“Okay children, the class is dismissed,” Alice said to her students as she dismissed her English class. As the students walked out the room, she stared at one seat and sighed.

It was almost two weeks that her student Jose was not attending her class. “What happened to him?” Alice worriedly asked herself.

It was four o’clock in the afternoon and Alice hurriedly packed her things.

“Where are you going?” Jerick asked her as they meet in the school ground.

“I will go to sitio San Vicente. One of my student was not attending his classes for almost two weeks now,” she said while walking away from Jerick.

Jerick run after her. “He might just be sick or something, he will definitely come back to school,” he said.

“No, I know there is something wrong. If he drops this school year again, it will be his third year in grade six and he will never graduate. He performs well in his class, it will be very unfortunate if for some reasons he simply cannot graduate,” Alice said.

Jerick realized that Alice is determined to go and followed her. “That sitio is far and by the time you reach it, it is already dark. I will come with you,” he said.

Alice stopped and look at him, “you don’t have to that. I can manage myself,” she said as she smiled to Jerick.

“Well, there might be bullfrog along your way, so I think it would be better if you are with someone,” Jerick said. He smiled and winked his eye.

Alice, though felt embarrassed as she remembered that moment when Jerick found out how she was afraid of frogs, also smiled back. She can’t do nothing but nod to Jerick in agreement.

The two travelled to San Vicente, it would be around four kilometers walk from Sta. Lucia and they have to cross through the river on feet.

The river’s current is strong and fast. Alice is having hard time to crossover. “Here, hold my hand,” Jerick said as he offers his hand to Alice. They held hands together until they reach the ground.

The clouds are moving fast, getting darker and heavier. “We must move fast, it might rain soon,” Alice said as she walks even faster.

However, before they could even reach the San Vicente, the rain poured hard. The two got wet and run to look for a shed, but there were not much houses in the remote sitio. They decided to shelter themselves through the big trees. “Here, we can stay here while we let the rain stop,” Jerick said.

As Alice squeezes her wet hair, Jerick stared at her unnoticed. She wears no make-up but is simply beautiful. Her long hair matches her 5”4” height. She also has a beautiful body shape which he noticed more because of her wet uniform. As his eyes stare Alice more, he noticed that she is trembling as she wrapped her hands around her body.

“It is getting dark,” Jerick said. “We must find a shelter, it is dangerous out here.”

So the two walked together in the rain. Along the way, they saw frogs and Alice would come nearer to Jerick in fright. Jerick holds her near, smiling and managing himself not to laugh so that Alice will be not embarrassed. As their wet body touches each other, a feeling crawls like a positive energy that spreads along their bodies.

Not too far, they saw a small nipa house. The two went nearer to the house and a couple came out to see them. “Sir Agustin!,” the man said to them as he identified Jerick and Alice. “Come in!” the couple said and they let the two enter the house. The wife hurriedly gave them towels, “here, you dry yourselves. I will just look for clothes that you could wear so you could take off those wet clothes you have,” she said further.

“We are sorry to disturb you Mang Canor, we need a place to shelter us because of the heavy rains,” Jerick said. “We are on our way to sitio San Vicente when the rain poured down,” Alice added.

“San Vicente is still far from here, you better stay here for the night and just continue tomorrow,” Mang Canor said to them. His wife came back with the clothes, “You better change your clothes so that you will not get sick. Our dinner will be set soon,” she said.

Jerick and Alice thanked the couple for their generosity and hospitality.

After changing clothes, the two joined Mang Canor in the veranda. “What brought you to the sitio?” Mang Canor asked the two.

“We will be visiting Jose, he had been absent for long in his classes,” Alice explained.

“Oh I see! Jose might be working in the farm again with his father,” Mang Canor said. “Education is just a second priority for poor people like us. What matters most is that we have food to eat. What’s the use of diploma if we are starving?” Mang Canor added.

“Yes, I understand. But it is the right of the child to be educated. We should not deprive them of this right and this could be the only way for them to improve their way of living,” Alice explained.

Mang Canor nodded, “you are right. It is the reason why me and my wife is doing our best so that our two children can go to school. We hope we could still have the strength and means to let them finish high school if not in College.”

Jerick was silent while listening to their conversations. He realized that opportunities in the rural and urban areas are not the same. While the urban worry much on traffic, the rural areas worry much on food to eat.

“I hope you could convince Fernan to let Jose go back to school,” Mang Canor said to Alice. “Well, I will just help my wife cook our dinner so we could already eat.” Mang Canor went to kitchen and left the two in the veranda.

Alice caught Jerick staring at her. “Why are you looking at me that way?” she asked.

“I am just wondering how much you are concern with your students that you have to go through these sacrifices for them?” Jerick asked Alice in amazement.

“As teachers, we are their second parents. It is not just being concern to them, but it is more of loving them and preparing them for their future.” Alice gazed at the sky and made a deep sigh. “We adults are always complaining on how our today’s youth are misbehaving and what future will our country have on their hands. But as their predecessor, are we doing our part to prepare them for their future?”

Jerick was silent for a moment, realizing her points. In his mind, he thought that if one day Alice will have her own children, they would be very lucky to have her as their mother.

“But what if all these sacrifices will just be wasted? What if Mang Fernan will decide not to let Jose go back to school?” Jerick asked.

Alice look at Jerick in his eyes and said, “it is possible Jerick, but that doesn’t mean I have to stop loving my students. Not because things don’t work out the way I want it to be would mean I just have to stop doing what I am doing.”

The two was silent for a moment, grasping what words could they tell more to each other. Weighing if they should have to lay down the things they want to say to each other.

Suddenly, Alice asked Jerick, “How about you? Are you afraid to give love because your love might not be given back to you? Or are you afraid that the circumstances may not return in favor of you?”

Jerick was surprised with the question. He can’t give an answer to it, definitely not now.

“Dinner is ready, let’s eat!” Mang Canor called out to them. Alice immediately get up and went to the kitchen while Jerick remained seated in the veranda.

“Am I afraid to love? Am I really afraid of the unfavorable consequences of love?” Jerick asked himself. He had not asked these to himself for a long time. He was confused, why are the answers to these questions already matters to him. With these in his mind, he got up and joined Alice and Mang Canor’s family in the dinner.