The Gay That Broke My Heart

Chapter 4

Jinx. Unfortunately, they have finally arrived at Lola Rosing's house. It was an old type two-story house inside a god-forsaken neighborhood. As expected, the ground is full of mud and carabao poops. Even after years had already passed, the place still hasn’t changed. Oh, she just wanted to erase the memories of her journey from the bus stop to Lola Rosing's house. She had no other choice but to sit between the driver and her grandmother with her legs parted with each other.

She would frequently hear her grandmother laugh whenever mud splashes on her legs and feet. Oh boy, I’m jealous of how she enjoys this ride! Czarina pouted.

Just how she hated this part of going home! No wonder why her parents decided to live in a city. They would only worry about the traffic.

Czarina threw herself on the bed the moment they arrived at her grandmother’s house. After some moments, she screamed so loudly to express her frustration.

Nope! Scratch that. It was just all inside her mind. Lola Rosing had already warned her about shouting. This is not the city where people shouting is a norm. People in the province would get alarmed if they heard screaming and immediately attend to their neighbor's needs without hesitation.

She grunted and waggled her feet and hands. After satisfying herself by protesting silently, she panted and thought deeply.

"No. I will not let this ruin my mind. No..." she said to herself while shaking her head. After convincing herself, she picked up her phone from her pocket and turned the airplane mode off. She absentmindedly opened her account and was about to click on the status bar.

"Hmm... What status should I put? Wait..." She switched the app to her camera. She started to imitate a duck's face and captured her face. She didn't even think about how many shots she had taken. After capturing the perfect angle, she went back to her social media app and selected her best photo to upload.

She captioned it: So tired from a long journey. Vacation time! Smiley face.

When she clicked on the post button, the command showed an error message. Please try again.

"What?!" She lifted her hands right to left but it was no use. Her network was blocked. It means there's no signal. She frustratedly grunted and got to her feet. She walked back and forth in search of a signal. She even tiptoed in hopes that would give her a cellular signal for her to reach a higher location, but she failed. Her network was still dead. She finally decided to go out on the veranda and continued to lift her hands with her cellphone.

"It's no use..." The voice of her grandmother startled her to death. She almost dropped her phone. Good thing that she was holding her cellphone tightly. Thinking that her phone will fall from the second floor where her room is, sends shivers to her spine. Czarina held her chest and shockingly turned to her Lola Rosing who was now busy sorting out some stuff from her luggage. She was seated on the wooden chair with a backrest inside her room.

Czarina walked closer to her grandmother. "Lola, why is my mobile data not working? I need to upload my status today!"

"I forgot to tell you that we don't have any network here in this place. Maybe you can find it near the highway."

Czarina was about to smile at the good news, but knowing that the highway was too far away from where they were right now, her shoulders slumped. "This place is like hell..." she mumbled. She was about to lay down again on her bed when Lola Rosing started to speak again.

"Oh, by the way, before I forgot, Honey..." she started. " I’ll take you to the college here tomorrow. You'll be enrolling by tomorrow, so wake up early," she finally announced.

Czarina sighed. "Yes, Lola. Anything you say..."

Another day to live in a hell-like place like Rosario...

Morning came and Czarina woke up too early to prepare herself for another bumpy ride. She never realized how far the school was until she saw the route they were about to take. From Rosario, they have to ride a motorcycle and a bus to Trento. It seems like the school is located in the mountainous part of Trento. She couldn't help but open her mouth in awe. Czarina couldn’t believe that she would appreciate the scenery right before her eyes as the bus drove past it.

Czarina felt so sleepy so she closed her eyes for a moment. She hadn’t slept well last night. The night her parents died still haunts her dreams. And it made her afraid of the night. Besides, it was her first time sleeping in another house without her parents. She really missed them a lot.

Do they know what's going on with her right now? Are they watching her from heaven? She wanted to at least know if they even watched her, but the thought of ghosts lurking behind her was creeping her out already. She just wanted to know if her parents were already okay with leaving her, because to her, it was not. It's still not okay with her that she's living like hell without them. She doesn't care anymore if she's in this god-forsaken place, she just wants to be with them—again.

After an hour of rides, Czarina and Lola Rosing entered the gate of Agusan State College. It was already approximately 6 AM when they finally came in. Czarina was surprised to see that the college was on top of the hill. She didn’t even expect that there were many students coming in and out of the school. It was the nearest school in town and she guesses that students picked this place for convenience. Affordable matriculation.

Czarina looked around. She saw that the school had three-story buildings. The surroundings are surprisingly neat and appealing in her eyes.

"Hmm... not bad," she commented.

Her grandmother giggled. "Are you ready? Have you brought all of your requirements?"

"Lola, you already asked me 4 times already..."

She laughed again and held her arm. "Go and enroll yourself. I'll just find a ladies' room around here. I want to pee first," she said, then left without looking back at Czarina.

“Lola!” Czarina pleaded in a not-so loud voice, but enough for her grandmother to hear her. But it just fell on deaf ears. Because her grandmother had just continued walking.

Czarina suddenly felt nervous now that she was all alone. Where should she start?

She grunted when she started to walk towards the first building. She tried to find the registrar's office but she couldn't seem to find one. "Gosh, what am I doing here?" she asked herself. She just continued walking without any definite direction. She was walking from building to building to find the office.

But, nope. No sign of the office.

Third building. Nope, none again.

Czarina couldn't stop herself from sighing. "I can't believe this is happening. I so hate my life. It seems like the world is against me. Ugh!" she hissed to herself.

"You need any help?" a man's voice suddenly butted in.

Czarina turned to the direction where she heard the voice and almost gaped at the sight.

This guy is slowly walking towards her. His eyes twinkled in the morning sun and he had those cute Chinito eyes, toned muscles, a fair complexion, and a tall height... approximately 6 feet. He wore a comfortable three-fourths polo open with his white shirt glistening in the sunlight. It was like the world stopped for a moment.

Czarina just stood there watching this man walk in her direction. It felt like her heart was fluttering in the air. Hmm... not quite bad for this god-forsaken place. At least there's a hot guy around. She'll get used to this. Wait, how many cute guys are here in this school?

Who cares? This guy in front of her might be enough for her daily dose of gorgeousness.

After that eternal moment, finally, the guy stood in front of Czarina.

"Hello?" the guy waved his hand in front of her. It was when she realized that she was too much of her staring game!

Czarina suddenly looked away and bit her lower lip. 'You are such a dumbass! Stop gaping!' she scolded herself internally. She cleared her throat and turned back to the guy with her pretty smiley face. "Hi!" she greeted him. "Sorry about that. I was just so nervous. This is actually my first time in this school. Could you umm... help me...?" she asked, making her voice a bit pompous. That's right, Czarina. Show him your effortless flirting!

The guy smiled at her and nodded. "Sure! I could help you with that. I'm going to enroll anyway," he agreed. "By the way, what year are you and your course?"

"Well..." She hand-combed her hair and slowly shook her head while the strands fell slowly back to her shoulders as if she had sparkled in the guy's eyes. "I'm from Manila. I'm in my first year, in my second semester. Computer Science. How about you?"

The guy widened his cute smile at her. "That's great! I'm also a freshman, ComSci student. What a coincidence!" he happily said.

She gasped. "OMG. Are you serious about that? What a coincidence!" she giggled.

"Oh, by the way..." The guy offered his hand for a shake. "I'm Carlos Duke, and what is your name?"

Czarina confidently widened her smile and accepted his hand. "I'm Czarina Angeles," she introduced herself. OMG! His hand is so warm! He's so cute and damn sexy! I can't contain how much protein his presence has given me to this day. Ugh! she exclaimed internally.

"Let's go?"

Carlos was really helpful to Czarina. She didn't even bother to remember the process of enrolling. She was too busy looking at Carlos' facial expressions and him being too talkative. She loved hearing his voice. They were still talking to each other and having fun with the light jokes they exchanged with each other. It seemed like she had forgotten her heartbreaks temporarily. She wished this day wouldn't end.

Now, she knows that there's something, or more like someone that she will be looking for every day.

They were like that when Czarina's grandmother came back. She smiled and waved at her. "Lola!" She stood up and Carlos followed her, walking towards Lola Rosing. "Where were you? I almost had a hard time enrolling. Glad that I have a new friend who helped me," she said. "By the way, this is Carlos Duke. Carlos, this is my Lola Rosing," she introduced them to each other.

Carlos smiled and took Lola Rosing's hand and put it on his forehead as a sign of respect. "Nice to meet you, Lola," he said to her.

Czarina gasped at the sight silently. A gentleman... Oh my! What a great catch! My heart is really fluttering right now! she screams internally.

"Thank you for helping out Czarina, Carlos. Well, how did the enrollment go?" she asked.

"All good, Lola!" Czarina reported gladly.

"That's good to hear."

"Oh, by the way, if you need any help, I'm just a chat away, Czarina. You saved my number, right?" Carlos said.

Czarina bit her lower lip and nodded. "Yep, I did. Thank you, Carlos. I will. Thanks for helping me out."

"Not a problem. I'm glad I could help. So, see you around?"

They waved each other goodbye and they parted ways. She'll definitely have a hard time sleeping later.