Chapter Text
Phillip Jay had always been a faithful listener. Every week, he would sit by his laptop, earphones in, waiting for the familiar smooth voice of DJ Jaydee. He laughed at the jokes, nodded at the advice, and even repeated some words when friends sought his counsel. If Jaydee said it, it must be true.
So when Phillip finally gathered the courage to send his own letter, he waited with hope. One week. Two weeks. A month. Nothing.
“Grabe, isang buwan na, wala pa rin…” he muttered to himself one evening, scrolling through the podcast’s latest episode. He left another comment: “DJ Jaydee, I sent my letter last month, sana mabasa.”
Other listeners replied quickly: “Bro, ang dami talagang letters. Just wait, minsan abutin ng taon.”
But Phillip wasn’t comforted. Because his letter wasn’t just any story. It was his heart, broken… open… after more than a decade.
Meanwhile, Jaydee sat in his studio, staring at the same letter he had read a dozen times already. The moment he opened the email and saw the sender’s name, he knew. Phillip Jay. Pip.
Once, long ago, Phillip was his world. Back then, he wasn’t Jaydee, he was Justice Dean. They were high school sweethearts, the kind who held hands in hallways, shared earphones on jeepney rides, and whispered promises about the future.
But right after graduation, everything collapsed. His father’s real family found them. The truth hit like a storm: his father had another life, and the house they lived in wasn’t truly theirs. Justice and his mother were told to leave immediately. No time to explain. No chance to say goodbye.
Justice disappeared. Phillip was left with nothing but silence.
Jaydee rubbed his face with his hands. “Pip… bakit ngayon ka pa sumulpot?” he whispered. The letter’s words echoed in his mind: Should I continue looking for him even if the last time I saw him was more than ten years ago? Can you please give me tips on how to move on from a young love that broke my heart, and I can never seem to let go?
He couldn’t ignore it forever. Phillip’s comments were everywhere now, even a DM sitting in Jaydee’s inbox. Tonight, he decided, he would finally read it.
The red “ON AIR” light blinked.
“Welcome back, everyone, to Love Notes with Jaydee,” he said, voice steady, smooth, professional. “Today’s letter… is one I struggled to choose. But I think it needs to be heard.”
He read Phillip’s letter in full. His listeners heard the story of a boy who lost his first love to sudden disappearance, who had waited years without closure, who was still unable to let go.
When he finished, silence filled the studio. Jaydee swallowed, his throat dry.
“Sometimes,” he began carefully, “we don’t leave because we want to. Sometimes life drags us away. The boy in this letter… he reminds me of my own past. When I was in high school, I had someone I cared about deeply. But right after graduation, my mother and I had to leave. We left everything, even the people we loved, because my father’s real family came back for the house. We didn’t have time to explain. We just… disappeared.”
He inhaled shakily, then continued.
“So what I want to tell this listener is this: sometimes it isn’t about falling out of love. Sometimes it’s about circumstance. If your heart tells you to search, then search. If your heart tells you to let go, then let go. Neither path is wrong. What matters is that you honor what you felt, and what you still feel.”
He ended the recording there.
The studio fell silent once more. Jaydee slumped in his chair, whispering in Tagalog now that the mic was off: “Pip… hindi ako tumigil. Hindi rin ako nakalimot.”
Across town, Phillip listened the moment the episode dropped. At first, he was stunned that his letter had been read at all. But as Jaydee’s voice spoke about a boy forced to leave, about a love stolen by circumstance, Phillip’s heart hammered against his chest.
“Parang… ako talaga ’yung kausap niya,” he whispered.
And then his phone buzzed. A notification. A message.
Phillip froze, staring at the screen.