they say, there is one great love for every one of us.
and at one point in our life, we will find them.


i did find mine.


at the most inconvenient time.
and in the most unexpected place.


i've never seen him before
but the moment he went out of that elevator
i knew it was him.


i have never been happier being with someone
in a room filled with people i did not even know.


one thing led to another,
and before we knew it,
we were sharing a blanket
in our mini-nipa hut at home.


we did it.
in a bahay kubo,
on a cold, dark, moonless night.


it was fast as it was surreal.
but romantic nevertheless.
and i will never forget every minute of it.


i have never experienced anything like that in my life.
i have never felt so strongly for someone in my life.


i was obsessed.
i was head over heels.
i was young.
i was vulnerable.


i was in love.


but, apparently, he was just in heat.


his exact words were:
it was just a "limited engagement".


my one great love
turned out to be just
a one great one-night stand.


but the ever-persistent me
could not stop there.


i pursued him (read: stalked).


in the hope that maybe
he would find it in his heart
that he had feelings for me too
even just a teeny wee bit.


at that time,
i was about to go abroad to study.
i knew i needed some kind of closure.
and i had to beg him for that.


so we met.
but there was no closure.
i just found myself
left alone
standing in the rain.


several years passed
and we met again.
that was when i realized it was really, truly over.
i was over him.


we're good friends now.
we may not see each other,
but we've become so open 
that we can just tell each other stuff
that we don't usually tell other people.


it may have just been 
a classic case of infatuation,
a chronic fixation,
or just another episode of unrequited love.


but i would still like to think of him as
my one great love.


if only for the friendship that
came out of it.
if only for the fact that
he is still a part of my life now,
unlike many others
who have come and gone.


maybe it is true that we can only have one great love in life.
and that we only get one chance.


but maybe it is still possible
to have one great-er love.


well, at least, that's what i'd like to believe.


cheers!