#RPintheRP: A Travelogue

Day 14: Towards The End

I woke up really hangover and started to get rather sad by the fact that I was now entering my last week in the Philippines.

My body was slightly hurting but I decided to make the most and explore Cubao. Perhaps at this time that I realized — hey, Riley, most of your plans involve going to malls by yourself. You hate malls. But like, this was my life back then. I was a loner, I liked going out mostly by myself, y’know. #INTP

There was one thing of interest that happened in my Cubao adventure. This was Five. It was the first stop I made at National BookStore Cubao:

 

Yes. That happened. That was Five. Honestly, that pick-up encounter is more exciting than the rest of our time together so let me skip through that — very short — tango.

After that rather colorful encounter, I explored the rest of the Araneta malls. That was Gateway, Farmer’s Plaza, SM City Cubao, and AliMall. I had dinner at TOSH afterwards.

I went home and, this is the part I’ve been both excited and dreading to write. I met Six.

***

You will remember that I began this travelogue by talking about a conversation I had with Six. It’s because in this last leg of the trip, a lot of my time was spent with him and, as cheesy as this can sound, I do believe a genuine connection was made.

As kids, we were taught that love is measured in commitment, that we celebrate love that is long, we celebrate anniversaries, we celebrate milestones, weddings, engagements. In fact, when we find out a friend is in a relationship, one of the first questions is “How long have you two been a couple?”

Are we now moving towards an understanding that love is not measured in time but in the moment? In the essence that we can be in love for an hour, that we can be in love for a day, in love for a month, or for a glorious week, and that is okay, and that is not something to be ashamed of, nor is it inferior to “love that lasts a lifetime”?

***

The thing was I was a bit more into Four — and in fact had concrete plans to meet Four the next day. Of course, here comes conflict in the form of Six. A twenty-year old Aries who is currently a student of Finance.

The first thing to say about Six is that he got lost finding my place. Actually, who am I kidding, almost all the guys got lost finding MPlace. Like seriously, it’s right in front of Camelot Hotel. How the hell will one get lost when there’s a freaking castle right in front of me.

The second thing is that he is an Aries. Just like one of my closest friends Jeremie, he was very forward, very romantic, and very aggressive. (Of course, it was with my consent #PositiveConsent.) Aries go for what they want and are very direct. To quote Jeremie, “you and your Aries will fall head over heels over each other but you will get so frustrated wondering why he won’t commit.”

Of all the guys I’ve been with this week, the night with Six was the most enjoyable. (I still get tingles every time I see ice cream!) In fact, he was the only one who spent the night. Though, “spending the night” is a rather odd term to use given that it was around 6am that we finally went to bed.