With the traffic it was a long drive to the campground and the whole way through Sarah was making kulit about his surprise. She normally wasn’t anxious like this but for some reason today she just couldn’t find it in herself to be patient. Luckily John Lloyd managed to be patient with her and was being playful with his answers. They had a playful conversation in the car – Sarah, trying to squeeze his surprise out of him and John Lloyd misleading her about his surprise. When they arrive at the campground Sarah looks around and then back at John Lloyd who is standing right behind her.
“Ano to? Magpipicnic tayo?” she asked him confused.
It didn’t occur to her that they were camping because as far as she knew she had to get back to work the next day and he had a movie that he needed to finish shooting. But the truth was her mom was in on the surprise and Sarah didn’t really have to get back to work yet, in fact she had a week vacation, as did John Lloyd.
He moves closer to her, his arms around her waist. “Diba magcacamping tayo to celebrate?”
She looks up at him still not figuring things out “Pero may trabaho na tayo bukas, ano yun one night camping trip tapos bukas nang umaga uwi na tayo?”
He laughs as her as he takes her hand and leads her to the trunk of the vehicle “Hindi 3 days tayo dito...”
“Ha? E paano yung trabaho ko, Lloydie may prior committments na ako...” she says stopping in her tracks.
He shakes his head at her and jokingly says “Eh ano ngayon? So you miss a pictorial and some meetings, pwede namang ireschedule yun eh, pero tong anniversary natin hindi na, 2 weeks delayed na nga eh...”
She looks at him earnestly “Seryoso ka? Lloydie hindi pwede take me back home right now, I refuse to be unproffesional para lang makapagcamping tayo.”
He’s starting to walk away from her as he mutters out loud “Oo nga pala, I forgot I’m last on your priority list diba? Alam mo minsan pakiramdam ko your taking me for granted eh.”
He has his back turned to her and the whole time he has a smile on his face wondering how long he can keep this up. She stomps in frustration and scratches her head.
“Alam mong hindi totoo yan, Lloydie kailan pa naging isyu ang trabaho?”
“Nakakapagod lang na lagi na lang ganito, na lagi na lang tayong nagaadjust para ma accomodate yang schedule mo.”
“Schedule ko? Eh ikaw din naman ah” she says now agitated.
He starts to walk over to his door “Ayokong mag away kaya halika na iuuwi na kita...”
She follows him to his side of the vehicle “Hindi. Paguusapan natin to ngayon din.” she says sternly as she takes his hand and pulls him to a nearby bench.
As they are walking he can’t contain his laughter anymore. She turns around and faces him, cleary irritated already. “Anong nakakatawa?”
He pulls her closer to him and brushes her hair away from her face “Wala ka pang trabaho bukas, kahit tawagan mo pa mommy mo, pinaniwala ka lang nila na may trabaho ka na para ma surprise kita...” he says calmly.
She’s silent for a moment just staring at him her frustration slowly starting to fade. She makes a face at him then slaps his shoulder playfully.
“Best actor ka talaga, malapit na sana akong mainis sa yo eh.”
They both start laughing as he pulls her towards the trunk of their vehicle to gather all of their things. After unloading their vehicle the first thing they do is try and pitch a tent. She is sitting on a log with the instructions as he is trying to put all the things together.
“Be, hindi ata ganyan eto o nakalagay dito dapat...” she says trying to help him.
“Be okay na, kaya ko to, I don’t need the instruction guide.” he says confidently
She puts the instruction guide down and rolls her eyes “Sabi mo eh...”
15 minutes later and the tent is still no where near being done. He wipes the sweat from his forehead and fans himself quickly, cleary getting tired and frustrated.
She sees him struggling with the tent and from where she is sitting she mockingly asks “Okay ka pa? Baka gusto mong tulungan kita...?
He turns back to face her and bitterly replies “Okay lang ako, diba sabi ko kaya ko? Kaya ko.”
She puts her hands up as if trying to tell him to relax a little “Okay kaya mo, I wont say anything more.”
Another 15 minutes pass, she has her elbows on her knees and her face cupped in her hands. She doesn’t dare speak again but in her head she’s praying that he give up and just ask for help already. She’s getting bored waiting for him so she starts to hum to herself.
He turns around and ruffles his hair. Giving up, he says“Okay sige na, tulungan mo na ako”
She lets out a sigh of relief and then quickly gets up. She takes the instruction guide with her and within minutes they have the tent up. She claps her hands together when the tent is finally up and smiles at him as she walks towards him. She stands to his side and wraps her arms around his waist. He puts his arm around her shoulders.
“See we work much better as a team...”
“Oo na, tama ka na, wag ka nang mangasar. Halika na kain na tayo, gutom na gutom na ako”
She laughs at him and answers “I bet.”
He brashly glares at her and she smiles innocently at him as she puts her hands up in surrender. He laughs at her and holds her tighter in his arms.
This is exactly what made their relationship so easy, what made them work – their playfullness. At the end of the day it didn’t matter how successful they were or how many awards they had under their belt what mattered was they had fun together and they made each other laugh. They complimented each other very well. He was the serious and wise kind of guy while she was playful and sometimes childlike. In a relationship it is important to be madly in love but love sometimes isn’t enough, most times you need more than love. And their relationship was far beyond just love, it wasn’t just destiny or fate that brought them together it was also choice, they choose each other because they brought out something in each other that no one else could.
It’s late in the evening and their is a cool breeze as they are sitting in front of the campfire, sharing a blanket, under the enchanting star covered sky. She’s quitely sitting there listening to him as he makes kwento about things that happened while she was on tour. With her head leaning on his shoulder she is half listening to his story and half thinking about what he had said earlier that day. She wondered whether or not he sometimes felt as though she was taking granted of him.
“Be...” he says softly after she doesn’t reply to a question he asked.
Suddenly snapping out of her thoughts she looks up to him and smiles “O ba’t ka tumigil?”
“May tinatanong ako sa yo, hindi ka naman sumagot, antok ka na ba?”
She shakes her head and lays it back down on his shoulder “Hindi may iniisip lang ako, sige na you have my full attention. Ano ulit yung sinasabi mo?”
Uninterested to continue with his ramblings he asks “Anong iniisip mo?”
She sits up and turns a little to face him “Minsan ba, kahit minsan lang, naiisip mo ba na I take you for granted?” she asks bowing her head down feeling kind of guilty.
He closes his eyes and softly smiles feeling guilty for putting that thought in her head. He lifts her head up and shakes his head “Kahit kailan I never felt like you were taking me for granted minsan nga pakiramdam ko ako pa yung mapansamantala eh. Nasabi ko lang yun kanina but I didn’t mean it and I’m sorry for making you think that.”
“Sigurado ka? Kasi naisip ko lang na tama ka, madalas schedule ko naman talaga yung sagabal eh at madalas ikaw yung nagsusuffer nang consequences...”
He pulls her in close trying to reassure her that he didn’t feel that way and that she didn’t need to feel guilty.
“Ano ka ba? Bago pa naging tayo alam ko na kailangan kong makihati sa trabaho at pamilya mo and kung isyu yun di sana matagal na tayong nagkaproblema. Yung dedication mo sa trabaho mo at yung pagmamahal mo sa pamilya mo, those are all the things I love about you kaya kung nawawalan ka man nang panahon for me dahil sa kagustohan mong maging mabuting anak at artista, I get it and I love you for all that you are. At kahit di tayo magkasama lagi, kahit minsan lang tayong magkachance na makapag sama nang ganito, kahit kailan hindi ka nag kulang sa kin...”
Relieved she returns his embrace and wraps her arms around him, she lifts up her face just inches from his and stares deeply into his eyes. Softly she says “Kahit kailan ayokong maramdaman mo na huli ka sa buhay ko because that’s not true... mahal na mahal kita...”
Just then she moves in closer and softly places a kiss on his lips. With the stars and the moon as witnesses they share a passionate, slow and lingering kiss - the sweetest thus far.
The night was perfect, it was better than he had hoped for and more than she could have ever dreamed up. But if only she knew that this was just the beginning and John Lloyd had an even bigger surprise for her, if only she knew it only got better from here.
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