Txt Luvin U

And then there's this true story about my friend who got dumped by his girlfriend because of texting ... well, partly because of texting. The other part was because he was an a**hole (his word, not mine).

This is a true story. The identities of the characters have been hidden to protect them from further embarassment.

Itago nalang natin siya sa pangalang Malutong. Malutong is a good old friend from high school. Malutong told me this story over a couple of brown bottles when we were both heart-broken a few years back.

Malutong had a girlfriend from college. Let's call her ... "Girlfriend" (creative, huh?). Malutong ang Girlfriend were college sweethearts. Theirs was a perfectly imperfect love bred under the acacia trees and cold halls of the campus corridors.

After college, Girlfriend went to the US for work. Malutong and Girlfriend continued to communicate through e-mail, Yahoo chat, chikka and (when their budgets allowed) SMS or overseas phone calls.

They had survived for a few months this way - a long-distance relationship. Of course they didn't get the kilig moments of physically being together.

That's where Malutong's textmate came in. Let's call her ... "Textmate" (I love it when I oooooze with creative juices!).

Malutong and Textmate started exchanging SMS messages. Soon thereafter, (I don't know how long) they started getting txt-intimate, sending sweet nothings and romantic messages -- the type with text "graphics". Yes, this was the era when a text teddy bear was still cute. The Text-relationship ensued.

Malutong knew that this text relationship with Textmate wasn't going to be anything like his real relationship with Girlfriend. But hey ... he got away with cheating in high school, lalo pa ngayon when the cat is away!

EB = Eat Bulaga

Then, one day Malutong and Textmate agreed to finally meet. An EyeBall (EB) to connect the face with the crummy messages.

Malutong was waiting at a restaurant - their rendezvous point. His palms were sweaty with anticipation. His heart was beating fast. Questions run through his mind ...

What does she look like?
Does she look like a text-teddy bear?
Will she like me?
Does my barong tagalog look bagay with my mojo sandals?
Will Girlfriend (who's in the US sweating it out to earn a living) ever find out?
What if Girlfriend calls while I'm in the middle of a kiss with Textmate?

And many other simalar life-changing questions relevant to the global economy.

And then Textmate came ...
And Malutong was awestruck!
Malutong couldn't believe his eyes!
Textmate took a seat across Malutong.
Malutong was speechless.
Then everything came crumbling down when Malutong realized:

He's been caught in a Text Entrapment!

Girlfriend was in the Philippines for a few weeks now.
And she has been texting Malutong in the guise of Textmate.

Yari ka, Malutong ka!

Epilogue

They had dinner, alright. It was civil. No jagged knives thrown, no plates broken, just hearts swollen and hearts broken.

Malutong had no excuse. He was wrong.

That was their first and last EB.

Was Girlfriend right? Was she wrong? Does it matter?

Edong Steele

Read: Gulan-TXT, Tech gets in the way