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Lahat ng Kabanata ng The 500th Journey: Kabanata 1 - Kabanata 10

11 Kabanata

Chapter 1 The 500th Ticket

When I got on the train, I immediately felt people sneaking glances in my direction. I couldn't fault them for it. After all, it wasn't every day one would find a bride wearing a wedding dress on a train."Sweetheart, are you going to see your boyfriend? You've even put on such a pretty wedding dress," the older woman sitting beside me asked, smiling kindly.I nodded, my cheeks flushing. "Yeah. I'm going to propose to him."As I spoke, I gently rubbed the little metal box in my palm. There were 499 train tickets resting inside, all neatly arranged in a stack.Marcus Jeffries and I had started dating in high school. At our graduation, he had gotten down on one knee on the field and proposed to me, slipping a ring made from a soda can tab onto my ring finger. Since our universities were on opposite ends of the country, he had been afraid that the long distance would eventually tear us apart.I hadn't given him an answer back then. Instead, we made a promise: we would register our

Chapter 2 The Girl Behind Him

Jane hurried over as well.She timidly stayed behind Marcus and tugged at his sleeve. "Yvette, please don't misunderstand. Marcus and the others are graduating tomorrow, so our club decided to have dinner and play Truth or Dare. "I lost, and my punishment was to kiss one of the guys who was there. Marcus only helped me because he was trying to get me out of it. He was reluctant to do it, too."Reluctant?I looked at the candle arrangement on the ground, and then at the roses everyone around us was holding. I almost laughed right then and there."What kind of dare just happened to require a whole bunch of candles arranged all over the ground?"Marcus' expression darkened. He hated it when I got confrontational like this."Yvette, can you stop making a big deal out of everything? I already told you it was just a game. The candles were left over from another guy's confession. We only borrowed them for the game. Do you really have to make a scene in front of everyone and ruin the m

Chapter 3 The Attentive Boyfriend

Marcus took me to the casual open-air restaurant near the university that we often visited. When the owner saw me, he froze for a second before greeting me familiarly. "Well, if it isn't Yvette! I haven't seen you in ages."Then, he turned to Marcus with a grin. "Just yourself today, Marcus? Didn't Jane tell me yesterday to save her a sea bass? I specifically kept it aside for her. Why isn't she here?"Marcus gave him an awkward smile. Before he could explain, a commotion came from the entrance. Jane and several other members of their club had followed us there."Marcus, can we join you? All the other restaurants are full." Jane looked at me cautiously, wearing such a pitiful expression that it was as though she were terrified I'd get angry.Marcus looked around. There really weren't any other seats available, so he pulled out the chair beside him. "Sure. The more, the merrier."Then, he picked up the menu and began ordering with practiced ease. "One spicy crawfish boil and one

Chapter 4 Five Hundred Tickets, and No Future

Marcus first took Jane back to her dorm after dinner. Only then did he drive me to the apartment he had recently rented. It was the place we had planned long ago to move into together after graduation."Evie, it's close to my company, and the magazine you want to work for is only two subway stops away. Once we graduate, we'll decorate the place properly."Marcus held my hand as we stood outside the door, his eyes shining with anticipation for the future. He looked so sincere, so completely sincere that for one stupid moment, I almost thought everything that had happened earlier had been nothing more than an illusion."You were the one who entered the password last time, remember?"I stepped forward and entered my birthday.Incorrect password.I froze for a moment, thinking I must have remembered wrong. Then, I entered the anniversary of the day we got together.Still incorrect.Marcus' expression stiffened for an instant, a flicker of panic crossing his eyes. "I must have rem

Chapter 5 The Things He Forgot

The bedroom door swung open the next morning, and Marcus stepped out fully dressed. When he saw that I was still sitting on the sofa, he froze for a moment before a flicker of guilt crossed his eyes.He walked over and habitually reached out to pat my head. "Evie, are you still mad?"I turned my head away, avoiding his hand.Marcus' hand remained suspended in midair. He sighed before softening his tone. "I was out of line yesterday. I've been so busy preparing for my thesis defense these past few days, and I was just exhausted. "It's my graduation today. You can stay home and rest if you don't feel like going. Wait for me, alright? I ordered delivery from your favorite place—the one with the loaded baked potato soup."The doorbell rang the next second.Marcus went to answer the door, assuming that the soup he ordered had arrived, only to be greeted by a deliveryman holding a garment bag instead."Sorry, you are…"I walked straight over and took it from the deliveryman.Ma

Chapter 6 The Promise He Gave Away

That afternoon, I changed into ordinary clothes and still went to Marcus' graduation ceremony, all to give him, myself, and our relationship some kind of closure.We had made a promise on the very first day of freshman year. We vowed that Marcus would wear his cap and gown, hand me a bouquet, and take our very first graduation photo together when we graduated.The June sun was scorching.I stood beneath the shade of a tree, my stomach twisting with wave after wave of pain. I had barely eaten anything the entire day before. Then, I had spent the night exposed to the cold wind. I hadn't been able to stomach the soup that morning, either. So, it was really inevitable that my stomach problems would flare up.Cold sweat trickled down my forehead. I pressed a hand tightly against my abdomen, forcing myself to stay upright.Marcus still hadn't appeared even after nearly an hour, so I took out my phone and called him.It rang for a long time before he finally answered. "Evie, I'm swa

Chapter 7 Marcus, I Don't Want You Anymore

Before I realized what had happened, I found myself standing in front of them. Marcus' smile vanished when he saw me, replaced by unmistakable panic, and he jerked his arm out of Jane's grasp as though he had been shocked."Evie… what are you doing here?" he stammered, instinctively taking a step toward me.Jane's mother looked at me with some confusion before turning to her daughter. "Jane, who's this?"Jane's expression changed slightly before she quickly put on an innocent smile. "Mom, this is Marcus' older sister."Sister?I let out a cold laugh and turned to look at Marcus. He didn't correct her.After a two-second hesitation, he looked at me with an almost pleading expression and silently mouthed, "We're just pretending."Hah! Just pretending? Please.I looked at the man I had loved for six years and suddenly couldn't help but chuckle."That's right. I'm his sister," I affirmed, and then handed our 500th, and last, train ticket to Marcus."I came to give you a graduatio

Chapter 8 He Finally Understood

When I returned to school, the first thing I did was withdraw my application to the magazine I had been planning to join.My counselor was surprised and asked me several times to make sure that I was serious about it. "Yvette, you fought tooth and nail to get this offer! Didn't you say the magazine was conveniently close to your boyfriend's company? Why the sudden change of heart?"I handed them the signed withdrawal statement, my voice calm. "Because I don't need it anymore."Once I stepped out of their office, I took out my phone and blocked Marcus on every platform—WhatsApp, his phone number, Messenger… I even removed the family-linked account on Venmo. Then, I went through my social media and deleted every trace of him.Six years we'd been together. We'd been dating from high school to university… That was more than 2,000 days and nights filled with happiness, anger, laughter, and tears. Yet, all it took was a few taps of my fingers to make all of it disappear.Actuall

Chapter 9 The Only One I Loved

Marcus locked himself inside the apartment and didn't step outside for an entire week. When Jane finally found him, the whole place reeked of cigarette smoke, with empty liquor bottles scattered across the floor.Marcus sat dejectedly in the corner of the sofa, his hand tightly clutching the pull tab from the soda can I had thrown into the trash.Jane's eyes were red-rimmed as she walked over, heartbroken. She tried to take the bottle from his hand as she pleaded, "Marcus, please. Stop doing this to yourself."Finally, she threw her arms around him with a loud sob. "Yvette is gone, but you still have me! "I've always liked you. I've liked you since the very first day I joined the club. Everything Yvette could do for you, I can do too. I'll learn how to cook, how to take care of the house…" I'll be more obedient and easier to please than she was. I'll treat you better than she ever did…"Her confession was sincere and passionate. Unfortunately, Marcus only felt as though a

Chapter 10 Will You Marry Me?

Marcus began searching for me like a man possessed. He quit the internship he had worked so hard to secure as a permanent position and bought a plane ticket to my hometown.I had never bothered to hide my whereabouts, so he found me easily enough. Still, he no longer dared to approach me. Instead, he followed me from a distance.He began desperately recalling everything I'd liked over the past four years, trying to recreate those moments with his clumsy attempts to please me. He wanted the Yvette who had once looked at him as though he were her entire world back.I would often notice a familiar figure at the cafe downstairs or outside the convenience store in my neighborhood. Soon, an umbrella would inexplicably appear on my desk on rainy days. Whenever I worked late into the night, the security guard downstairs would hand me a pot of loaded baked potato soup. This time, there wasn't a single chive in it.However, I never accepted any of his gestures.Eventually, Marcus

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