I’m sorry for waiting almost two years before posting this. However this isn’t the last of the series. If you haven’t read the first two, please do before reading this one. A Story of Love, and A Story of Sacifice
 

(*WARNING: Emo content and lengthy *)
 

Do you believe in fate? Do you think that everything in life happens for a reason? Well, I didn’t use to. In fact, I believed in what you reap is what you sow. I believed in karma, the golden rule and other moral cliches. Somehow, Aileen’s actions changed my point of view and made me think about my own life philosophies.
 

How is it that she was able to fall out of love based on the condition that we weren’t seeing enough of each other. Maybe I was too selfish or just too immature to think that I would only be with one girl for the rest of my life.
 

That break-up happened to be the most serious and most hurtful, but underneath the cruelty and tears was a learning experience that would change my life forever.
 

The events leading up to our break-up was normal on her part but I wasn’t feeling the same way as I would feel when we go out. We watch a movie, “Something about Mary”. She was laughing, I was trying to hold her hand, she somehow tries everything not to hold mine. It didn’t feel right. Something was wrong but she didn’t let me know until later that night. I called her up, asking we were still ok. She confessed about the other guy. All I knew about this person prior to the break-up was he was in another class next to their room. What I didn’t know shocked me.
 

This is the part of the story where certain special events became tainted with the presence of this guy. Like how she never explained why I was 17th rose during her debut. In reality, there were going out around 2 months before we broke up and that guy was the 18th rose. This guy was also conniving to the point that he would make her call me up in a three-way just to hear her break up with me.
 

When we ended we still became friends, which was her idea. So, we still talked. I even sometimes asked how they were. You see, if I had to let Aileen go, I wasn’t going to let him hurt her. If she chose him over me, I hoped that she made the right choice. Eventually, I learned that they weren’t speaking. They lasted some 3 months, which I later found out was actually 6 months. The other guy broke-up with Aileen for another girl. I didn’t know what to feel. It was like a Def Lepard song, “When love and hate collide”. I still loved her, regardless of what she did to me. I also hated her for leaving me for some guy who would hurt her in the end. Still, I decided I would remain her friend. I didn’t bring up our past because I didn’t want her to feel, in any way, guilty. We just became good friends after that.
 

Being real friends was probably the foundation we needed in our relationship. Remember, I only spent 3 days courting her. But during this time we were really friends. We talked about anything without any attachments. We spent time together without being intimate. We could even spend time away from each other and then meet without feeling awkward or angry. This went for about 4 months. Little did I know, I still loved her. Whatever I felt before wasn’t compared to what I felt at that moment. I wanted to be with her again, I was ready to be with her again. I wanted to give her everything. I wanted to show her how much I love her. Anyone reading this would probably go “No, don’t. She already cheated on you. Once a cheater always a cheater.” But, I still loved her. Any rational reason would be overwritten by love. So I waited for the right moment.
 

I felt the right moment was Valentine’s Day. I spent Valentines at their house. When we were alone, I told her that I still had feelings for her and I wanted to make her happy. She said she wasn’t ready and she wanted some time to think it through. As long as it wasn’t a “no” I was happy. I was smiling as I went home, thinking about my next move. It was like I was courting her all over again, but this time I was confident. So in about 2 months later in April, we met at SM Foodcourt. Not that romantic, then again we first became bf/gf at Tropical Hut in Delta. We left SM that day as a couple again and my world just lit up. It felt like woke up from a terrible dream, I was like we never broke up. But somehow, I still couldn’t understand how she could go behind my back and have feeling for another guy without telling me.
 

Some of my suppressed anger started to creep back up. I didn’t want to make her feel guilty, but I did. It was that at that time when she wanted to show me just how serious she was with me. She wanted to take our relationship to the next level. I asked if she was sure. She was. So we did it. It was both our firsts. It was an experience not born out of guilt or anger, it was an experience born out of love and trust. The true foundations of any relationship, love and trust.
 

So that’s the story of how a break-up became the turning point in our relationship. How we became stronger, better and wiser people because of that break-up. You could say if it wasn’t for the other guy, we probably wouldn’t be where we are right now. But I won’t, I let everything up to fate. You might call me corny or mushy, whatever. But I never stopped loving Aileen, even at our worst moments. However, another worst moment was also the cause for another great memory. I once answered in an exam question that my greatest achievement in life was the birth of my daughter Lara Andrea S. Asejo. But that, my friends, is another story for another time.
 

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Thanks for reading. I know it’s longer than the first two parts. I was going to make it a 3-part story, but it seems that it’s a little longer than I realized. The last part will be “A Story of Life”. Thanks again for spending the time to read this.