I woke up a little
disoriented. I checked my watch and found that its 6:30pm. I must have slept
by more than an hour. In front of me, Suzette soundly sleeps. Oh I missed this
lady, and the rest of the gang.
I stood up and
checked myself in the mirror. My hair is a mess. I remember how my boyfriend
Ray told me that we have to help in the preparations for this evening because
tonight we're having a bonfire. Wee! We're composed of 4 vans, and almost 50
people, all from the process engineering department. They're technically my
second family, as my first 5 years as a professional really evolved with these
people. In spite of my resignation a couple of months ago, these people remain
close to my heart. There have been a lot
of new engineers, but what's really cool is how a lot of engineers brought
their families and special someone's to this outing. It's not every day that
you can organize a whole department trip to Potipot, Zambales anyway! Hat's off
to Sir Francis for that! It’s our best summer outing to date!
I looked for Ray but
he was nowhere to be found. I tried to get back in and look for him in the
kitchen, in the other rooms, and in the other areas of the resort but I
couldn't find him. And I started to notice how the rest of the group wasn't in
the resort either.
Soon, Ate Hya and Kuya
Francis arrived. “San kayo galing” I
asked. "Naghanap ng kahoy sa bonfire",
they answered.
I didn't stop looking
for Ray. I kept asking people around where he was and I was slowly getting
agitated. Then I finally saw him and I was like "Kanina pa kita hinahanap san ka galing?", and Ray just
answered "Ah naghanap lang kami ng
kahoy sa bonfire".
So lahat ng tao
naghahanap ng kahoy sa bonfire ganon??
And so we had a sumptuous
dinner courtesy of kuya Philbert and his wife, and the much awaited bonfire
began. We huddled around the fire, with
Zane, Sham, and Reinald doing the singing, and me the ‘saling ketket’. Zane and Sham are two of my dearest friends and I've
always loved our jam sessions. Zane has the most beautiful voice I’ve ever
known and Sham’s musicality is both energetic and fun. Reinald is a pretty new
engineer who sings and plays the guitar really well. ;) Together, they would
sing the soundtrack to the most unforgettable night of my life. :)
A couple of minutes
after, a series of slides were displayed on our improvised projector-by-the-beach.
They showed pictures of us in our outing last year, at Muntingbuhangin
Batangas. They were fun memories that everyone laughed along with. Then I saw a photo of me, sound asleep,
mouth-wide open, leaning on papa ray's shoulder. EMBARASSMENT haha!
Then the succeeding
slides started to show my pictures with Ray. It had our pictures in batangas,
pictures in tagaytay, pictures in random dates. I was getting embarassed again
I mean what the hell are these things doing here? But then I saw the caption
"I just want to make you happy". Oh man. Ray is up to something.
Zane and the gang
sings Bruno Mars's "Just the way you are". I try to join in by making use of the shaker. But I find it
hard to keep in tune because I see some of our officemates fussing about
something, with Ray seemingly tense. Why?
Then one by one, dear
friends of mine approach me, holding pictures on wooden paperclips. These are me
and Ray's photos starting from the day we've met, our favorite dates, random
night-outs, and out of towns. I struggle to read them all but the pictures just
keep coming and coming! Ray loves to relive memories and experiences that we've
shared, I'm torn between smiling and staring at Ray in bewilderment. It was
like taking a trip down memory lane.
The last one I would
not forget, Ate Hya Insisted that I read this first. It was a photo taken in
Majayjay 2 years ago, where he knelt down in front of me as if asking for my
hand, under a waterfall.
MY MIND WAS SPINNING.
