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Getting trapped in her thoughts isn’t the smartest thing to do in a crowded airport. But Cleo grounds herself in time to glare at the girl whose manicured tips were too close for her liking. The other girl rolls her eyes before slinking away, another victim already in sight.
With a firmer grasp on her belongings this time, Cleo lets her eyes wander through the arrivals wing, knowing exactly the face she’s searching for.
Come on, Dowoon, what’s taking you so long?
Though they’ve done this enough times for it to be a non-event, she can never get used to the butterflies in her stomach when they meet after a long time of not seeing each other. Even today as he spots her in their usual meeting place and lifts a hand to wave at her from afar, it’s like she’s flown back to Day 1 of falling for him all over again.
To the plump cloudy skies hovering over Luneta, threatening to spill their contents onto the busy metropolitan streets.
To bumping into someone on the way to shelter, the impact causing her glasses to slip from her grasp and land on the soft, green grass.
To her mumbled apology as she bent down to pick up her frames, drawing her hand back when he got to them first.
To finally looking up and seeing him for the first time, the words dying on her tongue when their eyes met.
They said time slowed down when you met the one, like a pause in a movie to make the moment last even longer. But for Cleo, her first encounter with Dowoon was almost a blur. He was quick to return her glasses and excuse himself, drawing his jacket close as he walked away.
She didn’t know that later that night, she’d see him again when her friends dragged her to a small bar in Ermita. That he was the drummer of the college band trying to impress the dwindling crowd, whose hands made a dynamic beat her heart thumped along to. Even after their set was finished, her heart beat was as swift as a hummingbird's, and it fluttered more when he slipped into the empty seat beside her.
“Following me?” he said, his lips turning up at the corners in a smirk.
Sober, she would’ve clammed up and looked away to find her friends, but the taste of beer sparked enough courage in her for her to scoff. “Looks like someone doesn’t believe in coincidences,” she said, letting her eyes do the smiling for her.
His ears reddened at that. “Well, things stopped being a coincidence when I walked up to you, didn’t they?” He set his drumsticks down and held out his hand, the bar lights dancing in his dark eyes. “I’m Dowoon. You?”
Years later, she can still remember how it felt when she slipped her soft hand into his rough one, holding it lightly as an invisible string tugged at her heart.
“I’m Cleo.”
That was it: Day 1.
She could’ve bumped into anyone that day. She could’ve chosen to study instead of going out with her friends. She could’ve gotten up and left the minute he sat down beside her.
But she didn’t. Thank God she didn’t.
Otherwise, maybe there wouldn’t have been any Day 1 with this guy who made all of her dreams come true.
“Earth to Cleo?” Dowoon’s voice pulls her back to the present. He looks her over, a fond curiosity glinting in his eyes. “You okay, bub?”
She smiles, standing up on her tippy toes to throw her arms around his neck. “I’m just glad you’re back.”
This is it: Day 1.