"Wait, what?"

 　 Hopefully, you come out a little more lighthearted and relieved. You're a little bit closer to graduation/getting your degree -- regardless of you passing or failing. Progress is progress, you know?

I just want you to know how grateful I am of having you in my life. Our friendship, our (romantic) relationship, and just the overall way we treat each other (with mutual respect for who the other person is); those are things I’m just very grateful for, in general. And right now, after the past couple of days, I’m thankful for you giving me the time to process my feelings pertaining to what happened last Tuesday. I’m still working on fully putting it past me (so expect some snarky comments and some bitchiness and you having to do some groveling to get back into my good graces), but I do know that I love you, and part of that is loving who you are as a person.

I love you, Hanz Louie, and thank you for giving me the time to be me and just letting me come to terms with everything. It shows that you understand -- and that you’ve changed from pushing me to talk about things to (ayun nga,) understanding just when to back off and give me the space needed to process that.

“It’s okay.” I push his hair back so that it doesn’t fall over his eyes. My hand moves so that I’m cupping his cheek, and his eyes remain close as I place a kiss on his forehead.

“It’s ok-” I begin to say again, only to have him cut me off with, “It’s not.”

“You...” His eyes open, and I tell myself not to look away. That this would be the last time I’d get to be so close to him. I might as well savor it.

“This isn’t fair to you,” he raises a hand, and for a moment, I wonder if he were going to cup my face too.

“I’m sorry,” is his next statement, and I shake my head as I pull my hand away.

To You,

For getting me to put pen to paper, so I could try and set these words free.