Ever Summer

Chapter Eight

After that tender scene at the Manila Bay, their intimate moments became part of their scene.. Though not as as frequent as they wanted to. They were both young and passionate and very much in love. They simply couldn’t get enough of each other. Still, they have never gone beyond Soraya’s limitation.

But the recent weeks had them barely coping with their very tight schedules . Gerard was buried in tons of workload to beat the deadline of his design project in school. Alex, his group mate in the project was nagging him to focus more on their work.

Soraya too barely had time for herself. Aside from the demands of her academics and the pressure to maintain her scholarship, her performances with the Kamanyang became frequent and even took her to out of town trips. She also did part-time volunteer work at SINAG, a Non-Government Organization-operated shelter for the abused women. It was Aida who took her to SINAG having been a volunteer there for quite some time. The first time Soraya saw the faces of the violated women, it broke her heart. She promised to herself to help in any way she could. Since then she went with Aida to SINAG and made time to squeeze it in her very tight schedule.

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The political unrest in the country continued , left-leaning and moderate organizations from the student and labor unions have stepped up their protest demonstrations. Labor strikes became a big problem as some medium scale companies were forced to close shop , unable to bear the loss of an extended stop in their operations. Paralyzing transport strikes added to the sufferings of the common people.

Government troopers maintained that they remained faithful to their maximum tolerance policy despite provocations from unruly anti-Marcos demonstrators. Especially in the presence of local and several foreign media representatives. But these protest rallies were, more often than not, ended up in violent confrontations sparked by the so-called “provocateurs”. Government claimed that this came`from the ranks of the militants in their bid to gain broad media attention. But demonstrators also accused the police of planting “provocateurs” in their ranks to instigate violence and justify their brutality.

For fear of Soraya’s safety, Gerard started joining rallies . Never taking his eyes off of her. At first, Soraya objected to seeing him at the rally. She too feared for Gerard’s safety. She didn’t want him anywhere near her. It was too dangerous. Gerard was not wise in the ways of the street.

What Soraya feared did happen during a big rally near the Presidential Palace, when violence erupted anew as the demonstrators forcefully broke through the barricades and came eyeball-to-eyeball with anti-riot police . Push came to shove . until it was out control and police started striking the students with their shields and truncheons. Stones went flying, tear gas were fired. The force of the water canon from the stand by fire truck forced the activists to retreat. It was then that government troopers pressed their advantage and started advancing while swinging their truncheons indiscriminately , students scrambled for safety, while some bravely fought back with Molotov cocktails, others picked up the tear gas canister and hurled it back at the police `personnel . I wasn’t long before the crowd dissipated leaving the area littered with shoes, slippers, back packs, stones , broken bottles , and wooden sticks and tattered anti-Marcos posters.

Gerard and Soraya were lucky, they had barely escaped the brutal dispersal and the hot pursuit of the angry anti-riot officers. Shaken and wet., but unhurt, they found their way towards a darkened alley leading to the street where Gerard’s car was parked.

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Gerard and Soraya stood stark naked under the shower. Their bodies so close their skin touched as they basked on the soothing stream of heated water, seemingly unmindful of their nakedness.

Earlier, Gerard asked her if it was okay with her if they checked in a drive –through motel to tidy up and dry their clothes. Soraya just looked into his eyes before she nodded. She didn’t say a word. She understood . Garard’s house was still too far and her dorm was off limits to male visitors by then. . And the hopeful longing in his eyes had moved her. It was then when she knew that the right time for their love has come.

She slowly undressed as soon as they got inside their room. Then she stood unabashedly naked in front of Gerard while gently helping him took off his wet clothes. Without saying a word, she took his hand and slowly led him to the bathroom.

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