hike

She didn't want me to hold her hand anymore. She wanted to let me go.

So I did.

We have been seeing each other for two years. We met each other for the first time when she was taking a lunch break at the office, sitting all alone in the cafeteria. Not so romantic. Not the love-at-first-sight-type of thing. I sat down with her while she was reading a pocketbook on one hand and sipping a cup of hot cocoa on the other. I asked her if I could take a seat with her. She looked at me with those piercing eyes as if a monster would suddenly jolt out of her tiny body.

She looked around. She looked back at me. She smiled. Right then and there, I thought, a monster could never project a smile like that.

Since then, we started to talk. We started going out. Since both of us love hiking, that was what our first date was. I never thought, after seeing her in the cafeteria reading a John Devereaux pocketbook, that the likes of her would be involved in such a strenuous, yet boring hobby. But looks definitely can be deceiving.

We started hiking in the afternoon, around three o' clock since the dessert sun is not a good ally during daytime. We talked about a lot of things. From office work, to Jay Leno, music wherein we found out we both love Abba, CSI's shocking season finale wherein a short clip finally showed Grissom and Sarah having a relationship, to knowing where our families come from. We had so much fun that time finally ran out and it was already getting dark. Not good for hiking. We have decided to go to our separate cars and go home.

I don't know what came into me. As the sun was getting ready to take its rest, I saw a streak of its light beam on her face. She squinted her eyes. She looked at me and then smiled like that same curving of the lips I saw on her face in the cafeteria.

I felt the rush. I felt a burning sensation clouding inside me. I smiled back at her.
Then I ran towards her, grabbed her by the hips, and let her chest press onto mine. I kissed her passionately. The sun finally hid behind the mountains we have hiked, granting us the moment of our first kiss to be solely owned.

Two years have already passed and it's been going smoothly. Or at least, that's what I thought.

It was our anniversary. Like the usual celebrations that we had, we would celebrate it on that same mountain where we had our "firsts." I have prepared a small picnic for both of us by the end of our trek. We would simply walk around the paths of that mountain and talk and laugh like we do. Being with each other was enough. Nothing elaborate. No fancy dinners in restaurants. Just our plain selves goofing around. That was enough.

She stopped me halfway into the trek. She said she wanted to say something. She started things off by telling our story: how we've met, how our relationship had been so great for the past two years, yada yada yada. At first, I thought she is going to propose to me by the way that she talked.

I grabbed her by the hips. I let her chest rest onto mine. I asked her to get to the bottom line of what she wants to say while I played my nose on hers. She pushed me away. She lost her footing and slid down the edge of the mountain. Everything went so fast. It was fortunate that I was able to grab her hand. I held onto it tight. I could never let her go. Never.

I tried lifting her up but things start to crumble down whenever I'd try to. She was already in tears, "Please don't ever let me go, please." I held onto her. I told her I won't. I can't.

Then she stopped acting hysterical. She was still sobbing but the panic suddenly disappeared from her face. She stared at me while I was shouting for help and trying to hold onto her as much as I could. She said she is going to tell me something.

"I am having an affair with our boss."

I looked at her and my voice, shaking for the fear of losing her, was suddenly silenced.

"I am not happy with what we have anymore. I want to be with someone else, someone who dreams for more. I am sorry, honey. I am really really sorry. Please forgive me."

I looked at her. I stared at her hand that I was firmly holding at that time. She smiled back at me. The curving of her lips reminded me of that first smile she had when I saw her in the cafeteria.

I felt the rush again but it wasn't like the first time.

"Please no, don't let me go..."

She didn't want me to hold her hand anymore. She wanted to let me go. So I did.
And she plummeted five hundred feet deep into the crevices of the mountain.

Soon, the rush was gone. I felt cold. While standing at the edge of that mountain where the sun saw us kiss for the very first time, I thought... I will never go hiking again.

Well, sailing makes a great hobby don't you think?