I found ‘David’, and he wished me the best.
(PLEASE, if you’re any of the friends who I’ve told his real name to, do not reveal it to anyone or write it down on the comment box. Not even his job, not anything. Please do it for me.)
I dedicate this letter to the three fairies who helped me find him:
Barbie, the male and the it girl.
I’m sure most of my friends have been aware of the Serendipity-like story of my life about the guy who found me along the street of Libis, rolled his window down at me, and drove me home safely. And this guy whose number I lost that night. My first love letter to this ‘David’ is on this blog: http://ardenkhan.livejournal.com/133341.html.
It happened on the night of April 16, 2011, a Saturday, until the first minutes of the next day. Since I lost his number the moment he gave it to me, I never stopped thinking about him. I never stopped trying to locate where he is, and who he is. Again, as I said on my love letter to him, all I want is to just thank him.
For four months, I called almost everyone in my network who could help me find him, or his number back. For four months, I went to the spot in Libis where we met twice- both on Saturday nights, exactly the time we met. I didn’t see him. For four months, everytime I’d see a silver CRV, I wanted to hail that and see if it’s him driving. After exactly four months, like roughly 16 Saturdays later, I found him.
The first few steps I took was to contact all the FMCG companies- Marketing Department in Makati, and pretend that I was calling for business- because he said, on the night we met, that he is a Brand Manager for an FMCG brand, and that he offices in Makati. I called Mead-Johnson, Monde Nissin, Del Monte, etc. No David was employed there.
Then I realized that his name may not really be David. So the next step I took was to borrow Ateneo yearbooks from my friends from different batches. He said he was 27, so he would probably be born in 1983, or 1984, and would have graduated in 2003, 2004, or 2005. I tried to borrow the yearbooks of an old friend from RX 93.1, my client from Selecta, and some others’, but I couldn’t set a schedule with them to bring theirs.
One morning, Barbie, one of the Group Heads in our office, a graduate of ADMU, brought hers. This Barbie is a very petite girl and she carried her very heavy 2-piece yearbook to work to help me find him. My goal was to atleast have 3 different yearbooks (from different batches), but hers was a stroke of luck. I was browsing through the leaves looking for a David, but I failed to see one who looked like him. Until I saw a guy, whose name is not David, but I couldn’t take my eyes off of that page, because in my heart, I knew, it was him. I will not reveal his real name.
I tried to search this guy on Facebook, and he didn’t / doesn’t have an account. David, in our conversation, said that he didn’t have any social networking page. So I googled this guy, and the story goes on.
(PLEASE, if you’re any of the friends who I’ve told his real name to, do not reveal it to anyone or write it down on the comment box. Not even his job, not anything. Please do it for me.)
Months later, I landed on to “The Male”, and I fished a few information about the possible David without really revealing my purpose of doing so. I made friends with this male, and in our conversations, I learned that two, three, four of the information I knew about David matched the information of this possible David. All I needed was to know his number, because the digits I remember were: David’s network provider, the number after that, the number 1, and three consecutive numbers alike (like 222, 444, 777). The Male wouldn’t give me the number, and I understood him. What’s important is that I’m happilly one step closer to him.
Later, I landed on to “The It Girl“. From out of nowhere, I did. I asked her if she’d know this possible David from this certain company, and she did. I begged for the number, and said that I was calling for business. I got the number, and it was was his number, it was him.
I called, he wouldn’t pick up. I texted, and he replied.
I told him, via a text message, that not a single day did I ever stop thinking about him. And that if I didn’t text after the night we met, it was because I lost his number. And as desired, I told him, “THANK YOU. Thank you for driving me home safely that night.”
He replied. And he asked me to move on, and he wished me the best.
That was all I needed. To send my message of “Thank Yous” and to hear from him.
That’s all I ever asked God for. And He granted me that.
***
Last night, I got back to Manila from Taal. I stayed in the place where I met him for the thrid time, and probably the last since April 16. I stayed there from 10:30 PM to 12MN. I texted him. I asked him to come and drive by, pick me up, and drive me home for the last time. Last night marked the 16th or 17th Saturday since we met.
He replied: “I can’t come. Please go home. I’d appreciate it if we both move on”.
Before leaving the place, I texted him, for the last time: “I’m leaving my heart in this spot. Find it if you will.” And then I left a yellow balloon, the one I brought home from Taal, in that spot.
I left it there in that spot along Libis- the yellow balloon… my heart.
