia isa na si Zev sa mga iyon. She fell in love with a guy who doesn't exist before. A guy in the book. But now she realized na magmulat sa katotohanang kailanman ay walang paki-alam sa kanya ang lalaking nasa libro na minahal niya simula ng bata pa siya. Alam niyang imposibleng mag-exist ang mga ito. Pero palaging may lugar ang mga ito sa munting puso niya.

He smiled and said, "What kind of story or situation when the writer falls in love with her beautiful fictional character?"

"Fictophillia. I and you. Our love story. I dream of you, and you want me. The heart finds its mate no matter how uncertain the world is."

Zev herself scream with joy, yet her soul wanted to tell him something. Paano nga ba iyon sasabihin ng dalaga kung sa isang halik nito ay nagpakawala ng kaniyang katinuan, ang isang halik nito ay mistulang gamot na bumura sa mga katanungang nasa kaniyang isipan, bumura sa mga bagay na nais niyang sasabihin