"We were text-mates before and fellow Supreme Student Government Officers. We met and parted at the Summer Capital of the Philippines. Now, there's only one thing that can make her recall about that Tender August Night."

The cool winds gushed outside the window pane. Everybody was asleep. It is past midnight and I felt another day is dawning. Cold vapor would come out of my nose and mouth every time I breathed out the coldness that enveloped me. But the coldness didn't make me go inside the house for warmth; instead it kept me awake as I held the bracelet made by the girl who gave it to me. Then I suddenly recalled that fateful event. It was when I was at Baguio City where I met a girl by the name of Katharine.

We were text-mates before but meeting her in person infatuates me. From head down to the heels, the look on her eyes, her radiant face, the raven-black hair that is beautiful upon her cheeks and falling along her neck like jewels, are like the works of an artist. She is one in ten thousand. I even wished her eyes to turn away from me; they are holding me captive. The look in her eyes has stolen my heart. Her lips is like a scarlet ribbon and her cheeks glowed like the waters reflected by the Luna on a midnight sky on a springtime. But I know that I would just end up broken-hearted when I will go and court her. There could have been many many handsome and wealthy youths out there falling in line for this maiden's answer.

It was on the month of August when we had our Leadership Training and Seminar at Baguio. Yet I couldn't feel the essence of that seminar because my mind was on the seminar while my pierced heart was on Katharine. It's like a thousand arrows of Cupid pouncing in on me. It even severed whenever we got bonded during group activities. And thus, my mind, which was supposedly at the top, was succeeded by the beating of thy heart and I fell for her. I was like a pilot that crashed and burned on her exotic beauty. Women does have a way of complicating things; every time my ever-watchful eyes cannot spot that girl that captivated me, I couldn't think, I couldn't even sleep, however I wanted to. My mind was juggled with thoughts about her.

The pressure conquered my heart, soul and mind. In order to relieve this, I told my closest friends about the feelings that haunted me deeply. At first, they just laughed at me. But the desperate looks of me pushed them into getting involved of the story – they would help me, they promised.

It was evening of August 16 when my emotions gave in. Confidence is my only companion for that would-be most unforgettable moment. Whatever may happen could change my life totally. It was a romantic evening that made my soul faint and shivering. It will be a perfect night that I have been waiting all these times so I can say the words I kept tightly in my hands.

Our evening activity finally ended and our leaders let us bond with friends first before going to our respective quarters for rest. We formed groups of five and six. I stayed on my own place, right beneath the shade of sturdy pine trees that thrive only at cold climates. I sat by the campfire that we made during our last activity. Its flames gave warmth to my body but the heat only eased my coldness when my eyes spotted her on a distance walking with her friend. They both joined me at my area and we talked about our activity where I was a part of their team.

Her eyes and her cute dimples caught me off guard. I stared at her smiling at me and suddenly my heart beat twice as fast. It is hard to have an eye to eye contact that time but seeing her brown eyes reflected by the light of the fire staring at me with her irresistible killer smile caught my attention. I cannot describe what I felt there, except for one thing: for sure, my once broken-heart steered me again into entering the Kingdom of Love for the second time.

My friends then came and helped me when they took Katharine's friend out of the scene so I can have a private moment with her, the girl who shook my world alone. Entering into a more personal conversation is the difficult part. My deep emotions about her enticed me to sit beside her and still I grew pale. My body was not yet ready to obey my heart's desire. I looked at her eyes, bright and unreadable as I began expressing out the pressures that beat my heart fast. I told her everything how I felt from a friendly love of being text-mates to the very root of Love itself.

She was somehow astonished by my words, maybe too foolish or corny but firm and concise – all straight from the bottom of my beating heart. She suddenly turned her gaze towards me and stared at me, silenced though by her astonished feelings. There was an unmistakable twinkle in her eyes coupled with a strange sensation I couldn't define.

The flame of the campfire increased its intensity like my heart burning with passion. She then told me of her experiences on this very delicate form of a relationship. I then felt Armageddon came – bringing the end of my world when I heard her speak of her first love that never died in her heart.

"Shall you continue being with him then?" I asked. She paused for a moment, maybe pulling back from her statement or a feel of keeping me wait longer.

"Oh, I don't think so. It would be very nice, of course, to be the girl of a famous MVP. But I've known him all my life, and there are so many men in the world... I feel sure someone more dashing and rare is waiting for me somewhere," she answered.

I was bombarded by her words. I never thought that she is still waiting for someone different, someone new. I then pointed to her the tiny crystals of the midnight sky.

"Look at the stars. They are like your eyes that twinkle every time I watch the sky on the solitary moments of my life. Times like this, I just can't stop staring at you. And the coldness is making me in need of your heart-warming hug..." and I then said those three precious words at last.

What happened next was the most unexpected and unforgettable episode in my life. After sixteen years of ups and downs, I have finally found Love himself. She offered her jacket to me because my body had finally surrendered to the cold temperature. We shared that coat and I could feel that her touch is really the answer to my problem. She laid her head on my shoulders as she spoke to me that she also found what she's been looking for, after all these years. I stretched out my pale hands to the heat of the campfire. She then held mine and we locked fingers, in a most romantic episode of my life.

My friends then arrived bringing a laptop. They then played the song "The Gift". I was happy as I saw her eyes looking at the campfire of Love. The coldness of the Zephyr Winds were replaced by warmth of Eros and I felt that I'm the happiest of all those who were at Baguio City.

After a week at that wonderful training, the book has finally closed that chapter of my life at Bagiuo. I would dearly miss that wonderful place, the new friends I made, and of course, the girl of my dreams, Katharine. But before we took leave of each other, after I shook hands with the others, her tender arms slipped by mine.

"I'll come with you part of the way and say my goodbyes in private," she told me. We then walked together through the shade of pine trees acting like a wall that covered us from the rest. I held her tightly as if I won't let her go anymore.

"Will you miss me then?" she asked.

"Yes, I shall miss you." I answered with sadness in my voice and eyes.

She squeezed my arm as we strolled along the green walk to the wicket gate leading out to the vehicles which we used to get here at the camp. She then said, "This is where we must say goodbye."

I then held out my hand, surrendering my love for her. For how can I continue this unforgettable relationship when she lives at Manila and I'm at Cebu?

"Oh, don't be silly!" she exclaimed that made me stop with wonder. "I didn't walk with you all this way just to shake hands. I could have done that back at the quarters," she continued. I paused for a moment.

"Yes. Well. Why didn't you?" I asked.

Her words struck me terribly when she said, "Because I want you to kiss me, of course."

I looked at her, so beautiful and irresistible. She was frankly provocative as I was half-holding back. My feelings stormed around me, all difficult to determine. She then came close to me, and I felt that this is it. Is this true? Or am I just dreaming? My arms then went around her. My veins are collapsing. When her honeyed-lips touched mine, well, there's no way of holding back. My body became unstable when I felt her gentle mouth, firm and not teasing.

She drew back at last. We were both breathless and flushed.

"You're the first one I've kissed, in that particularly way, I mean," she said. At first the astonishment within me kept me speechless.

"I doubt if I shall be the last. In fact, by the time you get back to Manila, I shall probably be one of many."

She just smiled, again, showing her angelic face that could launch a thousand ships. "So that's what you think of me? Does that mean anything to you?"

"Decide what it means to you. And by that, you'll know what it means to me."

She thought deep of it and smiled, her eyes sparkling like the stars I showed to her on that one tender August night. She then gave me a hand-made bracelet, accompanied with her farewell words, "This bracelet was made by me when I was fourth year high for our Home Economics class. Keep it, until we meet again. Now this is really a goodbye." And with the last vivid blue glance, she hurriedly went to her vehicle bound for Manila, as I went to mine.

I wore that bracelet then as our vehicle sped down the mountain as my friends again played the song "The Gift". I swore to myself that I will find her after I graduate college, show her the bracelet of our unforgettable memories and then ask for her hand in marriage. I will have to be faithful to her and trust her even though we cannot see each other for four years, but I'll try. The bracelet will be the key to an unforgettable memory, the Gift...

To be continued...