𝕿𝖍𝖊 𝕯𝖊𝖑𝖎𝖛𝖊𝖗𝖆𝖓𝖈𝖊 𝖔𝖋 𝖙𝖍𝖊 𝕯𝖊𝖆𝖗𝖑𝖞 𝕭𝖊𝖑𝖔𝖛𝖊𝖉

𝐍𝐨𝐞 𝐌𝐮𝐫𝐜𝐢𝐞𝐥𝐚𝐠𝐨 𝖔𝖋 𝐁𝐫𝐠𝐲. 𝐏𝐨𝐛𝐥𝐚𝐜𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐄𝐚𝐬𝐭

“This is a difficult river,” Mariel said. She was holding onto the two wooden paddles, and she could feel a slight burning sensation as she rowed back and forth. The waves this afternoon were unkind, and she was making her dismay evident in her face. She hasn’t looked Nanding in the eyes ever since he brought that thing up. “I said we should go to a river. You always choose the difficult rivers.”

“You wanted a river. Here’s your river.”

“Not a difficult river. No one likes it difficult,” she said. “Obviously, you do. You never liked it when things are peace and quiet. You always want things stirred around you.”

“That’s not true.”

They were on their way to the other side of the river, where Mariel’s mother was to fetch her.

“Will you be away for long?” he asked. “Can’t they reconsider? I’ll tell them I have enough savings to feed you for three months.”

“You know how absurdly practical Mom is when it comes to these things.”

Not so long ago, Nanding and Mariel married. But when the economy started to bloat, their financial situation began to sink.

“I told you I can sell our rings—”

Mariel finally looked at him in the eye. “You know they don’t cost much. The only thing you’ll be doing is throwing away a symbol of the only luxury we have.” There was pity in her eyes—no, it was more of embarrassment.

Before she and Nanding got married, she was the expensive pride of her town; her family was wealthy, and so was she. But after her father gambled it all away and died soon after, her mother Pauline was left trying to pay back her husband’s debts. Pauline soon remarried a lovely man—a bit younger than her—who was trying to help their sinking family in any way he could.

“Will you send me photos?” he said. “They said Manila’s not a nice place. You should be careful.”

“I will,” she said. “I love you.”

Nanding smiled and said to her the same thing.

Around ten in the evening, when Nanding was alone, he could spread his body in his bamboo bed for the first time in many months. It felt empty. He wishes for his dearly beloved to come back as soon as possible. But he knows their situation is dire, and his earnings as a tricycle driver would barely keep them alive. This was not the life he promised her.

As he looked at the moon, he thought about whether to sell the ring tomorrow morning. He thought, and thought, and dreamt about his decision in his long, long sleep.

ⒹⓊⓃⒼⓃⒼⓄ

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