Before the day ended, Jenelyn helped Catherine to sign up on one of the websites. As soon as her profile was up, her classmate loaned her a thousand pesos so she would have money to rent a computer in the internet café. Even if she hasn’t received a single dime yet, Catherine was grateful for Jenelyn’s help and accepted the money. Jenelyn’s source of income would be considered questionable but who was she to question it? She also needed money and she had to act on it or live in suffering!

The university had two internet café’s in the Admin building and students were allowed to use it for free for a limited time online such as thirty minutes a day. For Catherine, it was more than enough to check on her yahoo mail and messenger. She thought it was easy but it was far from that.

It had been a month since she started chatting with random people online and not one of them showed the sign of willingness to support her. Frustrations started to build up in her but Jenelyn encouraged her to be patient and the right man would just come along.

She refused any suitors because she wanted to focus on her goal! Back then, there’s no Facebook yet, and it was only Friendster that helped to connect people. Catherine had various forms of online messengers like AOL, Hotmail, Yahoo, and Friendster. One day, she received a message from someone named Sanver. The man seemed nice but he was not an American but a Filipino, nevertheless, she entertained his messages and they communicated via Friendster or MIRC, the leading chatroom at that time. Sooner, Catherine lost her focus on finding an American sponsor and spent most of her free time chatting with Sanver until they became very close online and decided to meet in person.

As she had no phone, she didn’t feel like going to their agreed meeting place and there were a lot of what-ifs on her head, an hour before their scheduled meeting. Online, she and Sanver had a connection but Catherine worried that it would be different in person. After her last subject in the afternoon, she went outside the university and waited for a jeepney that would pass by the Raintree Mall. She had never been to that place but she was positive that she would find their meeting place without any difficulty. The sketch and direction Sanver has provided to her was easy to follow and she was not dumb.

Fifteen minutes before five in the afternoon, she was already sitting on the bench situated in the lobby of the less crowded mall. She had already told him that she would be wearing her yellow t-shirt from the scholar’s club she joined in. One of her feet tapped on the floor impatiently as she waited for the man to show up. Catherine was glad that there was a clock near their meeting place and it kept her updated of the time. The man was late but she was willing to wait for another ten minutes and made a mental note to go home at five-thirty.

She expressed a deep sigh of frustration and disappointment when it was almost five-thirty and still there was no sign of him showing up. Catherine was ready to leave when a man sat beside her. “Hello Kate,” he said, so she looked up to him and her heart thumped like a drum when she recognized the person sitting beside her. “Sanver?” She always had a thing for chinito or men with eyes like those of the Chinese.

“I’m sorry for being late, I was stuck in the traffic, but anyway, I’m glad that you waited and because of that, I’m going to treat you with something delicious tonight,” Sanver said and he didn’t stop to smile while staring at the young lady. If she was telling the truth, she was only eighteen and a second year in college and that would make him ten years older than her because he was already twenty-eight.

The way he talked, it seemed like they have known each other for a very long time, and she was comfortable with him. “That’s what I thought when you didn’t show up at five, but you told me that your office was just around here,” she reminded him of their previous conversation.

“That’s right, but I had to visit the site in Mandaue today.” He replied with the truth and Sanver considered the woman as her equal despite their age gap.

He was an engineer and she admired his accomplishments in life. At twenty-eight, he had a stable career being a project engineer and Catherine considered it as a sign that Sanver was doing good in his life, and she wouldn’t mind having him around. “I see,” she answered.

“Do you like Chinese food?” He asked her but Sanver hoped that she would like it too because he was craving for Chinese food.

“I’m not sure, but I’m willing to try.” How would she know about Chinese food when she only had a serving of steamed fried rice from Dimsum when Niko treated her for lunch and that was like a year ago.

“Good. Common, let’s go.” He said and grabbed her hand to hold it as they walked towards the Chinese restaurant inside Rustans in Mango Square.

She was taken aback by his boldness she didn’t react when Sanver held her hands while they walked. It was like she was dating her boyfriend, and to be honest, she liked the feeling of having someone to hold her hand. They walked for about three minutes before they reached the restaurant and it was Sanver who ordered their food. They ate and enjoyed the meal and Catherine concluded that she loved Chinese food!

After he settled their bill, the waitress gave the change and receipt to Catherine and Sanver smiled. “She must have assumed that you’re my wife,” he said.

She was speechless as she accepted the receipt and the money from the waitress. Her heart almost skipped a beat when he told her that the waitress assumed that she was his wife. “Or maybe she assumed that I’m your assistant,” she countered and Sanver laughed out loud.

“I like your sense of humor, Kate. Even now, I can tell that this is not going to be our first and last meeting, what do you think?” He asked. Aside from her demurred beauty, he was interested to know her more.

“I’m not sure. You already know that I’m always busy with my studies,” she replied.

“How about tomorrow night? What time do you finish with your last subject?” Sanver was excited as he waited for her to answer.

“Six o’clock,” she answered.

“Perfect. I’ll see you at six tomorrow,” he said.

“Did I say yes already?” But of course, she would agree to their second meeting especially when Sanver was very eager to see her again. She felt like a princess from a fairytale story when a prince suddenly showed up to swept off her feet from the ground. Every minute she spent with him was never boring and she started to like him a little bit.

“Not yet, but I hope you will.” Sanver pressured Catherine to agree and he would be disappointed if she would never meet with him again.

“All right, wait for me at the back gate tomorrow.” Finally, she agreed and as she said those words, her heart palpitated so much that she started to worry.

“Thank you,” he said and checked the time on his wristwatch. “It’s still early to go home, want to go for a ride?” he asked.

Catherine assumed that the man must have a motorcycle or he wouldn’t invite her for a ride if they’re just going to take a cab or a jeepney. “I’m not sure if it’s a good idea,” she replied, but deep inside, she was excited.

“Common, Kate. I’m not a bad guy if you’re worried about your safety,” he understood if she would hesitate but he would love to take her somewhere nice and airy.

“Okay, but I need to be home before ten.” She told him while devising a lie that she could tell her uncle if ever he would ask why she was late in coming home.

“Sure, no problem.” Just like earlier, he held the young woman’s hand while they walked towards the parking lot of Century Plaza. “Our office is in this building, but it’s already closed by now.” He informed her and pointed a closed office on the second floor of the building.

“What are we doing here?” Catherine started to panic as they continued to walk towards a dark alley.

“Are you scared?” He asked.

“Yes,” she answered.

“You should be.”