A Face in the Crowd

How do you hold on to someone you've never met?

What if you found the one you were meant for... but you lived 2 years apart?

-          - The Lake House (2006)

Are you looking for The One? Or are you just waiting?

This thought came to me following an encounter with a foreigner yesterday. My daughter will kill me for this. But there we were, in a bazaar stall at Festival Mall. I was chatting with my suki, Gemma, the stall owner while Cae was being attended to by the assistant, when suddenly I heard a male voice, saying, “Excuse me.”

I turned around to see a guy, perhaps in his late twenties, obviously not a Pinoy due to his looks and accent. 

He said to Cae, “Excuse me…are you single?”

Cae was taken aback. Then she replied, “Oh, I’m sorry. I’m already taken.” I’m not sure if she repeated to him what she said. We were all looking at the guy. He seemed nice, well, he didn’t look “maangas” or at least he spoke nicely.

He said, “Oh. Thank you. And…Merry Christmas.” Cae returned the greeting and he walked away. We were silent for a while. Gemma’s assistant seemed rattled, because he forgot we have not paid yet for our purchase. I told him, “Hindi pa kami bayad!” Nakakaloka, Gemma said. Later on, I asked Cae if she answered the guy in a nice way, and she said she did.

Well, as her Dad and I were discussing just the other day, we unanimously agreed that even though she’s not beautiful as in beauty queen material, Cae has always been pansinin, lapitin, tinginin. People really look at her even though she’s just passing by, even if she hasn't combed her hair, with or without make-up. Please refer to my previous blog "The Weighing Game" to understand what I mean.

The guy, to me, looked Middle East-ernish – based on his eyes, nose and color, but probably Westernized. And I have this friend who works in Saudi Arabia who told me that men from those countries are like that. When they like you, they will approach you. It’s not hard to decipher them, no second-guessing. Pag gusto ka, you will know. Unlike Pinoy guys who sometimes won’t tell you they like you. Papahirapan ka pa. Gagawin kang manghuhula. Hinahatid ka na, pinupuntahan ka sa bahay, pero wala namang sinasabi kung gusto ka. But these men, they know what they want, and they will tell you.

And so, back to my thoughts…I was telling Alex this morning that I wanted to write about it. What if…that’s the only way to meet your would-be partner in life? What if…you just have to take a risk, right on that very moment, and ask her or introduce yourself to her? What if…that’s the only chance you  can get?

And how do you pick out a face in the crowd? Obviously, there were hundreds of faces in the place yesterday, but how did the guy see Cae? How does one pick out someone? Your future partner might be right there, and you didn't know. Or maybe you already saw her, but you didn't do anything. And there would be no more second chances. The moment just…passed you by.

Unless, it was like The Lake House, as I reminded Alex. Maybe now, just like the guy, you are rejected. Or somebody beat you to it. But what if…two years later, or three, or more, you’ll meet her again, in another place, another scenario. 

In the movie The Lake House (2006, starring Keanu Reeves and Sandra Bullock), Alex and Kate lived two years apart, with only a mailbox to communicate from. Because Kate is in the future, she can tell Alex to go to places she has been to look for her, and once he saw her in a train station. He knew her, but she didn't know him yet that time. 

What if…it was like that? What if a stranger comes up to you and that was just nothing for you. You just forget all about it and think nothing about it. But you didn't know he will be in your life years from now.

Or what if...a guy likes you and you don't like that guy for now. Because you have someone else. Or you like someone else. Or you're waiting for that someone else. So you're not really paying attention to this guy. What if...he's really the one for you?

Of course, I am just being romantic. But if you have not met or found your partner yet, this sounds nice. And cool. And something to look forward to. There are 8 billion people in this world, and there is only one for us, only one we will ever need. Don’t give up on love – it just moves in mysterious ways.

~TheGoodGirl