His Eyes

Chapter 2

"Isn't it true that Ms. Pimentel has a bit of an attitude?"

"What a question, Freya. But yeah, you're right. Sometimes I really am like that. Hahaha."

At least their idol was being honest about it now — better she show her real personality than keep up an act.

"But I heard from some of her fans that Summer's actually gotten nicer lately. She used to be so snobby, always yelling at people, but now she's smiling all the time." I caught the conversation happening behind me on the bus.

"You know how rumors are, they spread fast. Good thing she doesn't let it get to her. I really admire her. She's got such a strong spirit."

I was on the bus on my way to school, with nothing better to do than listen in on other people's conversations. I figured my own family was probably saying the exact same things right now. It was almost funny — somehow I'd become the one hater in a household full of superfans. It wasn't that I hated that actress. I just... didn't care for her.

I stepped off the bus and immediately spotted the girl who was about to ruin my morning. She was already waving at me. I still couldn't wrap my head around the idea that someone actually liked me.

"Look at you. Your collar's a mess — you didn't even fix it. Hold still, let me."

She walked up and started straightening my collar, then adjusted my necktie too, moving with the kind of ease that suggested she'd done this a hundred times before.

Our eyes met. Her smile reached her eyes exactly the way it reached her mouth. She was saying something, but I couldn't hear a word of it.

What is happening?

Why is my heart racing like this?

I only snapped out of it when she was suddenly gone — I looked around and found her already at the gate, smiling, walking in without me. I shook my head a few times before following. I checked the time and—

"s**t!" One minute left before class started!

I practically flew down the hallway.

I was toast.

To make it worse, my first subject was Psychology — under the strictest teacher in the whole department. At least our room was on the ground floor. Room 103.

"Good luck, Denden!"

I spun toward the voice. She was standing at the door of a classroom on the second floor, grinning, giving me a thumbs up. I frowned.

How does she even know my nickname?

And how had she gotten here so fast? Probably running late herself. I almost laughed.

Serves her right.

It was the first time I'd noticed how pretty she looked when she smiled like that. Before I even realized it, my mouth had opened on its own.

"Thank you."

"I love you too!"

I froze at what she'd just shouted back. I replayed the words in my head, over and over.

Thank you.

I love you too.

Thank you.

I love you too.

You...

Too...

Oh — she'd just misread my lips. Both phrases end with the same mouth shape, apparently. I shook my head, laughing at myself.

Wait — why did that feel like it had gone somewhere it shouldn't have?

I glanced around on instinct. People were staring. Eyes bouncing between her and me, then shaking their heads. I only had one word for it.

Mortifying.

I shot her one last look. She smiled again before finally disappearing into her room. I sped up, practically jogging the rest of the way. Thankfully, when I got there, our teacher hadn't arrived yet.

I dropped into my usual seat — back row, near the window — drenched in sweat. A minute later our teacher walked in, thick glasses, a face like a leopard on the prowl. Only thirty years old, but she carried herself like fifty.

"Good morning!"

"Good morning, ma'am."

An hour into the lecture, something started tapping at the window. I ignored it at first, glancing at my classmates to see if any of them were making the sound. None of them were.

"Psst. Denden?"

I had a pretty good guess who that was. She was the only person I actually talked to on campus. The only one, outside my family, who even knew my nickname.

"Psst! Hey. I'm right here, at the window."

I turned automatically toward the glass beside me.

"HOLY SH*T!"

I nearly jumped out of my seat when her face suddenly appeared. She just laughed and laughed, pointing at me with a peace sign.

This girl was insane.

"MR. ROTAQUIO?!"

"Ah — insane!" I blurted, not thinking.

The whole class burst into laughter. I whipped my head back to the window, but she was already gone.

"MR. ROTAQUIO? ARE YOU LISTENING?"

I shot to my feet, panicking.

"Y-y-yes ma'am. I-I'm sorry, ma'am."

The second I sat back down, there she was again. I told myself I'd ignore her this time, but whatever she was doing was too strange to look away from.

She was smiling, breathing onto the glass until fog formed, then writing in it with her finger. At first the letters were backward and made no sense, but once I actually focused, it clicked. She watched me the whole time, grinning, waiting for my reaction.

mahal kita. I love you.

I looked up the second I finished reading it — but she was already gone. I checked the window again; not even a shadow of her left. I sat there, stunned, my heart pounding in a way I couldn't explain.

After class, I headed straight for the library. I had five hours to kill before my last subject — only two classes on my schedule that day.

And there she was. Again.

"C'mon, Denden. Take me around campus. Please?"

She'd been at it for a while now — I'd lost count of how many times she'd asked. I kept ignoring her, but I couldn't focus on anything either. I still hadn't gotten over what happened at the window. And now she was acting like nothing had happened at all.

I genuinely could not understand this girl.

I couldn't understand myself either. Instead of getting annoyed, some part of me was almost... enjoying this.

"Denden? Are you even listening? You said you had five hours to wait. So take me around. C'mon."

I closed my book and looked at her, irritated.

"I don't have any money."

She smirked and pulled out a pink wallet, fanning out a stack of thousand-peso bills in front of my face.

"So? Are you taking me around now?"

I was speechless.

I wanted to argue, but there wasn't much left to say. And since I still had four hours to spare, I gave in.

"Where do you want to go first, Denden?"

"The park."

Dora practically lit up. Her eyes sparkled, and the smile never left her face. She skipped the whole way there, humming to herself.

It wasn't until later that I realized I was smiling too.

"Cotton candy!"

She dragged me toward a cotton candy vendor. I ended up being the one paying, every time — she acted like a kid who'd just been let out of a cage. Simple things made her endlessly happy.

We wandered the whole park. Watched kids playing. Couples on dates. Families having picnics. It wasn't just cotton candy either — ice cream, ice candy, grilled intestines, halo-halo, and more. I honestly had no idea where she was putting it all.

This girl seemed impossible to fill up.

Next we went to the Museo de Aurora — paintings, artifacts, bones on display that were thousands of years old.

"Wow, it's actually really nice here. I've never been."

"Why not?"

She paused, looked down. Her face fell, and I caught the shine of tears forming before she forced a smile at me.

A smile that clearly cost her something.

"I'm just not really the type to go out much."

"You could've asked your parents to bring you places."

She read the plaque beside the painting instead of answering right away, then finally looked at me — a sad, distant look, fidgeting with her fingers.

"I don't have parents anymore. I was in fourth grade when they died. My dad had cancer, and my mom had a heart condition. When he died, she couldn't handle it, and it triggered an attack. Funny enough — they ended up buried in the same casket."

She started crying for real then. I panicked. I really don't do well with crying girls.

I'd had no idea she'd been through something like that. Underneath all the teasing and the attitude, she'd been carrying something this heavy the whole time.

"I-I'm sorry for asking."

I stepped closer and patted her back.

"It's fine, really. I'm used to it. I've made peace with it. Honestly it's better this way — at least they're not suffering anymore. It hurt more watching them struggle."

She grabbed my hand again and pulled me out of the museum, already back to pestering me about where we'd go next.

That's when it hit me — that night at the fair, when she'd mistaken me for a driver.

"The fair."

Her reaction had me laughing. She froze, mouth hanging open, eyes wide, blinking like she couldn't believe what I'd just said.

"REALLY?"

Did she have to yell?

"Yeah, really. You don't want to?"

"NO!" she answered immediately. But now I was having too much fun teasing her.

"Guess not, then. Let's head back to school."

Her whole face fell, like she'd just lost something.

Cute.

Wait — did I just think that?

"No, not 'no' like that! I mean — I want to! I really want to go to the fair. Especially the Ferris wheel. I've only ever seen it on TV. I want to actually experience it."

She couldn't sit still the whole tricycle ride there, asking over and over if we were close yet.

And there was that smile of mine again.

The moment we arrived, she dragged me straight to the Ferris wheel.

It was practically empty since it was still morning — most people came at night. So we skipped the line entirely. I paid for two, helped her into the seat, and she was equal parts thrilled and visibly nervous. She kept glancing at me while the attendant locked us in, shaking her head slightly, unable to look away.

"Something wrong?"

She shook her head again and smiled.

Weird.

"Whooaaahhhh!!!" I shouted as the wheel started moving. Then I heard crying beside me.

Dora.

"WAAAHHHHH!!! MOMMY!!!"

I couldn't stop laughing. Her face was priceless.

I took her hand and told her not to be scared. She stayed like that for a few minutes before finally opening her eyes, startled to find how high up we already were. I told her to just scream out the fear and it would pass.

"It's actually fun once you get past that. Don't be scared. I was exactly like you my first time — but it didn't take long before it turned into pure joy...!"

She looked down at our joined hands. My face went warm for no reason I could explain, and I started to pull my hand back — but she caught it again, smiling, before I could.

There went my heart again.

"It's beautiful...!"

That's when she started shouting too — not out of fear this time, but pure delight.

"Denden?"

"Hmm?"

"Thank you. For today. Thank you for letting me feel like this. I won't forget it. This is the happiest day of my life."

I just looked at her. My heart was pounding so hard it felt like it might burst out of my chest. Something was doing somersaults in my stomach.

I didn't even notice I'd been staring until she was pulling me along again — we were already back on the ground, and I hadn't registered any of it. It felt like time had simply stopped.

What is happening to me?

We made it back to school, and she insisted on walking me to my room. I turned her down more than once, but she wouldn't budge — we were still arguing about it by the time we actually got there.

Before I stepped inside, she left me with one last thing — words that stayed with me the whole walk home and kept me up half the night.

"Denden? Thanks again for today. What I wrote on the window earlier — it was true. Every word of it. I really do love you. Only you. No one else."