Vigilance (which spells p-a-r-a-n-o-i-a) Ruins Romance

One of my favorite independent short film/video makers, Wong Fu Productions, once made a series of short flicks entitled “Technology Ruins Romance”. The story lines of the flicks are actually funny with a tinge of sarcasm, but very true all the same---tackling several possibilities (and realities) of how technology, yes, ruins romance.

I have my own version of that, in real life though. I’ll not label this personal anecdote as “Technology Ruins Romance”. Probably, it could be any of the following----“Realism Overdose Ruins Romance”, “Vigilance Ruins Romance”, or most probably, “Being-a-close to-jaded-twenty-something-single-in-the-present-times Ruins Romance”. Here’s why:

Last October 15 of last year, while I was catching my flight from Manila to Bangkok, in the middle of the hustle and bustle of the airport which could actually be a perfect setting for any movies and novels about mushy love stories, serendipity, and random-strangers-ending-up-together, it dawned on me that those movie and novel plots are close to impossible in the present times and with the current way of thinking of people. Well, people like me to be exact. 

After the SOP scanning of hand-carry baggages and other personal stuffs, I hurriedly sat on a nearby bench while carrying my sandals on my left hand and my overnighter bag on the other. While I was busy strapping my sandals on, I saw from my peripheral vision that a person sat next to me. And from my position, I could see that he was also putting his shoes on. When I was almost done putting the buckle of the sandal on my right foot, I heard the man saying in a low voice, “Uhm, excuse me Miss.” 

Now, before I continue, let me tell you that I have this weird fixation on certain kinds of voices---that when I heard the voice of that stranger (Oh di ‘ba parang romance novel lang? *cringe* Ahahaha!), I momentarily stopped what I was doing (While mutely saying, “wow”.) to look at him and made sure that it was actually me that he was talking to. When I threw him a polite but at the same time an i-don’t-know-you-are-you-talking-to-me? glance, I realized that it was actually me that he was talking to since nobody was at close proximity from where we were at that particular moment, unless that stranger of a man was of the delusional kind (Ahahaha!). Since I can be a keen observer if I really will myself to, I estimated that he was about in his late 20’s or early 30’s, the clean-cut type (The ones who are brought home by female lead characters in movies, and then they turn out to be psycho-murderers. See how morbid I can be?). He had his glasses on and he was wearing a polo and well-fitted pair of jeans. And, from my previous  position when I was buckling my sandals, I noticed that his shoes were actually polished. In short, the man was okay. Alright, he was above okay. So, I politely replied, “Yes?”

What he said next exceeded my concept of “weird comment from a stranger”. Much more a stranger who was a man. He then said, “Nice sandals.”

Nice sandals? Of all the random things to hear from a stranger/man!

Now, if that was a movie, that would have been a cute start of the pa-tweetums scenes. If it was a scene from a movie, the female character (that was me) would have made a witty reply then walked away only to find out that they have to sit next to each other on the plane and that would have been the start of their romantic and clichéd love story.

Moreover, if it was a chapter in a novel, the guy would have asked the girl for coffee while waiting for their own flights. Then, they would separate ways and by some twist of fate or you may call it serendipity, they would meet again. The man would then pursue the girl however, there will be some complications like distance, or a past relationship with no formal closure, on either party that would add drama to their courtship and budding romance. But in the end, they would realize that they love each other too much to let those problems stop them from being together.

However, that was in real life---a life in which I was raised as not to talk to strangers, even how unsuspecting they might be. It happened at a time, when everywhere you go, you have to religiously follow one reminder: Be vigilant.

That’s a little bit sad, albeit harsh. But that’s reality.

So the moment he asked me, a train of thoughts raced through my mind: “What if this man is actually a psycho who targets his victims in airports?”, “What if he would quietly slip a packet of drugs on my bag while I was talking to him?”, “What if he is gay who actually designs shoes? For what straight man would actually notice a lady’s sandals on a random, first encounter?” 

So since this is real life, I smiled and simply replied, “Thank you.” and then walked away. End of story.

Now, I know that airport romances have slim chances of having to actually happen (at least for me)---and to think that I was pining for just that kind of story. Oh snap! #