About three years ago, J and I were talking about my good friend, K. He is a playboy, never takes girls seriously and is so unlikely to fall in love. Like you know, drop-dead, head-over-heels, true-to-the-cheese kind love.

Three years after the talk, K is happily, truly and madly in love with his girlfriend for one unbelievable year already. He left his playboy and “friendly” lifestyle to a place where nobody can find. The relationship is more of a rocky road than bed of roses, if you’d ask me. But my friend is nevertheless contented and happy with what they have. And I was like, “Damn it. No doubt he’s really in love.”

I had to watch A Walk To Remember after that realization dawned on me. And after finishing the movie.. all I can say is.. “Mainlove nalang lahat ng pwedeng mainlove. Pero hindi talaga totoo si Landon Carter.”

It’s one thing to watch these kinds of movies and like them. Hey I’m a sucker for romantic stories, too. But! It’s a different and scary thing if you get obsessed with these love stories and want them for yourselves, too. These are orchestrated stories with perfect characters designed to catch the audience’s hearts. While the ones we meet out there are real, imperfect people who will give us flawed, yet real stories that we can call our own. If there’s one thing that Engineering has taught me, it’s this: The ideal does not exist in reality. 

Let’s leave Landon Carter, Mr.Darcy and all the other perfect characters to where they should be – in books and movies.

As for my promise with my friend J three years ago... Well.. I’ll just assume our conversation never happened. ;-)