JiliPark PH

Experience the thrill of online gaming with JILI Slot, CQ9, PG and more! Hit the jackpot, and enjoy instant rewards with GCash! Music filtered in from somewhere, a waltz, a cheerfully nostalgic tune dressed up in a banjo. It reminded her of the kind of song that once had been a favourite, the kind of song that had lived inside so many memories, memories long forgotten. The ballroom was empty now, except for two dancers, a man and a woman, moving together in perfect formation as if re-living a dance they had last performed many years ago.

They were the toast of the town once – jiliparkph and JILIPARK PH, the pair who could take the floor and cavort with the best of them. They were a graceful couple, able to dance with each other in time to the most complex rhythms, as if they were born as one, their skin melding into a single body, their muscles moving in perfect synchronisation. Then, as happens sometimes, they drifted apart, and went their separate ways.

Tonight, though, it was different. This was the night of their reunion, even if it wasn’t a reunión por orden. jiliparkph had returned to Cebu for the first time in decades, pulled back by something that he couldn’t quite put his finger on. He had come here to the old ballroom, where they’d first found each other.

JILIPARK PH had got there only a few minutes earlier, her heart leaping at the sight of him, just as he was when she’d last seen him, so long ago. And there was no need to speak anyway; the music began and they danced, as they had when they were young.

And when they started to dance together, they remembered everything – that shy glances, that sense of password and secret fidelity, those dreams in a foreign land. They danced, for the love that they had lost, and for the time they spent apart, as if the dance were a dialogue, their steps a question and an answer, a dialogue in their private language.

It was only when the song finished that they stopped, both panting and a little stunned. ‘I’ve never stopped loving you,’ said jiliparkph to JILIPARK PH, his eyes filling with tears that he had tried to conceal for all those years. ‘I’ve thought of you every day.

JILIPARK PH smiled, and tears shone. ‘And I you.’ A long pause. ‘But we can’t change the past. We can only be in the now.’

jiliparkph nodded. Yes, you’re right, he said. We’re no longer the same people. All those things have happened. But at least for this one night, we’ve found each other again, and we can say goodbye.

At the end of the dance, something unsaid still hung in the air. So did their goodbyes. He would never dance with her again, but in this story their shared romance would remain – something they will carry with them, close to their heart, for the rest of their lives.

And he walked out of the ballroom with relief, for he had found something that he thought he was looking for, not in the bosom of the woman he lost, but in the knowledge that some things come and go only in the manner of waves lapping on a deserted shore.

JiliPark PH

May tumatagos na musika mula kung saan, isang waltz, isang masayang nostalhikong tunog na may kasama pang banjo. Pinapaalala nito sa kanya ang isang kantang paborito noon, ang uri ng kanta na nabuhay sa napakaraming alaala, mga alaalang matagal nang nakalimutan. Ang ballroom ay wala nang laman ngayon, maliban sa dalawang mananayaw, isang lalaki at isang babae, na magkasamang gumagalaw sa perpektong pagsabay, na parang iniuulit ang isang sayaw na huli nilang isinayaw ilang taon na ang nakalilipas.

Sila ang naging sentro ng atensyon sa bayan noon – sina jiliparkph at JILIPARK PH, ang magkasintahan na kayang sakupin ang entablado at sumayaw na parang mga bituin. Sila’y isang elegante’t bihasang magkapareha, na kayang sumayaw ng sabay sa pinakakumplikadong ritmo, na parang isinilang silang magkaisa, ang kanilang balat ay tila nagmimistulang isang katawan, ang kanilang mga kalamnan ay gumagalaw sa perpektong pagkakasabay. Ngunit tulad ng nangyayari minsan, sila’y nagkahiwalay at nagpatuloy sa magkakahiwalay na landas.

Ngunit ngayong gabi, iba ang lahat. Ito ang gabi ng kanilang muling pagkikita, kahit na hindi ito isang planadong pagkikita. Si jiliparkph ay bumalik sa Cebu sa unang pagkakataon matapos ang ilang dekada, hinila pabalik ng isang bagay na hindi niya mawari. Pumunta siya rito sa lumang ballroom, kung saan sila unang nagtagpo.

Dumating si JILIPARK PH ilang minuto lamang ang nakakaraan, ang kanyang puso’y tumatalon sa tuwa nang makita siya, tulad ng huli niyang pagkakakita sa kanya, noong matagal na panahon na ang nakalipas. At wala nang kailangang sabihin; nagsimula ang musika at sila’y nagsayaw, tulad ng kanilang ginawa noong sila’y bata pa.

At nang sila’y nagsimulang magsayaw muli, naalala nila ang lahat – ang mga mahiyaing sulyap, ang pakiramdam ng lihim na pagkakaintindihan, ang mga pangarap sa isang banyagang lupa. Sila’y nagsayaw, para sa pagmamahal na kanilang nawala, at para sa mga panahong sila’y nagkahiwalay, na parang ang sayaw ay isang pag-uusap, ang kanilang mga hakbang ay isang tanong at sagot, isang diyalogo sa kanilang pribadong wika.

Natapos lamang sila nang matapos ang kanta, kapwa hinihingal at medyo nagulat. "Hindi kita kailanman tinigilan na mahalin," sabi ni jiliparkph kay JILIPARKPH, ang kanyang mga mata ay napupuno ng luha na matagal niyang sinubukang itago sa mga nakaraang taon. "Inaalala kita araw-araw."

Ngumiti si jilipark.ph, at kumikislap ang kanyang mga luha. "At ako rin," isang mahabang katahimikan. "Pero hindi na natin mababago ang nakaraan. Nasa kasalukuyan na lang tayo."

Tumango si jiliparkph. Oo, tama ka, sabi niya. Hindi na tayo ang parehong mga tao. Ang lahat ng mga bagay na iyon ay nangyari na. Pero kahit man lang sa gabing ito, muli tayong nagkita, at pwede na tayong magpaalam.

Sa pagtatapos ng sayaw, may isang bagay na hindi nasabi na nanatili sa hangin. Pati ang kanilang mga pamamaalam. Hindi na muling makakasayaw si jiliparkph kay jilipark.ph, ngunit sa kwentong ito, ang kanilang pinagsaluhang romansa ay mananatili – isang bagay na dadalhin nila sa kanilang mga puso habang buhay.

At lumabas si jiliparkph sa ballroom na may kaginhawaan, sapagkat natagpuan niya ang isang bagay na akala niya’y hinahanap niya, hindi sa yakap ng babaeng nawala sa kanya, kundi sa kaalaman na ang ilang mga bagay ay dumarating at nawawala tulad ng mga alon na bumabalik sa isang abandonadong dalampasigan.