Dear friends and visitors, human beings are social animals. Thus, many psychologists say. Many sociologists are also of the same opinion. That means, human beings are bound to interact each other. So far, no one can survive without the help of others. Everyone is always depending on others. Even Tarzan also needs other apes to grow up.  

Every human being needs another human being. A baby needs parents. It is not only for growth, but also for love. A baby needs love, parental love. Parents need children too, though not all. They need children for love, for survival, for continuation of their generation, their family.

Man needs woman. Woman also needs man. It is not only for love. It is not only to fulfill man’s or woman’s emotional needs. It is for many things. Yes, for many things. When you examine your own life, you will know how much the meaning of a man or a woman to you.

You will understand that a man or a woman play an important role in you life. You just cannot skip your life from a man, from a woman. You feel your life is imperfect without a man. And, you feel your life is not complete without a woman.

**********

I am not a being from the moon. I am not from Jupiter. I am not from any other planets either. I am just an ordinary man, from this very Earth. I am also not different from other social animals. I am same as million people, living in this earth.

I needed my parents for the growth. I need friends to always become a sociable person. Without parents, I cannot grow up. Without friends, I will be staying in cave of loneliness. Beside that, I need a woman too. What for? Of course, for many things. And, it is not only for a simple thing. It is for physiological needs. It is for psychological needs too. I need for both. I need for all.

**********

During my life, I met many women from many countries. The number may be thousand, or perhaps million. I spoke to them. I became their friend. I got intimate with them. Some were in love with me. But, I was still wishing to stay alone, without any burden.

I did not want live in a serious relationship. Simply, I wanted to live freely. I wanted to be free like a bird, flying anywhere as the wind blew. I wanted to go anywhere without thinking, “I have a girlfriend” or “I have a wife”. Just, simply free.

**********

But, how long can I maintain to be a single? How long can I survive free, without a woman, without a girlfriend? Alas! My fortress broke down. I could not maintain it anymore. I lost my status, status as a single. I lost it when I was, two days more, twenty six years old. I lost it on July 23^rd, 2007.

Who was the girl who broke down my fortress? Who did the first person who enjoyed my status of being a single? She was Charim A. Sultones. Yes, Charim A. Sultones daughter of Mr. Francisco Sultones and Mrs. Urdanita Sultones.

I am sure her mother lived in Muntai, Kolambugan, Lanao Del Norte, Philippines. I do not know where her father was. I, frankly, still have doubt about him. I will explain it in the Chapter of “Letters”.

**********

We started our relationship on July 23^rd, 2007. It was on Monday. We started it at about 8:00 p.m. Philippines’ time.

I did not know it was an auspicious time or not. I did not know, it will bring happiness or utterly suffering. What I knew was, I started a new way of life.

I started something that I never knew before. I should see this world from a different perspective, a perspective of a lover. I had to live this life as a different person. I had to live as a boyfriend, boyfriend of Charim A. Sultones.

I had changed my status, from a single to a boyfriend, from a free-man to a lover, a lover of Charim A. Sultones.

This story will reveal my romantic story, my romantic story with Charim A. Sultones, a Filipina.

**********

Mostly, my friends knew, I had a relationship with Charim. I was proud of being her boyfriend, at that time. “Are you single?” my friends often asked. “No,” I replied. “I have a girlfriend.” And I continued, “Do you want to see her?” “Of course” my friends answer enthusiastically. I showed her photos. I showed them the address of her Friendster’s account.

I did not think that Charim’s friends knew if she was in a relationship. She set up her status as single. Most of comments showed, her friends were wondering. They wondered if she was in a relationship, with whom. Once I asked, “Do you tell to your friends if you were in a relationship?” Her answer was negative.

**********

In this story, I will try my best to reveal everything. I will reveal whatever connected to our relationship. I try my best to write based on reality. I will try my best not to deviate from the facts, the facts that we had. What we had, that is what I am going to write.

I will write with dignity and honesty. With confidence, I tell this story. I am not nervous. I am not afraid either. To me, as long as I am in the correct path, I am not afraid. As long as there is firm ground, I will not afraid to run. I am not afraid to encounter the death on the way.

Firm ground, strong foundation, that is what I need. Good stamina, that is what I need. If I have what I need, just open the eyes and run, run as much I can; run and run to the final destination. My destination is only one: To write my first romantic story. It is the first romantic story in the history of my life. 

**********

I will star my story from beginning of 2007. It was several months before the commencement of our relationship. The beginning of the story would be purely my life. I tell this because I want to prepare the background, the background of my life. This is my style. That is my way when I am writing.

If it is an academic writing, I will start from introduction and definition. I also do not forget to quote historical background. They are important as much the main point. When I have them on my first hand, I will be easily to develop plot. The plot will flow continuously one after the other. That is my way, my style.

After writing the background of my life, then I will continue to write about our short friendship. The struggle for love should not be forgotten. It is in the chapter five.

Relationship is putting two persons in one box. Two personalities should be joined together. In the next chapter, I will tell you about our personalities. It is more or less a comparison of our personalities. Finishing it, we will move slowly, yet to a certain direction. I will write various topics regarding our relationship. It will be about chatting, e-mail, letter, sms, tears, jealousy, call, comment and more.

**********

Frankly, I do not know how to arrange chapter properly. I do not know which one I should put as earlier chapter, which one should be latter. I do not know which one is more important, and which one is less significant.

I just hope, yes it is only a hope, I put them properly. I hope, they are in the proper order. If they are not, it is your duty to put them in a proper order. Do not be shy to criticize me. Do not hesitate to send any corrections. I value them. And, I appreciate what you do for the betterment of this writing.

**********

During our relationship, we exchanged e-mail. I sent sms continuously and Charim replied occasionally. I try to maintain them in their original forms. However, I will modify them, sometimes, for the sake of grammar. I have changed spelling too. By doing so, I really hope, the e-mail and sms can be understood by all. To Charim, visitor and reader, please forgive me for that, if you can, indeed.

I called Charim at the morning, and at the evening too occasionally. We chatted through Yahoo Messenger at the evening. I sent letter several times to Charim. I do not have any records when I called. I do not have any archives of our chatting. And, I have no any copies of my letters. For them, I just write that I can remember.

Whatever comes to my mind, whatever prevails in my memory, I will write them. I will not force myself to remember them. No one to hypnotize me either. If I have bad memory, if I cannot remember my words properly, if I cannot quote Charim’s words exactly, I apologize for my shortcoming. 

**********

 This is romantic story of a girl and a boy. They are of different culture, different nationality: Cross-Cultural-Relationship. Charim is a Filipina. Currently, I am living in Sri Lanka.

In my cultural context, we are not supposed to call our elder directly their name. We are supposed to call them “Brother”, “Sister”, “Sir”, “Madam” and the like. Likewise to loved ones, it is also the same. We are not supposed to call them their names, instead “Dear”.

Since I knew Charim, I never called her name directly. I called her “Dear”. It is just like when I call my friends in Friendster, Tagged and others. Even until now, even after the breaking up of our relationship, I never address her name directly. I still call her “Dear”. Such word contains love or not, such word seems friendly or not, it is not my concern. My concern is cultural context. I still love my culture, my tradition.

Once, I sent sms to Charim. I told her, I will call her name directly only when I am so angry. So, I asked her to keep in the mind: It is only when I am so angry, cannot control my head anymore, cannot restrain my emotional anymore.

In writing this story, a first ever romantic story in my life, I call Charim’s name directly. It is Charim to represent Charim A. Sultones. No one else. It is Charim A. Sultones, the daughter of Mr. Francisco Sultones and Mrs. Urdanita Sultones of Muntai, Kolambugan, Lanao Del Norte, Philippines.

Although I address Charim’s name directly, although I do not call her “Dear”, in this writing, I am not really angry. My head is not burning yet. My head is still cool. I still do not need freezer. Moreover firemen, I do not need them at all.

I write her name directly, it is because for convenience of readers. It is for the easy understanding, for the sake of readers. It is not for me. It is not for Charim. Instead, it is for readers only. Yes, readers only.

**********

In nineteenth century, there was a religious debate. It was a religious debate between Christian and Buddhist. Christian missionaries ridiculed Buddhism too much. Buddhists came up.

They challenged Christian missionaries to have an open debate, a face-to-face debate in the present of public. The result of the debate was published in a newspaper. Both parties were invited to revise their speech. They were welcome to edit their words and the mistakes of other.

It is not different from that religious debate. In writing this article, I also invite Charim to revise what I write. If she finds any story different from reality, if she finds, it is different from our real romantic story, she is welcome to edit it. But it must be with one condition, just one condition, no more and no less.

The condition is, everything must be in line. Everything must be according to history, the facts that we had shared together, the facts that really happened. If it is fiction, I will not accept it. If it deviates from the truth, I will reject it.

**********

"If you can hide, I can reveal. If you can lie, I can be honest to the world. This is fight for legacy and dignity." This is the theme of this romantic story. You might ask, the readers might question, the visitors might be wondering, why I choose such theme.

Of course, I have reason and enough reason, why I choose it as the theme of my writing. So far, she hides our relationship. So far, she does not tell to her friends about our relationship. But, much more important than that, is "If you can lie, I can be honest to the world." She lied to me. I will explain throughout the story about it.

**********

So, now I ask your kind permission to start my romantic story. It is my first romantic story. It really happened, and not merely fiction. I tell the truth and not utterly nonsense. Here is the story goes.

[ Next Page >> ]