One Hundred and Twenty One Days

I was awakened from my deep slumber by the ringing of my handphone. Thinking it was my alarm clock for five o'clock in the afternoon for me to get ready for my nightshift at seven, I glanced at my wall clock only to see it was only five minutes before two in the afternoon. I then realized based from the kind of tone that it is not an alarm, rather, a call. I grabbed my phone from the bedside table, and with my eyes half-closed, I checked who the caller might be. An unfamiliar local number here in Saudi greeted me on the screen. Because I have saved my workmates' numbers on my other phone, I thought one of them might be calling me. Wondering what the problem might be, I pressed the answer button and talked in a still sleepy voice, "Hello?" A male voice answered on the other line, and to my surprise, he is speaking our dialect! He said, "Hello. Kumusta na ika?" (Hello, how are you?) I scanned my mind who among my fellow Bicolanos here in Saudi the caller might be, but to no avail, so I asked, "Isay adi?" (Who's this?)

"Inuunga mo kung isay ako?" (You're asking me who am I?)

"Amo. Isay ika?" (Yes. Who are you?)

"Di mo ko bisto?" (You don't know me?)

"Diri. Isay ngani ika?" (No, I don't know you. Who are you really?) I answered half-annoyed because I wasn't expecting that kind of conversation from a man I didn't think I know of, to think he is disturbing my precious sleep!

He introduced himself but I cannot understand him. After a few exchange of "ako si #@%&" (I am #@%&) and "hah?" (what?), he ended the call.

Exasperated and curious who the caller might be, I prepared myself to go back to sleep and counted mentally how many hours is left for me before I get up. I am pulling my blanket up to my chin when the message alert tone of my roaming phone bleeped. Now I was really furious. Who the hell is disturbing my much needed sleep??? I picked up the phone and my sleepiness suddenly evaporated upon reading the message from my boyfriend, "Bah, ako po so kausip mo." (Love, I'm the one you talked with at the phone.)

Whuuaaattt??? I jolted out of bed and rechecked the caller ID, thinking that maybe, I just mislooked at the number a while ago because I was still sleepy. But no, it was the same number as before, a Saudi number. Then a thought suddenly came into my overly imaginative mind. "Is he here in Saudi already? Is he going to surprise me?" My heart leaped with the idea. But I also contradicted what I have thought, knowing that he still needs a year or so experience as staff nurse in order to be hired in hospitals here in Saudi. I asked him in our dialect, "why are you using Saudi number?". Then came another ringing of my phone. This time, it's not a Saudi number anymore, but the word "Private Number" flashed from my phone's screen. Then, I was talking to him, the man whom I'm missing for the past four months that I am here in this foreign land. The man who wants to raise a family with me. The man who calls me "princess, mahal, baby, bah". The man who is not really my ideal man, but because I love him so much, I deleted the word "ideal" from my vocabulary. The man whom I want to spend the rest of my life with. The man who always says I'm his only love and nobody else...

My custom-made picture for our day...:)

Now is our fourth monthsary, if ever there's a word monthsary in the dictionary. That call got me by surprise. Thank you very much sweetie! Though you disturbed my sleep, it won't change the fact that I love you so much and that I'm missing you day by day...

xoxo!

<3


N.B.: According to one of my colleagues, situations such as that (Saudi number appearing to calls coming from the Philippines) sometimes do happen.