IRONY: A COLLECTION OF SHORTIES

Short Stories of 300 words or less: A Valentine Special

"I Love You"

He is an Adonis, the Kilabot ng mga Kolehiyala in the university. He sees women as nothing but conquests. For him, the words ‘I love you’ mean no more than a means to get to bed any woman he wants. He boasts to anyone who would listen that there are times when he manages without uttering the words.

His life is just perfect; that is, until he finally gets bitten by the love bug. She is everything he has never seen before; the realization of his dreams. Suddenly, the words 'I Love You' have taken an utterly different meaning.

When she accepts his dinner invitation, he feels he is the happiest man alive. He knows he had never been happier in his life. But when he whispers to her the words — this time, meaning it — she just laughs at him, not believing a single word he says. And worse, she confesses she is in love with someone else.

When she bids him goodbye after thanking him for the nice dinner, he lets out a heavy sigh, as tears flow out of his ailing heart. As he watches her leave, he asks himself how it could have happened that just when he finally learns what love means, love turns its back on him. He closes his eyes, wondering if he would utter the words 'I love you' ever again.

Man Hater

“Man hater” is everyone’s opinion of her at work. Not only hasn’t she ever had a boyfriend, as far as her co-workers know, but she also turns down everyone who asks her for a date. She also doesn’t show any affinity toward the opposite sex. But the truth is that she likes Allan, an officemate who has been courting her for three years. He only stopped months ago, after she told him for the nth time to find someone else. No, she has no plans of letting him know of her feelings for him. Never again will she give her love to someone, only to cry in the end, which she is sure to happen. Statistics show that a great number of relationships don’t last, and she has been part of the statistics once. She had loved deeply a lifetime ago, and all she got from that relationship was a shattered heart. No, she’s not going to love again. She’s not going to have her heart broken again.

She was sure she was right not to entertain her feelings for Allan. Until this morning, when she saw him walking hand in hand with someone else. She did not feel the tears flowing freely down her cheeks, but she was well aware of the searing pain that was gnawing at her heart.

Campus Queen

In college, she was a campus queen, not just because of her beautiful face and shapely body, but mainly because of what’s inside her pretty head. Later, when she started work, almost every single man in the company wanted to court her. Everywhere she goes, admiring eyes would follow her. Every other week, she gets a marriage proposal, none of which she took seriously. Until she met Ben. He has everything she looks for in a boyfriend. Good looks, above-average IQ, and compassion. They hit it off immediately, and she knew it’s just a matter of time before he’d court her. When one day Ben asked to speak with her in private, telling her he has something to confess to her, she knew this was it. She noticed the beads of sweat on Ben’s forehead when they were talking face to face. She rejoiced inside. She leaned over, held his hand and encouraged him to talk. When finally Ben opened his mouth, her heart skipped a beat.

“Myla,” he started. “I know Edgardo likes you very much…”

“Don’t worry about him, Ben," she cuts him off. "I don’t feel anything for him.”

Ben’s face considerably brightened.“Great! Look, Myla… do you think there’s something I can do to make him notice me instead?”

The Right Man

Almost all of the people who deeply loved Ella shook their heads and uttered a prayer when she and Anthony walked down the isle. Both her parents cried, which she knew was not out of happiness for her, but for fear of a bleak future which they were almost sure would befall her. Ben was a product of a broken marriage; her father left them for another woman when he was 10, and his younger sister was only 8. Five years later, his mother took in another man. Anthony was left to look after himself and his sister, as the other man turned out to be a beast. It took him 6 years to juggle high school and work as a gasoline boy. He decided to forego college and instead put up a small stall in the downtown market. Ella’s parents had tried to talk her out of her relationship with Anthony because they preferred Marco, the English teacher in the town’s high school who was a product of good family. They were sure she would have a fulfilling marriage with him. But she didn’t listen to them.

Ella looked up from the local paper she was reading at the sound of footsteps coming toward her. It was Anthony. As he approached, Ella studied her husband of thirty blissful years. He now looked much older, with gray hair randomly speckled on his head.

“Aren't you coming to bed yet?” he asked.

“I am,” she smiled up at her husband, folding the paper which was carrying a news item about a fatal car accident involving a man and his second mistress. The man was Marco.


//Sherma E. Benosa
07 February 2008; 7:43pm*

Love Paradox

(Seven reasons people are so crazy about (and go crazier because of) love

//Text, photos and graphic design by SEB.

Text was written in 2001.

Heart without Love

A heart that is incapable of loving is like a living body with a dead soul… like a gardener who hates flowers, like a singer who cannot sing any song. It’s like a plant deprived of carbon dioxide, like earth divorcing its sun.


//Sherma E. Benosa
17 July 2007

Love paradox

7 reasons people are so crazy about (and go crazier because of) love.

1. Love means both holding on and letting go.
2. Love can bring forth heaven as well as hell.
3. Love can either make your heart whole or cut it into pieces.
4. Love promises total bliss while, at the same time, spelling out misery.
5. Love can hurt as well as heal.
6. Love is both a problem and a solution.
7. Love brings out so many questions and offers nothing but itself as the answer.

[seb/2001]

The healing process

My good officemate, Manong Ricco, mumbled something the other day about a certain dilemma of his about which I cannot talk here but to which I can completely relate. His dilemma has nothing to do with mine, but our dilemmas are somewhat parallel so that when he mumbled, “Hindi kaya naglalaro ang tadhana?” I just looked at him — dumbstruck — so that for a change, I was unable to say anything witty that would tell him I thought he was being corny, or worse, idiot.

He'd told me enough to know it wasn't his fault that he's at his current situation, and I sure did not do anything that would lead me to where I am now. All I can remember is, there I was, welcoming each day — sometimes cheerily, at other times, rather relunctantly (as any other normal person does, I must say) — and woke up one day with my life suddenly not as orderly as it was the last time I checked.

What has happened? I don't know. But suddenly, I am at a point where whatever I would decide to do would bring forth immense happiness to one soul, and death to another.

So maybe, Manong Ricco is right. No matter how careful you are in your steps, sometimes you just find yourself in situations you'd rather not be in.

Believe me, I never asked for this. I did not go out looking for this. But this is where I am now, and so I will have to deal with it.

I know I won't get out of it unscathed. For whichever way I turn, I would hurt someone. Not a consoling thought, especially because I am sure I would likewise get hurt in the process.

Oh, such a dreadful task it is, this thing that is being required of me to do. But I know I will have to do it. And I believe I am strong enough to weather it. I am both a fighter and a survivor, am I not? There's no reason I should fail. Things, after all, know how to right themselves.

And besides, there is such a thing as healing process. The thought of it should be enough to bring comfort to my soul and for me to do that which is right.

P.S.

I just find it beyond reason that I will have to hurt someone — myself included — in order for me to be happy. It simply doesn't make sense! But then, a lot of things that happen in life don't make sense immediately — at least to the human reasoning. They often do years thence. So I guess I just have to stay positive and keep believing that things will be alright. That I will be alright. That everyone will be alright.

A quote for Tayns

I won't gush about the musical adaptation of Carlo Vergara's Zsa Zsa Zaturnnah anymore because almost every theater fanatic I know is done raving about it. In fact, Celestine and Salve even hailed it in their respective blogs.

So let me just post a quote from the play the meaning of which I wish Tayns would fully grasp: "Ang pag-ibig kapag dumating, salubungin mo na parang isang kaibigan na matagal mong hindi nakita." —Aling Britney to Ada

Tayns, getz mo? Hehehe

The Power of Love

D'wicked Angel Gets Senti


I love you.

Just three little words, but they could mean the whole world when spoken by the right person at the right time. So powerful are these words that they can heal even the deepest wounds and erase even the most excruciating of pains. So magical they are that they could bury hatred and bring out the best in a person.

When I was younger, I used to think love was something synonymous to romance; that is was as simple as buying flowers or chocolates and dating, and kissing, and fighting then making up, and other romantic stuff lovers do.

That’s why I never understood why people act crazy when they are in love; why people wear that funny love-is-in-the-air smile when they think of their loved ones. I thought love was overrated. That is why I always dismissed it as something I can do without.

Until it happened. I fell in love. And my world was never the same again. There was a whole new meaning to my life. There was gladness in my heart. And suddenly, love became relevant. It became my life.

Coming head on with love had me thinking that not even the most comprehensive definition Mr. Webster has come up with could completely grasp the meaning of the word. Not even the most romantic poet can describe it.

Love is real. It is all-consuming. It is so powerful that it moved me. It changed me. It has sent me to the highest clouds. It made me come alive.

And when I said the words to him, I meant them. I loved him. And he thought he was very lucky. I thought I was luckier. It was perfect. We were happy.

But it wasn’t meant to be. So he had to walk out on me, but he wouldn't. It would break his heart to do so, so I broke mine by doing it for him. And he thanked me, and respected me, and perhaps, loved me more.

Love is powerful. It can bring out the best in a person. Just when there was nothing I wanted more in this world than to be with him, I set him free. Just when I finally learned what love was, I let it go. Because I finally understood what it was, I made love rule me.

Sigh!

[seb/2002]