For the six weeks that followed, Marco buried himself in his work. He went scuba diving on the two weekends he had both days off. He did this mainly because the thought of doing nothing for those two but staying home was not tenable. On one of these weekends, he did beach diving in Macatan with his dive group.
On his second full weekend, he tried something different. He went whale shark watching snorkeling off the coast of Oslob. The experience was absolutely amazing. They were huge and yet graceful and gentle. The whale sharks seemed to sense the snorklers’ presence and went out of their way to ensure they did not hurt any of them. However, this may have been sheer nonsense on Marco’s part. After all, they were just big dumb animals, right?
Marco knew he was being a little extravagant, but what was the point of life if you couldn’t enjoy yourself a little? One thing was sure: thanks to his diving and snorkeling activities, those two weekends went by much quicker.
One thing Marco was becoming painfully aware of was that his job was too sedentary. Therefore, if he didn’t want to get out of shape and start looking fat and dumpy, he was going to have to start working out. Unfortunately, with his scuba diving and new girlfriend, his budget did not allow him to join a gym. So this meant that he would have to resort to jogging after work and doing workouts at a local park. While the park didn’t have an adult exercise area, it did have a nice pool where he could swim some laps. This allowed him to vary his cardio workout, so he wouldn’t get bored just jogging.
The pool was quite popular with the local children, so he had to come early before he went to work to do his laps. After doing his laps, he toweled off, combed his hair, dressed in one of the public restrooms, and then took a bus to work. After a few weeks of his new routine, Marco noticed that his posture was improving and those love handles were going away. He also had more energy, and his demeanor was improving as well. One day at work, his boss even commented on the new Marco. Usually, being noticed by your boss was bad, but in this case, it was good.
Finally, the six weeks were over, and Marco purchased a ferry ticket to Bohol. To save money, Marco took the FastCat ferry, which was only $6.00 USD. He had a feeling that he would be making quite a few trips to Sitti’s place in Bohol for the foreseeable future. So every dollar he was able to save would help.
The ferry left Cebu Pier 3 Terminal and arrived at Tubigon, Bohol, in just two hours. Marco was able to take a pedicab to Talibon, where Sitti lived. She rented a studio CAP Apartment on Evangelista Street. The apartment was quite nice and came furnished with an open studio floor plan. Her apartment had a queen-sized bed, so he would sleep on the couch in the living room.
Marco had called before he left, so Sitti was expecting him when he knocked on her front door. What surprised Marco was the way he was greeted. When she opened the door, she jumped into his arms, wrapped her legs around his waist, and hungrily kissed him. Well, Marco thought, I won’t be sleeping on the couch after all. He next knew they were stripping off their clothes as they made a beeline for the bed. Marco thought to himself that she missed him as much as he missed her. They spent the next two hours making love one time after another. Just when he thought he would get a break, she started in on him again. Marco thought it was a damn good thing that he had been working out, otherwise she would have killed him. Finally, Sitti was satisfied, and she gave him a sweet kiss on the lips. Then, she got up and padded naked to her bathroom to get cleaned up. Marco, ever the gentleman, went to the bathroom to see if she needed any help, wink wink. They were soon making love in the shower.
When they finished and got dressed for real this time, Sitti asked Marco if he wanted to go out and get a bite to eat. Marco nodded yes and said, “I am starved.” She smiled and said that he would need all the energy he could get, because they had a lot of making up to do. Marco exaggeratedly groaned and gave her a cheesy grin as they walked out the door. They took a short pedicab ride to the Ngaon Ta Bistro X Cafe, where they had a hearty lunch.
Since time was precious for them, they decided to do a little sightseeing before returning to Sitti’s apartment for round two, or was it round three of their extracurricular activities? Since Bohol was famous for its Chocolate Hills, they decided to visit them first. When Marco returned for his next visit, they could tour other parts of Bohol. They both agreed there was no rush because they sensed their relationship was for the long haul.
Because the Chocolate Hills were some distance from her apartment, they took a regular and more comfortable cab for the ride.
Chocolate Hills, Bohol
The Chocolate Hills (or Tsokolateng Burol) are an unusual geological structure consisting of a group of nearly identically shaped cone-shaped hills. At least 1,200 of them cover more than 20 square miles. They are made of limestone and covered with grass. They range in height from 30 meters to 120 meters. According to popular myth, these Chocolate Hills were formed when two gigantic rivals decided to settle their differences with a sand and stone brawl. They were at loggerheads, but they became fast friends after they crashed. They began having such a fantastic time with one another that they neglected to clean up their mess, leading to the formation of the Chocolate Hills we see today.
Frankly, after you spent a few moments walking around one of these hills, there was little else to do there. Besides, Chocolate Hills was best enjoyed from an elevated vista. After spending a little over an hour in the hills, they decided to wrap up the day by grabbing some takeout food that they could eat back at Sitti’s apartment. Marco and Sitti spent the rest of the afternoon and evening in the “au naturale,” if you know what I mean. Thanks to the extreme nature of their time spent together, they called it an early night. The next day, they took things a little slower and spent time getting to know each other better. During their conversation, Marco brought up the subject of their next meeting. Sitti thought six weeks was too long to wait before they saw each other again. So Marco and Sitti agreed that four weeks was a more manageable time. Because Marco still had to take the ferry back home, they decided to wrap up their first visit just after an early lunch, finishing off the leftovers from the previous night. After they cleaned up the dirty dishes from their lunch, Marco reluctantly said his goodbyes. Of course, the goodbye included a very long and sensual kiss.
While depressing, the ferry ride back to Cebu was uneventful. During the two-hour ride, Marco kept revisiting their time together. He knew that he was already falling in love with Sitti. However, he was not stupid and decided that telling her how he felt this soon was a surefire way to ruin their relationship. He thought four weeks were a little shorter than six, but it was still too long to go without seeing Sitti. There, however, was a very practical and somewhat mundane reason for the longer-than-normal length of time between their visits. It simply was that neither one of them was exactly flush with cash. While Marco and Sitti were living comfortably, thanks to the low salaries in the Philippines, money was tight. Marco was distinctly aware that if their relationship were ever going to progress to something more than friends with benefits, one would have to move. Of course, it was much too early to be discussing this matter. The best thing for Marco to do was to enjoy every moment together to the fullest.
While it is enjoyable to spend time exploring Marco and Sitti’s growing love for each other, we can’t let our narrative become too bogged down with these details. After all, Marco’s role in this work of fiction is that of a victim and not a hero, so there isn’t any point in spending countless chapters covering their life together. So, not to be too callous and abrupt in my treatment of their relationship, suffice it to say that their love for each other continued to grow until finally Marco thought it appropriate to ask her to marry him. Of course, Marco had followed all the formal familial protocols. He had dinner with Sitti’s parents, Carmelita Dafrosa Santos and Antonio Jomari Santos, and had asked Sitti’s father, Antonio, for permission to marry his daughter. Carmelita and Antonio thought Marco was a wonderful young man, so it was just a formality when he asked for permission to marry Sitti.
After Marco decided to ask for Sitti’s hand in marriage, he called his father Lorenzo in Italy with his plans. Of course, His father was overjoyed by the news. He told Marco that as soon as he had a firm time for the wedding, he needed to let him know ASAP, so that he could get time off from work and buy plane tickets.
I want to add that neither Marco nor Sitti had moved from their current locations during this courtship.