Never in my life imagined that I will marry at the age of 22. What I know was to have a stable job first and stable life before having a commitment. I wanted to return the favor to my parents. But it went the other way around. Still, I'm okay and no regrets. I'm happy. I thought that my parents will get angry but no. They told me to carry on and get married. No opposition. As long as I have no regrets and I'm happy, they're happy also. I'm an adult so I know what I'm doing, they said.
I was babysitting my nephew back on 2018. My friend told me to go home and attend their barangay's fiest. I told her I can't because I should complete the whole one month to babysit. "When you prepare your store, that's the time I will come." We agreed and waited for the time to come. Our guy friend texted me and jokingly said that, "Umali ka ya ta dakayo nan bouncer kan Bani wen. Amid tay dadakorag nan awak yo." (You should come home so that you and Bani will become our bouncer because you have big and bulky bodies). We laughed and said yes. After a month, we went home as planned. She told me to visit the next day and help. So I went the next day. They started early. I was there around 10 am. When I went there, I saw a familiar face.
Ah, he's the "Bani" my guy friend was talking about. I've seen him when we're still young. And saw him again as an adult. He's a year younger than me. When I met him again, it's not obvious that he's younger. He grew up as one fine man. He's handsome, I thought. Had a bulky body back then. He was making a chair when I went to my friend's store. They're preparing the things needed to open up a business. A store and a karaoke room. He just glanced at me when I entered. No interest.
I helped my friends paint the wall. Wow, pink and blue. White ceiling with egg trays so that the sound will not be heard outside. It took 4 days to complete the task. Of course, we have gatherings every night after the work's done. I started to have feelings for him. I always look at him. Finding him if he's not around. He'll never have feelings for me, I told myself. Days went by and my feelings getting stronger. We go for picnics and jammings together that time. Until one day, when we all went home, he texted me. He told me to go to our friend's store. "I don't have someone to go with. It's night time and scared." After few minutes, he told me that he's on the road waiting for me. He came to fetch me. From that time on, we started to have mutual feelings until we became boyfriend/ girlfriend.
I came back to the city and he followed after a few days when his cousin got married. We reunited after two weeks again. His family, relatives and friends have known about our relationship. Mine as well. Our close friends told us that we met each other because of their business. They always tease us. We continued oyr relationship until his grandfather told us to get married. His aunt called me when I was at work and told me that her sister will call me. I had that unusual feeling about it. My heart started to pound fast. Then the call came. I answered and she told me that I need to vacant my schedule so that we will go home and get married.
I blacked out that time. I don't know what to say. Bani will be the one to talk to them. So I waited for him and went to his aunt's house together. He called his grandpa and they talked. He rejected his grandpa's request. "At uway kami ya ivaga mi nu in asawa kami." (We will decide when will we get married.) I thought that it's the end of discussion. No more arguments. The next day, his father came and talked to us. He convinced us again but we said no. His aunt came again. We were both called and they talked to us. I was just quiet and Bani still said no. They can't convince him so they stopped.
From that moment on, we lived together. It was in his aunt's house. We rented the second floor. Months passed and we decided to get married. But first, we bought land where we will put up our house. I called my parents and told them about our plan. They agreed so I went home first and made a reservation to mayor. There's this "karang" that we call. It's like engagement party. It happened last April 25, 2019. It's feeding the community with "wat-wat" or meat of the pig and carabao.We're officially husband and wife on May 8, 2019.
We got married last December 2019. "Ini-ili kasar" or marriage that plays gong and dancing. We planned to have our church wedding on May 2020. But because of this pandemic, it was cancelled. No plan B yet.
That's how we got married. I hope we will have offsprings now.
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