illuminate

she is a beaut—definitely on a league of her own.

ligaya (tagalog for joy) was one of those girls who held exemplary beauty. however, her timid personality almost always overshined what she is capable of showing.

ligaya—joy. like how you knew her, she is one big bundle of joy. she shares the most happiest of stories from her native land, never missing out on all the fun she’s learned from her folks.

yet sometimes, she also has this mysterious aura—one that drags you into a hole of her charm, a mix of sweet and seductive. at times, you’d never even think of her that way.

she poses for you. you blush behind your film camera, your cheeks all rosy and pink. she doesn’t mind, though. for she thinks of you as a friend, but is a friend all you’d ever want to be?

you see it. the way her face is structured like a doll and how her lips are pressed closely together. the way her milky skin makes you fall for her beauty, despite that cold mask she shields herself in.

and when she sits down and stares at you from below, you feel those butterflies down your pit. there she goes again with that subtle yet suggestive look. is this a bait? or does she look more and more like a woman than how you first knew her?

carefree. she embodies it. like how the wind flows through her straight hair without untangling, she is free. free from harm, free from toxicity. free from all you ever planned to be.

insouciant. that’s how she is. but on this bus going to the unknown, she is unsure. unsure of a place so unfamiliar, unsure of a dream so unreachable. unsure, yes, but unstoppable.

and as you look into her beaming eyes, you have faith—faith in the beauty of her success. because that’s what she is—ligaya. the ligaya you know is joyful of her own struggles and victories.