Falling for the Floor

For the first time in my life, I think I understood what it's like to have your heart broken. I have had several crushes beginning in my elementary school years, but I have never entered into a real relationship before. A lot of people would tell me that maybe guys get too intimidated with my strong and 'achiever'-type of personality that they just don't want to try with me. And over the years, I've grown accustomed to it.

But entering my early twenties, things started to become, as Erik Erikson put it, in a continuum between Intimacy versus Isolation. There were times that I feel too lonely, and that there's a hole in me that I seriously needed filled. I have come to consider the fact that maybe I am in love with the idea of finally being in love. But, since I'm a NBSB girl, I actually don't have a clue whether or not I have fallen in love.

Well, now, I'm in the process of moving on, actually trying to pick up the pieces, and start over again. Start over from what? From having fallen for someone who was already committed. And it did not end quite well.

It began during my training months in a hospital. I didn't actually think I'd find love anytime soon since I was too focused on jumpstarting my career. But I guess in life, things tend to find us when we least expect them to.

We literally started out as friends; and in reality, I was actually annoyed at him for his cocky attitude. But then, we started chatting online, and texting, and this went on and on. At first, I didn't feel anything; I was sure of that because I had someone else in mind during that time. But at some point, the continuum shifted to his end; I didn't know how or when or why, it just happened. Maybe it started when I began feeling really comfortable when I'm with him? Maybe it was when he asked me out to watch a movie? Well, I'll never know for sure.

But, what I really knew then was that I knew I was starting to fall. I even asked my friends if I should go for it because I was really scared to feel all of these intensely sweet and scary emotions for the first time. They all said, that "love is for the brave." And by then, I couldn't agree more. I thought, "if this is what it feels to fall in love, then I would like to have this feeling, if not for a lifetime yet, then for a long time..."

And then one fateful night, as we held hands under the table, I found out that he already has a girlfriend.

You could only imagine the frustration and great confusion that I felt during that time; how? why? why? why?

How could he lead me on even though he already has someone else? How could he make me feel special even though he's already in love with someone else? How could he make me fall in love with him even though he already has his heart full?

The day after that, I began the arduous process of retracting my feelings and shutting down my pandora's box. I no longer respond to his flirtations, or as much as possible, I try to ignore him or avoid having any type of contact with him. But for some bitter twist of fate, we kept on bumping into each other even during the early hours of the morning when I'm just walking to work. And he kept on plowing me with his advances as well; he didn't stop coming into our workplace, and we still hang out and talk there a lot.

It was really hard for me to contain my feelings; to stop myself from messing his hair, or reaching out to hold his hand or kiss him. I wanted so much to respond to his advances, and it took every effort not to. Man, falling in love with a committed guy is like falling for the floor; while you're falling, everything just feels so surreal, but once you're there, all that there is is hard cold truth - no one's there to catch you.

I never wanted to be the "other woman," and I don't ever plan to be one. I've seen how this thing works, and the odds were never on the other woman's favor. In the end, it would only result to pain.

So as much as I would like to be by his side, hold him, kiss him, hug him, and have a staring contest with him all day, all I can do, is turn my feelings off and start forgetting him.

After one stolen fateful night, after we stole a kiss from each other, a long hug, minutes of holding hands, and hours of talking and just being with each other; we ended things, and things remained as that.

For less than two months now, I have been struggling not to look at his facebook profile, or keep myself from contacting him by any means possible. There were moments when I thought my feelings would win over my mind, but after thinking sense to myself, what is right always triumphed.

What do you do when doing what's right means ending what makes you happy?

This is one of the few moments in my life when I actually hate choosing to do what's right over having my happiness. But I continue to do what's right because I know that the happiness that I might be able to acquire if I choose the thorny path is only temporary, and in the end, it would only cause me so much pain. Yes, it is truly, deeply, and seriously very difficult to do. There were even times when I was ready to choose my own happiness and just be by his side even if it means swallowing up my pride and succumbing to being the other woman. But I held out. Because I know that in the end it would be worth it.

In the end, doing the right thing, no matter how difficult, is the right thing to do.

After this "almost love" experience, I became unsure with all of the feelings I've felt in the past; if this isn't love yet, then I've had quite some crushes way way back!

This experience may have had me bitter for quite some time now. But it also made me realize and experience a lot of things; I started living outside the box of the 'ideal.' And although it has caused me so much pain...

I honestly believe that it is still truly better to have loved and lost, than never have love at all.

Apparently, a lot of us get involved in such a kind of love mess. But don't give in! Hold out for the love that we deserve; a love that would be given only to us; no sharing! Because we deserve to have someone who will have no one else but only us.

Cut Short

I looked him in his eyes, and I saw sadness, or maybe even regret? Looking back, I never had the faintest idea that I would ever harbor feelings for this guy. I remember the first time we met, it was an ordinary but inevitable encounter; we were both trainees vying to be one of the new staff therapists of a hospital. I was a fresh graduate, and he was a year ahead of me, but we both graduated from the same university.

The moment I saw him, I knew he was the type of guy that every girl should watch out for. Then and there, I labeled him 'douchebag', and he confirmed it gladly when he opened his mouth to speak.

I was actually pissed off by his "confident" aura. And the joke that he cracked at me didn't help as well.

His next words pulled me out of memory lane. He said, "define cheating?"

And we were back to my question in which I asked him how many times has he cheated on his girlfriend of 4 years.

He continued without letting me answer, "like going out? on a movie? with a girl?"

I felt my face burn up, I was not sure if he was referring to the movie-out that we did a couple of weeks ago. So, I said in reply, "like, a date with malice."

Then he said, "only once; Ender's Game." This time, I was sure my whole face turned red. He was referring to the name of the movie that we watched.

A flashback of that night showed me in simple casual wear, walking along Araneta Center, with tears streaming down my face. It was my first 'movie-out', hell it was even my first date ever, but it didn't end quite well. So many things contributed to why it turned out as a flop. First of all, I arrived earlier at the meeting place and had to wait for around an hour for him. Secondly, he kind of used his phone and talked to someone else during the movie. And thirdly, he did that again just to let me hear the 'yes, I'm coming home now'-move after the movie ended. I mean, the movie was great and all, and there was no awkwardness between us --- until he did that douchebag move. But the number one reason why that movie-out was a total flop? It's the fact that it's not even a 'date' to begin with.

Then I just changed the topic. He asked about how my love life was doing. I told him about a suitor who was actually from the same school during HS. He asked me, "so, what's holding you back?"

I stopped fiddling with my glass of beer and said, "well, there's this guy..." And then I looked him in his eyes as I said, "but he's no longer available." And so he replied, "have you any feelings for this guy now?" I replied, "I'm not sure; I don't know. How would you know?" And we both just shrugged.

The Right Kind of Wrong 1.0

As a kid, we usually are taught to always do the right thing; I mean, we have a class for it for Christ's sake (Good Manners and Right Conduct); to help an old lady cross the street, return a wallet to its rightful owner, etc. We held onto the fear that something bad will happen to us when we don't do good. And as adults, that's what we should always remember; to always want to do good. But what if doing the right thing means you'll have to give up your own happiness?

I've seen lots and lots of cases of "affairs" while growing up; it's in the family when an aunt decides to live with a married guy who was separated; it's in high school drama when you hear rumors about a certain girl or guy who has an affair with another guy or girl other than their boyfriend or girlfriend. Hell, it's even in movies and or t.v. dramas. And in all those times, I've always condemned the involved parties; I judged them for falling from grace and 'giving in to desire.'

Perhaps the greatest reason why I've always hated the idea of third parties or having an affair is because my sister got dumped by her almost 7-year partner for some bullshit reason of needing 'space,' and then the asshole just got to introduce a new girlfriend a few weeks after the breakup. And then, a few months after, I learned from a friend that the guy and his new girl was already reportedly dating even before he broke up with my sister. Yep, that would be the real reason why.

During those times, I was just in my freshman year in college, and I don't think I've ever forgiven the two of them for causing profound pain to my sister, which ultimately also caused not just me, but also my family, tantamount pain. I tried understanding them; thinking what could have happened? what could their reason be? how could they do that? etc. And I failed to understand even after using all the logic in the world. So I said to myself, I would never be the famed 'other woman'.

But I guess, in this life, 'never say never.'

I was just fresh out of the turmoil of passing the board exams and resting my brains for about 2 months; I was out to 'conquer the world,' and I chose to start by trying out on a hospital, which was hiring occupational therapists at that time. When I entered as a trainee, I was expecting it to be difficult because it would be a transition phase for me: from having a role of just being a student to having a role of a 'working daughter', which bears much greater weight and responsibility; suddenly, everything was just so serious, and money seemed to have become the center of gravity. All that I had in my mind then was 'work.'

It's just that in life, sometimes, the things that you didn't expect to find would come and hit you right at your face. There were physical therapists who were trainees like me; I knew some of them from my batch but the rest were from other schools, and or from other batches.

At first, I had this small crush for the receptionist who was a graduate of psychology from another university. He was actually the first person there who introduced himself to me and showed a wee bit of interest. Well, I call it a stupid crush because I knew that it wasn't anything serious; I told myself that I just had to have something to make me more motivated to wake up each morning and go to work. By that time, I was very homesick and felt very lonely. I didn't know why or how or who or what, I simply felt greatly 'unsure' of everything; my life, my career decisions, my friends, who I want to be, or where I'd want to be; for the first time in my life, I was so unsure of my future.

I was desperate to rid myself of that loneliness or that uncertainty. So every week, I try to gather all the company I could get; be it a dinner with an old friend from college or high school, or booze night with co-workers; I didn't care, so long as I wasn't alone.

By our second month of being trainees, we had to be grouped into 2 because the Christmas season is fast approaching, and we were asked to prepare performances for the department's party. That was the time that I started to get to know the other trainees.

But there was this one trainee who actually ticked me off the first time he ever spoke to me. He was the president of our batch and my first impression of him was that he is a douche bag. Yep, he confirmed it the moment he opened his mouth during our first meeting. I even told my friend, the other OT trainee, that he is the kind of guy that you'd most certainly get hurt if you fall in love with or, simply, meddle with him. So, classic asshole he was, I decided to shut him out, and just ignore him.

But then, he started acting weird by being very 'papansin' (attention-grabber), like, when I am walking with a staff OT, and we would pass by him, he would tell me off to the staff and he'll act all hurt or being bullied by me. Every time he'd do that I get pissed. And then my friend, the other OT trainee, also began to notice how he gets too attention-grabber around me. That's when I started noticing him.

We even became closer because we started chatting online after hours, and sometimes, even during work hours, which was weird for me. During that time, I was trying to kick start another level of friendship with the receptionist guy. But, eventually, my attention shifted from the first guy to this surprisingly irritatingly funny second guy.

I started asking myself this question: who would you pick? The guy who makes you happy and brightens up your day just by smiling at you and greeting you 'good morning'? or the guy who whenever you see him, you feel like your heart is bursting into a million tiny pieces and still you feel fine?

Guess who is who.

After the party and the performances, we became closer to the point when he asked me out to a movie. My OT trainee friend said that it was considered a 'date', but for me, I'm simply not sure. First of all, he mentioned no such thing as 'date' or synonyms of such word for that matter. He simply asked me out if I wanted to watch a movie with him.

I was actually thrilled at that time because it was my first time to go out, and my first time to go out on a 'movie', and my first time to go out on a movie with a guy... just the two of us. You can just imagine how I planned on canceling even when I was the first to get there, or how scared I felt; what if we don't click? what if I do something wrong? what if it doesn't end well? A lot of what ifs were going through my mind, but I said to myself, I would never know the answer to that question if I don't at least try and go.

So I went and watched a movie with him; I bought the popcorn and drinks.

The movie went well, except after the movie, he kind of 'bolted'. He used one of the lamest excuses out of the book: he said that his tummy wasn't feeling well and that he has to go home. He even used his phone and talked to his 'brother' aloud saying that he's on his way home. Yep, douche bag.

So I said, "go". And he did. I was walking along Araneta Center with actual tears streaming down my face. "Why?" That was the question that kept running on my head.

- End of Part 1 -