Thursday, November 29, 2007

the most beautiful girl

i saw the most beautiful girl today.

it was not my usual time to travel to school. i had to attend an uncuttable immersion orientation at 10:30 in the morning. I was the group leader, so i couldn't possibly be late. i woke up around 8, showered and dressed just in time to catch a rerun episode of Friends on Star World. i ate breakfast as i watched, and after the show ended i left the house.

i took the usual morning walk along Pitimini street. It was a sunny yet cold morning. i stopped by the store where i usually buy my cigarettes, but then i realized i still had a half pack in my bag. so i went on with my walk, yawning almost half the time. I crossed Roosevelt avenue, and waited to ride my first of three jeepneys to school. I got in the jeepney, paid my fare, and closed my eyes trying to squeeze in a three minute sleep before i had to get off the jeep.

it was around 9:35 when i reached Pantranco, where i got off the first jeepney. it wasn't the usual people i saw waiting for a UP Campus jeepeney on MWFs. This was a separate group; a group who had class at 10 or 10:30 in the morning. after a minute or two, a UP-bound jeepney came and we boarded, as if it was our school bus. well it actually was.

after a seemingly endless 10-minute traverse of Quezon Avenue, the jeepney stopped at the corner after National Bookstore. the name of the street escapes me as i write now. but the where is insignificant to the who. she boarded the jeepney, and sat on the opposite row facing me. she was two persons to the left of the passenger seatd in front of me. which meant i had to face a little bit to the right to get a better view of her.

but there she was. the most beautiful girl i ever saw.

she was about 5'5 or 5'6. she wore a yellow top and khaki shorts. the maroon ID strap around her neck was evidence enough that she studied in UP. she had a light backpack, which she placed on her lap. she opened her purse from her bag and collected the coins she needed to pay her fare. it was a cute scene. it was the scene in a movie where the lead actress looked like a total klutz; she smiled shyly and laughed a little bit at herself for having a hard time collecting coins from her purse. she threw glances left and right, as if managing through a mind map of her purse. still smiling. then when she finally got a hold of the ten one-peso coins, i heard the softest, most feminine voice i have ever heard. bayad po. it was my new LSS. bayad po.

when we crossed EDSA, it occured to me that all i have been doing was looking at her. but you can't blame me, i tell you. you would stare at her too if you saw her.

hers was a beauty i could not easily forget. her tan was near perfect. not dark, not light, not white, not black. yummy milk chocolate brown, if i had to name the color. her hair, her shoulder length, black and brown hair, was neatly tied with a sophisticated style that accented her magical face and her slender neck. the shape of her head and of her face was nearly angelic. her lips were not a perfect red, but a simple red which she kept wetting everynow and then. her nose was not straight nor pointy. it was just right, a filipina nose: cute and would've been fun to tease her with (just like her ears). her eyebrows were cut cleanly. but then i saw the most striking part of her face. her eyes. dark brown and chinky, almost like chinese eyes except that hers had more of an opening--just enough to let people gaze into. and so i gazed into her eyes.

i suddenly realized that i have been staring at her for minutes. nonstop. she kept looking outside, onto the traffic. i smiled whenever the bastardly brake of the jeepney caused her to lose her balance and hit her seatmates. she mouthed 'sorry' each time. i was about to say 'ok lang' one time, but it hit me that i wasn't the one she was talking to. buti na lang.

but then the unthinkable (or atleast what i didn't think would happen) happened. i was staring at her, admiring her deep soulful eyes when she caught my glimpse. she stared at me too. there was about a five or six second span where we just looked straight at each other.

1.. 2.. 3.. then i started to zone out.. there was no one else but her in front of me..

4.. 5.. then i smiled--that stupid smile that could have scared the hell out of satan himself--for no apparent reason

6.. then she smiled too.

7.. no there was no seven. after she smiled we lost eye contact because of that god damn son of a bitch driver who couldn't properly brake if the whole world and the survival of mankind depended on it. shit. i glanced at her, but she was looking down and elsewhere after that. sayang.

sayang. i wanted to tell her pa naman "you had me at 'bayad po'". just kidding. but there you go.

i saw the most beautiful girl today. and she looked back and smiled.