at pagkatapos magsimba

habang hinahatid kita sa 'yong tahanan

parang walang katapusan ang ating kwentuhan

tungkol sa mga buhay ng isa't isa

ako'y nahalina...

the crowd sang along with ben&ben, swaying through the smooth music coming from the speakers and feeling the cool breeze of Christmas season nip through our skin. stell has his left arm snaked around my waist the whole time and i intertwined my fingers with his and rested my head on his shoulder as we both sang with the song.

after bibingka finished, we started cheering once again when everything went silent, awaiting for the next song to play.

the crowd screamed and cheered as the band started singing...

i put my arm around josh's shoulder and my other arm at stell's waist. paulo was at stell's right side and he put his arm around stell's shoulder. meanwhile, ken also has his arm around josh's waist and all five of us were swaying and singing our hearts out like they would burst at any moment.

i blinked my eyes and felt a stray tear make its way down my cheek. i looked at stell and smiled to myself. he looks gorgeous. he's only looking at the stage, a soft smile plastered on his lips while singing along.

i felt my heart ache. everything started to move in slow motion and it suddenly felt like a dream... like none of this was real...

i'm gonna miss all of these. my friends, my university, my experiences,... salinggawi moments with josh, mock basketball practices with ken, our kwentuhans and asarans together, moments with paulo, the way he treats me as his younger sibling, the way he cares for me, and of course.... stell. i don't even have to state everything. because the things that i'm gonna miss about stell are countless, like the stars in the skies and the sand in the sea. words won't be able to describe how painful it will be to let him go.... and i'm not certain if i will ever be able to face that type of pain...

i softly sang and smiled as the song ended. ben&ben started saying their gratitudes to everyone before exiting the stage. they were the last to perform and luckily, we already had pictures with them before the event even started.

i felt the back of stell's index finger stroke my cheek gently, wiping stains of tears on it.

he asked. the area was pretty crowded so our faces were close to each other and i could feel his breath fanning my face.

i smiled widely and nodded.

i tried to sound as happy as possible for stell not to notice but i forgot how good he is at understanding people.

people started clearing the area as the event is now close to the end. stell pulled me in a hug and i rested my cheek on his shoulder as i faced his neck while he gently rubs my back to comfort me and planted a kiss on my temple.

i rolled my eyes and gave ken a death glare after he said that.

i said before pulling away from stell's embrace and all five of us started teasing each other once again while looking for a place to chill and eat.