Chapter Text
Tuesday
Bob is running late for his last class of the day. With how big the campus is, he's running as fast as he can to go from one building to another. He came from his PE class and went straight to the math building. There are several jeepneys around the campus with the placard “UP Ikot” to help students go from one building to another.
Unfortunately, Bob waited for several minutes for a jeep but nothing arrived, so he decided to just sprint. He almost face-plants into the grass just as he was about to arrive at his building's steps. Feeling relieved as he arrived on time, he went straight to his room and started his day with his ever-favorite, math.
Robert Francis Prevost is an exchange student from Villanova University who transferred to the Philippines, to the most prestigious university in the country. Bob is already in the last year of his program but transferred to the Philippines to finish his studies.
He is very much an intellectual being capable of answering every math problem he encounters. Nothing goes unsolved in the hands of Bob. This earns him a great deal of admirers in his department. Some even call him the “math-throb,” with his dark curly hair, thick brows, and adorable smile, with or without his full set of teeth.
It was his first year in the Philippines; being away for that amount of time from his home often made him feel lonely and homesick. However, as the strong-minded person he is, Bob manages to maintain his strength and conditioning while living away from his family.
He manages to go through life because of one person he became close with in the span of a year: his roommate, Pablo Virgilio David or Ambo, as he prefers to be called. Ambo is a Bachelor of Theology student but has some GEED subjects the same as Bob, so they are classmates for their other subjects, which is another reason why they have a close bond.
Bob and Ambo both live in a dorm near their campus; even though Ambo lives within the region, he still chose to live nearby because, as he said, “I don’t want to get haggard from the trip.”
Arriving on time, he listened diligently to the lecture and answered in the recitations to acquire points to be added to his grade. This class is one of his major subjects, so he’s not classmates with Ambo in this one. Every classmate of his claps with every right answer he gives their professor. The whole class admires and worships Bob because he is the one who always sacrifices himself during recitations, especially when their professors are already mad that no one is answering correctly.
On his way home, Bob manages to ride in a jeep and feels a wave of relief surge through his body, with his limbs aching from his PE class and running to get to his classes. A sigh of relief escaped his lips as he leaned on the backrest of the jeep.
Gathering a few coins from his purse, he manages to say “bayad po” to the driver. From his stay in the country, he learned several important Tagalog phrases from hearing them from others and Ambo teaching him.
They often have Tagalog learning sessions, which Ambo established to further help Bob in communicating with the locals.
“You actually don’t need to deeply study Tagalog, only those important ones that are used in our everyday life, such as bayad po, mahal kita, magkano po ito?, pabili po, pangit ka, and tangina,” Ambo told him as he giggled toward the end.
“I know that Filipinos are fluent in speaking English, another reason why I picked here to be transferred.”
“Wanna know why we’re fluent in English?”
“Yeah, why?”
“Your country colonized us,” Ambo replied with a scoff.
“But I’m Peruvian,” Bob argued.
While laughing, he replied, “Ok sige sabi mo eh.” (Ok whatever you say.)
“HA?” shouted Bob, but Ambo only ignored him while laughing louder and continued writing on the whiteboard inside their dorm that they use for their study sessions.
The jeep is almost empty as the sun has already set; most students are already at their homes and some are in their night classes. At that moment, there are only five of them inside: one in the passenger seat, two on each side of the door, and one in front of Bob who looks disconnected from the world as he blankly stares at the window.
Bob passes his coins to the student beside him, which the latter unconsciously took.
“Hey! What are you doing with my bayad?” Bob suddenly raised his voice at what the man did.
The student came back to his senses as he got startled by Bob’s voice and realized that he threw Bob’s coins into the trash on the ground just beside the driver’s shoulders.
“Sorry, sorry,” the student started muttering as he picked up the coins from the trash.
“Hala kulang ng tres,” Bob heard him whisper. (Oh no, three pesos are missing.)
“Ako na bahala sa nawalang barya, sorry talaga,” the man turned to him and noticed the confusion with a hint of irritation on Bob’s face. (I’ll handle the missing coins, I’m very sorry.)
Realizing that Bob is a foreigner, he quickly translated what he said into English, “I mean I’ll take care of the missing coins, I’m really sorry,” and hurriedly took out his own purse to get coins and gave them to the driver.
“It’s okay, I understand,” he replied and simply smiled to let the other know that it’s all good and that he’s not mad.
Bob understands the man, studying in this university is draining, one reason being the classes each day span from early morning to late afternoon, sometimes until night, from Monday to Friday. Students are expected to perform well, with professors assuming that everyone’s knowledge is above basic. Also, the amount of work given is brutal, especially with all the subjects they have. So zoning out in a jeep is a valid thing to do.
"Para po,” Bob is brought back to his senses after he heard the student beside him mutter those words. He looked outside the window and noticed that they stopped in front of the chapel inside their campus.
“Oh, so this man is religious. Well, he looks sincere and has a nice smil—” whispering, Bob caught himself at the last word. What was he even thinking?
After getting off the jeep, Bob followed the man with his eyes, which the other caught and smiled at him.
Suddenly, the world stopped spinning, then a line from the Filipino rom-com movie he and Ambo watched played in his head.
“Sabi nila, kapag in love ka, tumitigil ang mundo mo.” (They say, if you’re in love, your world stops spinning.)
That night, while lying down on his bed, hoping that sleep would catch up to him, a flash of the man’s smiling face appeared in his mind.
“When will I see him again?” he mutters as his eyes fall into deep slumber.