I love you, goodbye

It was a Saturday but for some reason, she showed up for work. She promised him they'd celebrate his birthday together. He was turning 26 that day but as a freelance photojournalist, he was also working on a weekend. He was covering an event that involved the presentation of a kilometer-long sausage by an organization of chefs and other hotel kitchen staff from all over the city.

His team was commissioned to document the parade and make a short video presentation for the chefs. He was both nervous and excited not about the gig but because he was having lunch with her after the press coverage.

He was up early that day having been tossed like a salad the night before. His long, curly hair tied in a braid so as not to impede his filming of the event. Since the team was meeting up at the hotel where she worked, he figured they could have breakfast together. She agreed and came down to have a cup of coffee with him. They spent about half an hour talking about the last two weeks since he asked her out. Up until that point, they were not quite a couple—not by any measure but being with her felt as natural and as comfortable as breathing. She was in a long, grey dress with matching silk stockings. She was the most beautiful thing he had laid eyes on!

When breakfast was done, she hurriedly got up and wished him luck. She said she had a ton of work to finish so they could have lunch and spend the rest of they day together. He lights up a Marlboro and picks up his gear.

The parade didn't quite go as planned. There were a few snags and the sausage barely made the 1,000-meter length (intact), as the organizers hoped. All he cared about was getting the footage he needed and keeping his rig dry. At the same time, he was thinking about her as it was already way past lunch and since mobile communication devices weren't as common back in the day, there was no way he ciuld message her to say he was running late but she waited patiently back at the office.

They had lunch at a cozy, classy place across the street from the hotel. Rain obscured the windows which would've yielded a great view of Makati but he didn't mind. He was enjoying the view right in front of him.

She didn't quite seem like herself. She was ordering so much food that he asked for an extra table. Although she giggled at some of his funny quips, she was unusually quiet. It was as if all that food she ordered was meant to keep their mouths and their minds busy—that no conversation was possible.

It was raining when they left the restaurant. They walked unhurried, lightly drenched as they went up to her office. Walking the long corridor, he felt a sense of foreboding, as if he was walking to his own execution. She sat down on the long couch in the receiving area. It was the first time he was welcomed there. It would also be his last.

"You okay?", he asked.

—"I'm fine."

"You don't quite look it."

—"I've been thinking about the last few weeks..."

"...and?.."

—"...and I think we should stop seeing each other."

"But...we're not even a couple...yet!"

—"I can't. I just can't!"

"Is it because you fell for me?"

—"'Fell', is past tense..."

"Talk to me in English, please."

She just kept quiet and started fixing the creases on her dress. He undoes his braid and lets his hair down. She starts sobbing and fumbles with the box of tissues on the table.

He inched closer, reaches for her arm and gently caresses her, incredulous that he would actually be that close to her. Swiftly, he goes for her neck and starts kissing her softly. She found that too much to bear so she reciprocates by finding his lips and they were locked in what seemed like an embrace that would last forever.

When it was all over, she asked him to leave ahead so security wouldn't suspect anything.

"Does this mean we're together?", he asked. 

—"No, this is goodbye!"

It was a strange birthday present.