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For a decade, I avoided seeing him during All Soul's Days. Oh, even on ordinary days. Not that I was guilty of something. I was more afraid to face a man whose grief is beyond measure, whose pain is more than human imagination.

Occassionally, I'd send him gifts to let him know I still think of him. Sometimes, when I brought nothing, I'd send him words to let him know I am home from Cebu. He would send me fruits or vegetables as soon as news of my homecoming reaches him. I guess, it was his way of telling me he was thinking of me, too. I figured, he was avoiding me too.

Last year, he was teary-eyed when he saw me coming towards him. I think he was having a dilemma whether to smile or to let his tears fall from his eyes or to do them both at the same time. He smiled and preferred to let his tears gather around his lower eye-lid. It has been a decade since we last saw each other. As we held each other's gaze, all the pains of the last ten years came back. The pain that we tried to deny and was left unacknowledged for a very long time.

As I arranged the flowers I brought, I was aware that he was watching me and that he was thinking of the old times. I felt awkward because I know he was seeing my best friend in me - or at least I reminded him of his daughter who was my best friend.
That moment was what I dreaded to happen for more than a decade already.

There was a moment when our conversation became emotional that he stopped in mid-sentence maybe trying to find the right words to say or was perhaps waiting for the lump in his throat to melt away. I in turn would looked down and couldn't help but wish that I was somewhere else.

After that day last year, he stopped living in his farm for which he lived after Annalyn left. I'm glad we are neighbors again and I can see him everyday sitting outside his house talking to passersby and waiting for the day to end. As for me, I still have my occassional supply of fruits and veggies from his farm - aside from being watched by two fatherly eyes as I sit by the veranda waiting for sunsets to come.