A Charmed Life: Life's a Play!

I thought I ought to conclude this drama before the motivation to continue this series leaves me.


Dear Diary, today is Saturday, 24th.
In 6 days, I fly. Ah, I feel I've been so stupid, i called Ken at 12:30 after my last exam and didn't understand him. he seemed to be happy to hear from me but he asked a question which is so strange, was he asking for my age? again? or could he be asking something else? then suddenly he said he is very busy and he just hanged up on me like that! I was mortified. I was hurt. I thought it was so mean of him to do that. when my confusion cleared i slowly walked home.


then Keiko called and said that she is on her way to visit me. (Keiko is my "pen-pal" since 1995 and we first met when I went to Japan 4 years later). that was a welcoming news for i urgently needed to talk with a japanese who may give me some clue on how to understand the japanese mind!


Keiko listened from the very beginning, for she does not know anything about Ken yet. She was so excited to hear my love story. Keiko said she doesn't have any idea why Ken hanged-up abruptly like he did but she encouraged me to call him again. "Again and again," Keiko said. She said that young japanese guys are shy and timid and young japanese girls are the ones who are more assertive. It's not like the Philippines where girls have to wait for the guys, she said (Keiko at that time had a Filipino boyfriend). She said that in Japan, girls 'push' and encourage the guy they like, otherwise, nothing may happen. So I promised Keiko that I'll do as she says although I felt weird about it. Keiko stayed for 4 hours and then she had to go home.



So, that evening, at about 8, I called Ken again. I asked him if he could meet me on Monday. He said, he is very busy and can't meet me on Monday. So I reminded him that I'm leaving in a few days, and he said maybe he could meet me tomorrow, Sunday, though he is not sure about that yet. Then I told him I couldn't meet him tomorrow because of blah blah, then he started saying something which I didn't understand then he suddenly hanged up again! I was more challenged and angry rather than confused this time. So I called him again. He picked up the call and mentioned something about the upcoming national elections on Monday. I thought, what does this guy have to do with the elections?? Then I started talking, he hanged-up, again! Rude! So I dialed again. He turned-off his phone!


I stood there inside the phone booth, very perplexed. I dialed again after a couple of minutes and he picked it up, but didn't say anything. I asked him what's happening, why he keeps on hanging-up, if he has a problem or what? and I was annoyed. He said something that I didn't understand and then he hanged-up. I dialed again, it was turned-off again. I dialed a couple of times more but it was off.


Then after maybe 10-15minutes, I dialed again and he picked it up, he didn't say anything, I didn't say anything.. and then he started talking, but i couldn't understand because his voice now is very garbled, trembling, and he seems to be breathing heavily and,.. i was saying "what? what?" he kept on talking, then he paused, but since I didn't understand anything I kept quiet.. then he hanged-up...


Then it occurred to me, he was weeping! I was shocked... But why??? The first thing that came to my mind was that maybe somebody died. But why doesn't he just tell me that? and if he really didn't want to talk to me, if he's annoyed of my calls, he should just turn-off his phone all the way, but he always turns it on again and picks it up whenever i call.. so what's up?


After a while, I called again. The phone was off. Then I called again, and he answered. he told me to call him again after 3 hours. I was relived, at least we could talk.


so I called him again after 3 hours. now his voice is very composed, and he is speaking in straight english. then i heard somebody at the background say something to him, and he said something back to that person. I could sense that he was annoyed to that person but when he came back to speak to me it was in a kind but very firm way. He told me again that he is very, very busy and could not meet me, and is not sure if he could meet me at all! He asked my phone number so that he'll call me if ever he can meet me in the next few days.




I was bewildered with all that happened that day and couldn't sleep. And I thought that I'll know everything that's going on, the next time I meet him.

But I would never know.
Because I didn't meet him again, he never called...