A Portrait's Promise

PTE

nd butted in to my assigned seat

nang bahagya kong isinalampak ang katawan sa upuan,

po habang nakakunot ang noo't seryosong

awalang-bahala ko na lang 'yon at pinagtuu

when someone bumped on me resu

g na tiningnan ang nakabangga sa akin

l. I just raised a brow and stared at my pen back to he

ith a round sunglasses that

a ang maliit ngunit matangos niyang ilong. I t

pinulot ang lapis

d continued sketching with a knott

kasi 'tong libro ko and I've been to a rush.

r intently like I'm goin

ong ma

oment but still has the

t

dong seryoso. Tr

t it myself," mariin kong turan sanhi upan

rinig ko pa rin at mabilis na umup

me to have a se

an ulit at isinalampak na laman

rita an

ch made this four-cornere

o, and just continued listening to the music until I st

n bago kita masilayang muli," malungkot kong turan habang nakahilig sa kaniya

aman na tinutugis kami ngayon ng iyong ama, hindi ba?" Marahan ni

ararapat mong malaman," saad niya dahilan upang mapuno ng pa

at batid kong hindi maganda an

. I-Iyon ang pasya ng buong samahan. Nais

s-sabihin? Hindi iyan maaari. Ika'y

agsasama tayong muli ngunit hindi sa panahong

H-Hindi maaari," mangiyak-ngiyak kong t

ng pasya. Nilukob ako ngayon ng pana

aking buhay at hindi ko kakayan

malingawngaw ang malaking tinig mula sa dulo ng gubat sa

a akong inakay patayo at mabilis na tumakbo hanggang sa ako'y madapa sanhi

gaw ang putok ng baril na batid k

aking irog dahilan upang mag-ungusan ng walang humpay ang luha sa ak

s Nu

*c

d you ju

my cheeks so I turned off the music from my

realized that Mr. Lustero's already at my front of my

hout any doubts b

woul

ss

ass and cuss in front of me?!" He arc

I answer

at him again and just

or. They bowed down their heads when our eyes met and my eye

ack at me so

Miss Nueva. And you have the audac

urned back to Mr. Lust

he stopped, controlling himself. I smi

urt a studen

his thing aside but if you can't, let's talk to my of

siyahan pa sa reaksyon ng guro. His reactio

. Lustero bago binigkas

t makes human a human?" He

nace, trying to digest his questions. His question

drummed my long unpolished nails re

gi ang ka

our breath banging

ed and

s came out. We humans are linked by evolution to those early biological molecules. More than half a century after the chemist Stanley Miller propounded his primordial soup theory, we stil

swered the second que

that matter, 50% to a banana's. We do, however, have bigger brains than most animals. Well, not the biggest, but packed with three times a

ink that cooking and our mastery of fire may have helped us gain big brains. But it's possible that our capacity for co-operation and skills tr

l to amuse me, Miss Nueva." I ju

one can answer my question na dapat ikaw ang sumagot. Anyone

't know

?" tanong naman niya

ng akong n

inayos muna ang kaniyang sa

s to bury it in old soil or gas field and the an

om of the sea," it's me who

shrugged together wi

ea

e, be ready. We're still not done yet." Perta

malakas ang aking puso na para bang may nak

ng dibdib at mariing tinitig

ut it's too blurry and I can't even rec

. Neve

fs before fishing it, heading to the

m really