Chapter 3

Chapter 3

Adrian’s POV

I don’t usually talk to random kids.

Actually, I avoid them. They’re noisy. They ask too many questions. They get too close too fast—messy little creatures with sticky hands and wandering eyes. I’ve built a life around silence and distance. I prefer it that way. Cold, detached, simple.

But this one… this curious little boy who came stumbling into my shadow with wide, observant eyes—he was different.

“Mister, can you help me wash my hands?” He asked politely.

I hesitated but his pleading eyes took a toll on me. “Sure.”

While washing both our hands, he stared at mine. “Mister, why do you have a tattoo on your hand?”

His voice was soft but sure, unafraid. He pointed at my wrist, his gaze focused and steady. There was no hesitation, no filter. Just wonder.

I stared back at him. Most kids would’ve been intimidated. Most adults, even. But not him.

Napangiti ako ng bahagya—halos hindi ko namalayan. “Just a design,” sagot ko. “So I won't forget something that was really important to me.”

“What important thing is that?”

“Actually, it's not something… but someone.”

My answer surprised even me. It slipped out before I could think. Before I could lock it away like everything else.

He tilted his head like he was trying to read through me. “Like your kid's mommy?”

I froze.

Then, instinctively, I chuckled—light, dry, uncertain. “Maybe… if I have one.”

He didn’t flinch. He just smiled, like my guardedness didn’t scare him. Like he saw past it. We kept talking—well, he did most of the talking. I listened more than I spoke, but I found myself responding more than I usually would.

He said he liked robots. He liked chocolate. He had a favorite crayon color—sunset orange as he called it, like it was the most magical thing in the world. I asked why, and he said, “Because it's like a combination of sadness and happiness.”

Who talks like that?

The kid was sharp. Too sharp. His thoughts moved fast—his words even faster. There was a strange rhythm to how he spoke, like his mind was dancing through puzzles only he could see. Matalino. Mabilis sumagot. Matindi ang obserbasyon.

At habang pinagmamasdan ko siya… may naramdaman akong kaba.

Because the more I looked at him, the more I listened to him, the more I felt like I wasn’t talking to someone new.

Parang kilala ko siya.

His eyes. His stubbornness. The way he never broke eye contact. The way he poked at truth like it was a toy. It was like watching a memory crawl out of my own bones and stand in front of me with tiny feet and a chocolate-stained smile.

I could see myself in him when I was younger. Most of the kids at school won't play with me because they say, ‘I’m too smart’ to play with them. I wish he wasn't experiencing the same thing.

It was like watching a younger version of me.

And then—

She came.

I felt it before I saw her. The air changed. My breath hitched. Something deep in me turned cold.

I turned, slowly, and there she was.

Yvon…

The name screamed through me like an old scar being reopened.

My throat tightened. Parang nilamon ako ng sahig. I tried to speak but forgot how to breathe. She had the same eyes—but heavier now, tired in a way they never used to be. The same lips—but pressed into a line that didn’t smile for me anymore.

Colder. Harsher. Wiser.

There was a silence that stretched between us, thick and electric. Her gaze locked with mine, and it felt like she was looking through a ghost.

Maybe I was.

“Your son?” tanong ko. I forced the words out, my voice calm on the surface, but my fingers were trembling.

Wala siyang sagot.

Just that look. That wall. The same wall she used to build when she wanted to shut me out. One look from her, and I knew—I wasn’t invited into whatever this was. I wasn’t supposed to be here. I never imagined she'd look at me that way one day. She used to gaze at me warmly, smile at me like I was her world.

Well… I was her world but I didn't know that before she was gone. Now, she's standing right in front of me.

She didn’t say anything.

She didn’t need to.

She reached for the boy’s hand—his hand—and in that quiet, deliberate movement, I felt my chest crack open. She turned away, inakay siya palayo.

And I just stood there.

Speechless.

My heart was screaming, but my lips were sewn shut.

Gusto ko silang habulin para magtanong pero may kung ano sa akin na tila ba alam na ang sagot. Para bang pakiramdam ko, hindi ko na kailangan pa ng DNA test.

That boy…

That brilliant, fire-eyed boy…

He could be mine.

And somehow, in ways I never imagined, I already felt like he was.

I didn’t move for a while.

I just stood there—watching her walk away, hand in hand with the boy. Could be my boy. My thoughts swirled in chaos, but one thing stood painfully clear, I couldn’t just let them go. Not like this. Not without knowing. Not without—

My foot stepped forward. One step. Then another.

I was about to follow them.

“Adriiaaan!”

The shrill voice hit me like cold water.

I turned, jaw clenched. And there she was.

Dia.

The girl I was busy helping to the point I forgot that I was married. Twisted ankle. Anemia. Heart failure. She's got too many sickness. Too much perfume. Bright lipstick. She was wearing one of those skirts again—short, floral, flirty. Her eyes lit up the moment she saw me. Too bright.

“Wow, what a coincidence,” she said, her voice lilting like she was in a romcom. “I was literally just thinking about you!”

“We went here together because you said you can't walk but you're clearly running, huh?”

“Hmmm! I was just sad to be separated from you any longer. Gusto ko kasama kita lagi.”

Napabuntong-hininga na lang ako. “Dia.”

She closed the distance fast, too fast. “You weren’t texting back,” she pouted. “I thought maybe your phone was broken. Or maybe…” She leaned closer, eyes narrowing with playful accusation. “You were avoiding me?”

I took a careful step back. “I’ve been busy relieving myself in the washroom.”

She giggled, looping a strand of her hair behind her ear in that rehearsed way. “Busy being handsome too, probably.”

I didn’t respond. My eyes flicked back toward the crowd—toward where they disappeared.

Gone.

Shit.

I started to turn again, but she caught my arm. “Hey, wait,” she said, her fingers light on my sleeve but annoying enough to make me want to rip it off. “You never even answered my question from last time.”

“What question?”

She batted her lashes. “If I twisted my ankle again, would you still carry me? Or maybe you could just carry me for fun this time?”

Her laugh was too loud. Too fake. Ayoko sa maingay but I have to endure being around her or my nana will be scolding me again.

I didn’t smile. “I’m not in the mood, Dia.”

“Oh come on,” she cooed, pouting again. “Don’t be so serious. You're always so… intense. It’s kinda hot, but also scary. Buhatin mo na ako, parang laro lang.”

I exhaled through my nose. “I don’t like games, Dia. And I don’t flirt.”

“Oof,” she said, feigning a wince. “Brutal.”

She was still talking. Still trying to tug a reaction out of me. But my mind wasn’t here. My heart wasn’t here. It was somewhere else—walking hand-in-hand with a boy who might carry my blood and a woman who once carried my heart.

Matagal ko ng pangarap ang magkaroon ng anak kahit na hindi ako ganoon kahusay mag-handle ng bata. Anim na taon. Anim na taon ko siyang hinahap at ngayong nakita ko na siya, I won't let her go.

I looked past Dia. At the path where they vanished. Every second that passed felt like I was losing a part of something I never even got the chance to claim.

Dia reached for my arm again, but this time I pulled away. Not harshly. But clearly.

“I have to go,” I muttered.

“Wait, wha—Adrian, seriously? You’re just gonna leave me standing here?”

I didn’t answer.

Because she didn’t matter. Not now. Not again.

Not compared to the thousand questions clawing at my chest. Not compared to that kid with the same fire in his eyes like mine.

Not compared to the woman I thought I’d never see again.

Not compared to the boy who might be mine.

I walked towards my car and called someone. “Blaster, I want you to do something for me.”