“I know what to get you for your birthday!” Chu tells me, a smiley icon at the end.
“Ano?” I ask, pleased. He was coming over to Singapore next week, and since I don’t start work until September 15, I can be with him.
“I’m not telling you,” He retorts.
“Ok fine. I love surprises anyway,” I reply.
“Malaki sya. Mataba.” He continues.
Another bear? I wonder.
Flashback to the year 2005, around this same date. Chu was in Houston where he was having a month-long training for Shell, and I was back in the Philippines, starting my fourth month in P&G. I was reading his email after my payment run.
“I already bought your birthday gift here,” he said in his email. “It’s small and hairy.”
A scrunchie? I wonder.
A month later, he comes back home and presses the gift into my hands.
Flash back to 2004, Chu and I were wandering the aisles of a mall when I spotted a mini teddy bear on display. “Chu, buy me this bear,” I plead. He gets a look of distress on his face. “I can’t afford it right now, I’m so sorry.” Of course I understood. We were still both in the I-can-only-afford-to-eat-instant-noodles-for-dinner phase. “Someday, I promise.”
It’s 2005, and someday had come. I hugged the tiny teddy bear close to my heart.
It’s the year 2006, Christmas time. Chu had left his Christmas gift for me on my bed. I unwrapped it to find a medium-sized teddy bear with a lilac ribbon around her neck.
Someday had come again.
It’s 2008, and I am wondering if another someday is coming.
“Malaki sya. Mataba.” He says.
“Ronald?” I guess.
“Minsan oily.” He adds.
“Si Ronald nga!” I laugh.
It’s probably not our former housemate Ronald. And it’s probably not another bear. So what could it be? And I try to recall if I ever mentioned something that fit those descriptions that he promised he’d get me…someday.