Sunrise

“Briana? Where are you?” It was Riley, since that incident happened, she never stopped checking up on me. I didn’t tell her what happened, I just told her that my Dad already fetched me and my phone was already low batt. She seems not convinced.

“I’m okay, Riley!” I asserted.

“Are you sure?” I nodded, even though she couldn't see me.

“I’m really okay, don’t worry about me,” I assured her. I even sent a selfie so she could know that I’m really okay.

“I’m still not convinced, though. Just text me, okay? If you need something….” I was about to agree, “Where are you going?” Oh, I looked at my clothes. I was wearing a black cropped tank top, white button-up drops shoulder blouse as my cover-up. For bottoms, I wore high waist-washed boyfriend jeans, paired them with my white sneakers.

“I’m going out with Travis,”

“Oh my! I almost forgot, happy anniversary, lovers!” The tone of her voice became lively.

“Thanks! So, don’t worry about me, okay?” I can now imagine her nodding her head like a child. I know he feels better when I'm with Travis, I know all of my friends trust Travis. She just agreed with me and gave me some advice before ending the call.

I scrolled down on my phone, finding Sabrina’s name. When I found it, I just texted her saying I’ll spend time with Travis. I waited for a few minutes but she was not responding. Maybe she’s just asleep, or maybe she’s with Levi.

My home:

Are you ready, love?

Me:

Yes. Where are you?

My home:

I’m already here, will wait for you.

I didn’t reply, instead, I took my tote bag. My parents are almost out for 5 days, I couldn’t contact them, but Dad texted me saying that they will not be home for 1 week. I can live alone so that wouldn’t be a problem. I want to ask why, but I know they wouldn’t tell me. It’s been a while since I stopped asking. And not knowing what they are doing, makes me more anxious.

I saw that Travis’s car is already there, but he’s with a driver. We both don’t have driver’s licenses, that’s why.

When he saw me he quickly came down and greeted me with a hug. “Is it okay that I’ll bring you home tomorrow morning?” My parents wouldn’t be home so I agreed.

“Why?” I asked in curiosity.

He just shrugged, there’s just a hint of a smirk on his lips. He opened a door for me.

I went in first and he followed.

I just looked around, there’s a lot of food at the back of the car, he even brought his Instax and another camera.

I also greeted their driver, he also greeted me.

“Do you know that guy named Damian?” He suddenly asked.

“Why?” He just shook his head. “What is it?” I asked again.

“Are you aware that he likes you?” My brows furrowed.

“Maybe? Riley and some of my group mates told me.” But I didn’t care because I don’t know if it’s true.

He just nodded. There was a trace of jealousy on his face.

“Why? Are you jealous?” I teased him. I always teased him when he’s like this, but of course, after that, I’ll assure him that he’s just the one.

“No,” He clenched his jaw. I took his hand and played with it.

“Will you let him court you, if ever?” I nodded as I teased him. But I didn’t mean that.

“Just kidding, love.” I hold his hand.

“Thanks to him that he likes me, but Travis hits differently.” I winked, teasing him.

He just let me sleep on his shoulder the whole ride, it was quite a long drive.

“Wow, it looks good here…” I said as I closed my eyes and felt the fresh air. There are a lot of cottages here, it’s called Picnic Grove here in Tagaytay. I looked around and saw that there are a lot of stores where you can buy souvenirs.

There are some people, some couples, groups of friends and some are alone.

“Can we wait here, until the sun rises?” He asked softly.

Hmm. That’s why.

The wind blew harder so I hugged myself. I felt his hug from behind me, his large hands covering my revealing waist because of the cropped tank top.

“Happy anniversary, baby…” He whispered. It made me shiver, his hoarse voice made me shivers.

The surroundings are dark, only the stars serve as light.

“Happy anniversary, we made it this far…” I kissed him on the cheek.

“Oh, please. God knows how much I wanted to kiss you every time.” I laughed at his frustration.

“I wanted to, but let’s wait until I’m 18…” I said, almost a whisper.

“We should do that,” He pinned the runaway hair to the side of my ear, gently caressing my face.

I closed my eyes when he started kissing my forehead, then the top of my nose. He lightly touched my lips, “One day…” He asserted.

“Be patient…’ I teased him. We just both laughed. We entered the cottage we had rented.

He put the food on the table, he even arranged it into an organized one. The left side was full of chips, the middle, the real food, I mean the rice and the dish ones, the right, those different kinds of drinks.

“Baby, this is kind of different. We’re having a picnic at midnight.” He laughed at what I said. “We are the unique ones,” He said with a laugh.

“Let’s take a picture, come here…” I quickly stood up and went beside him.

“Make sure I’m beautiful there, okay?” I raised an eyebrow. He just shook and smirked.

“You’re always beautiful…’ He whispered but I could clearly hear it. My smile was wide when I looked at him, and that was caught. He smiled foolishly at me.

When the picture already formed, wow, I looked so in love. He was smiling widely, showing his perfect white teeth while I was looking at him intently with a big smile on my lips.

“I told you, you always look beautiful…”

We took another picture, with different poses and different angles.

“This one is good…” I told him while sipping the drink he gave me. We just spend time spilling tea on each other, watching movies, and eating.

We can now slightly see the sun rising, “Let’s go there.” I just nodded and followed him. We sat on the grass so we could clearly see it.

I love how the sun always witnesses us. When he became my boyfriend, the sun witnessed us when it was setting. Now, the sun witnessed our 1 year of love while it was rising.

“Another day to love you again…”

“Is that why you brought me here?”

“Our anniversary should be memorable,” He uttered.

“So, even the sun can remember us… it witnessed our 1 year of love.”

“Do you think that the sun leaves?” I shook my head.

“It may not always be seen, but it never leaves, it was just there, waiting for another day to show up again.” I was amazed by his words.

“And when I leave, you might not see me, but I’m still there.” I pouted and felt sad, but I do understand him.

“You’ll always come back, right?”

He nodded, “Just like the sun.” And then he wrapped his hands around mine.

And no matter how people wanted to be a star, a moon, there are also people who like to be a sun, a sun who never left and always comes back when it's time to shine again.