"Love is a temporary madness. It erupts like an earthquake and then subsides. And when it subsides you have to make a decision. You have to work out whether your roots have become so entwined together that it is inconceivable that you should ever part. Because this is what love is. Love is not breathlessness, it is not excitement, it is not the promulgation of promises of eternal passion. That is just being "in love" which any of us can convince ourselves we are. Love itself is what is left over when being in love has burned away, and this is both an art and a fortunate accident. Your mother and I had it, we had roots that grew towards each other underground, and when all the pretty blossom had fallen from our branches we found that we were one tree and not two.

- Captain Corelli's Mandolin.

She moved to Manila right after she finished her summer school. She wasn't very happy because it was a new place. It seemed all too different from where she's been. It was a busy street, and school was too far from where she was staying. Nothing was familiar. She missed her friends in Cebu. She missed the man that captured her young heart. It pains her to know that she might not see him again.

A year has passed and it was the summer before she finally goes to college. She packed her bags and made her way to the airport. She was excited for the possibility of seeing him once again. She was dissapointed to hear the news that he stopped Med School because of a family crisis. On the other hand, she was glad that she might see him again as he moved with his family back to Manila.

She recalled the last time they've seen each other and the few conversations they had. It meant a lot to her and treasured it in her heart. She called him "Kuya" which means big brother. It was the sweetest endearment she whispers in the wind when she thinks of him. On the second semester of her first year in college, they finally had the chance to meet and talk about the old times. "Love was all around, she felt in her fingers, she felt it in her toes, love was all around her and so the feeling goes." It sounds so cheesy but that was the hit song during those times.

Love was so innocent, so pure and so naive. She wrote him letters everyday. The moments they shared together was the only moment and nothing else matters. The world stops and the angels smiles. It was the happiest moments of her life. She remembered one time when she received a letter from him, she jumped all around the school corridor with so much joy. Her friends was all too excited that they have to read the letter before she can.

She couldn't go to sleep the nights before their dates. She was so excited. She thought she can die of happiness before it even happens. She would go to her dresser and find the perfect dress. She spends the whole night watching the clock and waiting for the time when she'll finally see his beautiful smile. She decides to write again in her diary:

Dear Diary,

I could not explain in words how I feel now. I am so happy beyond words. I cannot believe this. Tomorrow, I shall see him again. If I am dreaming, please don't wake me up.

I love him. I love him so much.

P.S. I shall tell you more after I see him.

Love, Sheena

They were holding each others hands and feel the beating of our hearts. The holding hands lasted for hours and she can feel the sweat drippoing from their palms. She was in heaven and she never wants to come back to earth. She thought if the holding hands felt like heaven, how would she feel with the kiss? Is there something beyond heaven? Her mind was screaming, she wanted to melt with the kiss but no one wants to make the first move. If only she had the guts to say, " Kuya, It won't hurt me if you try to be rude a little and steal me a kiss."

"If, for example, you come at four o'clock in the afternoon, then at three o'clock I shall begin to be happy. I shall feel happier and happier as the hour advances. At four o'clock, I shall already be worrying and jumping about. I shall show you how happy I am! But if you come at just any time, I shall never know at what hour my heart is to be ready to greet you . . . One must observe the proper rites . . ." - conversation of the fox to the little prince by Antoine de Saint Exupéry.

...to be continued