The sun during the rain

It was in high school. i was riding a public transpo (jeepney) when rain came pouring like there’s no tomorrow. I had to go down because i arrived at my designated stop over but then as a poor neglected student I can’t afford umbrella. I can’t even afford the cheapest bread as snack. I was worried being drenched bc i had to walk to the other public transpo (tricycle). There were also no waiting sheds or stores to take roof from the rain...

As I was near the door, I hugged my bag to protect my school stuff and braced myself to dash when an arm blocked my way.

“Wait, you’ll get soaked,” a warm male voice said. He was one of the passengers who went down before me. “Let’s share umbrella.”

Shy, I hugged my bag tighter and muttered a tiny thank you. We walked to the tricycle stop with the rain getting stronger. Because I was so shy, I couldn’t look at his face properly. It’s not helping he is also quite tall. All I could see was his uniform that belonged to a private high end university.

He was quite the friendly talkative person. He would comment like how the rain is sooo mean for pouring down during the rush hour or worried whether the tricycles would be stuck at a flooded street. Bc of his warmth and his lively expressive voice, I couldn’t feel the cold nor hear the strong drops of rain. He then asked what tricycle I would take. I replied I was going to route C.

“awww... im going for route A...” He had a frowning voice but suddenly brightened exclaiming, “ Don’t worry, I’ll wait until you can ride the designated tricycle!”

I was like, “oh no, it’s okay. I have troubled you a lot already.” Bc tricycles going for my route is really rare.

But he insisted and said, “no, no, it’s really okay. There’s a lot of tricycles going for my route. It’s not like I need to arrive home immediately.”

“But it’s getting dark...”

“ Even more reason for me to stay. I can’t leave you in the dark cold rain-“

Just then a tricycle going for Route C arrived and stopped in-front of us.

“Ah there’s one! T-thank you so much for everything kuya! Really thank you!” (Kuya is similar to oppa)

I smiled and wave as I hurriedly rode the public transpo incase it gets full.

“No problem! Take care and arrive home safely okay.” He waved his hand.

In the end, we never knew each other’s names and we never met again. But he would always remain as one of the people I will never ever forget and i always pray that he will always have a good life.

When I became a university student, I was able to have extra money from scholarships and part times. I bought an umbrella that I always carried around. And during rainy or hot days, whenever I saw someone affected by the rain or sun, I always share my umbrella. Although I’m not much of a conversationalist like the guy who shared his umbrella with me.