Having Dante as a friend was an added joy in my life. All my other girl friends were curious about him and asked me who this stranger was. They expressed interest in him and wanted me to introduce him to them. It was then I realized that I was not the only one who find simple looks alluring. I must admit that although Dante appeared to be very ordinary, there is nothing usual about him at all. Other than being a little quiet at times, he was really a gentle person in nature.

When he was around girls, he was gallant and charismatic. Of course it helped that he always held his head high which displayed his self-confidence and pride.

I tried to do as my girl friends wanted and introduced them to him. He always regarded them with a tolerant smile and somewhat quiet amusement. Most of the time I could not figure out what he was thinking and when I asked him about his attitude towards my friends he would say that he was being polite, but he find their obsession in him a little overwhelming.

I teased him and remarked that perhaps they were jealous of me. To my surprise, he looked startled at my comment and a little worried.

I realized that I had been too forward and tried to explain that I was joking. He looked a little relieved after that and I sighed inwardly with disappointment. Perhaps he was only interested in me as a platonic friend.

Slowly, as Dante and I became closer, we learned more about each other. We would sometimes walk together in the campus and talked about our dreams and ambition. Well, I was the one doing most of the talking anyway. He would always listen quietly and put in a comment or two when I asked for it. He told me about his family in the states and sometimes about his friends back in high school. But when I tried to ask him further about his girlfriends, or if he had anyone waiting for him back home, he would shut himself away and refused to say anything about it.

I respected his decision and did not press for more details. I sensed a quiet hurt in him but I could not understand what it was that caused his reluctance in sharing his secrets with me. I guessed perhaps he had been deeply hurt by his ex-girlfriend in some way and was still healing from the wound. After sometime I decided that he would tell me if and when he was ready.

You know what they say about single girls being seen together with single boys more than once. Sometimes I wonder which idiot declared that if a girl were to be seen in a boy's company for more than once, there has to be some sort of a relationship going on. I was blissfully unaware of the rumors behind my back regarding my relationship with Dante. Until one of my closer girlfriends, Ivy told me about it.It happened one day when I was going home.

Ivy stopped me when I was leaving the lecture theatre after 2 hours of confusing lecture on the operating system. My mind was still spinning with doubts about scheduling and concurrency when Ivy suddenly appeared in front of me.

"Brenda, I have something that I want to talk to you about. Do you have some time?"

Dazed, I stared at Ivy blankly and it was quite some time before I understood that Ivy was asking me a question.

"Sure, what do you want to talk about?" I tried to drink some water so that I would be fully awake.

"It's about Dante. Is he your boyfriend?"

I choked and Ivy had to spend 5 minutes trying to help me restore my breathing system.

"I don't know who or what gave you that idea, Ivy, but you are absolutely wrong." I blurt out when I could finally breathe without coughing.

"Well, I'm glad to hear that, because I see you hanging around him quite often and I can't help being worried for you, knowing what kind of a person Dante is."

I stared at Ivy warily, wondering what she meant by that comment. Before I could clarify about her strange remark, Dante strolled up to us.

"Hello, Ivy, haven't seen you in a while." Dante flashed his usual stunning smile at Ivy, who didn't seem to notice his smile.

"Hi, I haven't seen you for sometime too."

Ivy turned to me and said, "I guess I'll talk to you some other time, Brenda. Take care."

With that she turned and walked away.

I was totally bewildered by her behavior. For one thing, Ivy never tells me to take care. Not when we see each other everyday.

I was still rather disturbed by her comment about Dante when he spoke suddenly.

"Something troubling you, Brenda? You looked like you have a lot on your mind."

I blinked at Dante and shook my head. Ivy's words didn't make sense and until I get her to explain what she meant, I was not going to confront Dante and asked him to explain her words.

"Are you free? I have something that I wanted to show you." Dante seemed quite excited about something. As this was the first time I've seen him losing his composure about something, I nodded even though what I really wanted to do was to go home and visit Joey, whom I have not seen in weeks.

Dante led me to his room in the hall. I was quite surprised that I could easily get in without being stopped by anyone. Dante explained that the security in the hall was actually quite loose and that anyone could simply walk into the campus and loiter around the hostels.

I was quite apprehensive about visiting the hostel. Feeling like an intruder, I was nervous about being caught by the hall master. Dante reassured me that it was okay to go room visiting. He led me to his room, which was on the fourth and also the uppermost floor.

"Look what I found!" Dante exclaimed excitedly.

I looked at what he was pointing to and was dumbfounded to discover that he kept 2 rabbits in his room. I gaped at him and was even more surprised to witness pure joy shining in his eyes. Few guys I knew kept pets, and none of them kept bunnies. It came as a surprise to me that guys are capable of tender feelings, especially towards animals. As I looked at the gentle way Dante handled the pair, I wondered if he would be just as gentle if he were to hold a girl in his arms. I shook my head at myself. I was thinking like a mad woman!

"Hey, you wanna hold them?" Dante carried one of the rabbits towards me.

Before I could protest, he had deposited it into my arms. It was so soft, so fragile. I was terrified that I was going to drop the poor animal, which was struggling a little due to the awkward manner I was holding it.

"Not good with animals huh.." Dante teased. I smiled sheepishly.

It was evening before I realized that I was late for my visit. I hurriedly left the hostel and headed for Joey's house. I caught Joey just as he was about to leave.

"Brenda, I thought you decided to change your mind about the visit." I hesitated. In the months that I have known Dante, I have not mentioned him to Joey. And I have never kept anything from Joey. When I failed to reply, Joey turned to me and I supposed I must've been frowning.

"A penny for your thoughts?" Joey said as he poured me a glass of lemon tea.

"Hmm?" I was distracted.

"There must be something on your mind, Brenda. You have not been coming to me as often as before. When you do, you are often late. When I try to visit you, you are mostly nowhere to be found. Uncle told me that you are seldom at home nowadays, is that true?"

I decided to tell Joey about Dante, and my growing fondness for him. Joey looked at me thoughtfully for some time after I finished my story. I was beginning to feel uncomfortable under his scrutiny when he finally opened his mouth.

"Brenda, how well do you know him? Really."

I pondered over that for awhile. I do not think I know Dante very well at all. There are certain things about himself that he refused to share with me. Such as how many siblings he had, why he left the states etc. The reason that he gave was he didn't like the environment there and wanted a change but somehow whenever he mentioned anything from the states, his mood dampens considerably and we usually didn't stay on the topic for long. I told Joey this and he nodded slowly.

"Perhaps he had some family problems that he does not wish to tell you yet. My advice is not to do anything about this fondness of yours until you know more about him. Perhaps it might be a good idea to start gather information about him, have you tried seeking his friends?"

That reminded me of his small group of acquaintances that he claimed to have left him.

I mentioned this and Joey looked rather puzzled.

"It is strange that he doesn't seem to have any other friends in school. Well, he does, just that they don't seem to be very close to him. In fact, I think I'm about the closest friend he has here. Wait a minute, I remember seeing him with a few guys around before, but I don't suppose that they are good friends of his. Most of the time I see Dante alone in school." I remarked.

"What about the other girls?"

I thought about my girl friends and told Joey that he is rather well acquainted with them but he seemed to prefer my company while some of my other friends simply drool over him.

"You sound quite disgusted." Joey lifted an eyebrow.

"Well, you should've seen what some of them do in front of him. Really, how can girls be so forward? Daring?" I sulked.

Joey laughed and that irritated me even more.

"Well Brenda, just make sure that you stay a respectful distance away from him alright? I won't try to interfere but do let me know if he tries anything with you okay?" Joey added with concern.

If only he will, I thought wryly.

"I know that look. It means I-know-what-I-am-doing-Joey- so-you-can-stop-worrying."

I burst out laughing. Joey can be so exasperating sometimes. Oh I forgot, I said he was the most exasperating man alive, didn't I? I took a sip of the glass of iced lemon tea in my hands.

Joey interrupted my thoughts with another piece of news.

"Do you know that your father is seeing someone?"

I almost dropped my glass. I shook my head in bewilderment.

"You don't have to look like that. Uncle isn't young after all, in fact I was glad that he found someone after all these years since auntie passed away." Joey added with a nod of his head.

I was still recovering from the shock. Father was almost fifty years old. Another woman? It seemed impossible to believe.

"But..but he didn't tell me."

"You were not at home half the time, how do you expect him to tell you?" Joey reasoned.

That was true. I had been so busy since I entered the University that I was seldom at home. When I do stay at home, I was usually in my room, doing my tutorials, projects, or reading. I was surprised to know that I had neglected my father to the extent that I didn't even know about his girlfriend. I decided that I was going to speak to my father about it as soon as I got home.

"You don't look too happy with this piece of news. Are you against the thought of Uncle re-marrying?"

Re-marrying?! I hadn't thought about it.

"Isn't that a little too fast to talk about marriage?"

Joey delivered another piece of astonishing news. They had been seeing each other for a year. This time I simply stared at Joey.

"I think you need to spend more time with your father, Brenda. I am surprised that you didn't know about this."

"I didn't even know that he had a girlfriend, not to mention that he is even considering marriage! Why hadn't you told me this earlier?" I demanded. I knew I was being unreasonable but I was still reeling from the shock of having to face an unknown stepmother.

"Calm down Brenda. I thought you should know this better than me, since you are the one living with your father, not me." Joey pointed out. I kept silent because I could not think of any rebukes for this. Joey was right. It was my own fault that I was unaware of this. I sighed.

"Besides, I don't know for sure if they are indeed getting married. It's just that I have seen them together a few times and him being my uncle, I didn't really ask him in details about his private life. He only mentioned that he met her in church."

"Church? Gosh."

"I know how you feel about church, Brenda. If you've noticed, I have long given up asking you to attend church."

I looked away. Even though Joey had always encouraged me to believe in God, I never really did. I haven't believed in anything religious for as long as I can remember. I always thought God was unfair when He took Mother away. I heaved a sigh. Whom was I trying to kid? I just simply couldn't live with the fact that I had no mother. Joey gave up trying to convert me a few years ago, after numerous attempts in getting me to know more about church and its activities. I was too stubborn to change.

"I will speak to Father about this as soon as I have the chance. Thanks for telling me, Joe."

"Brenda" Joey said gently. "I guess you are not very happy about Uncle re-marrying. I'm not saying that they are, but I won't pretend that there is no such possibility. Uncle has been a lonely man most of his life. He has worked hard to give you what you have now. But I think perhaps it is time he starts thinking about himself for a change."

I was aware of this. In fact, I knew it too well. However Joey always see the good side of people and he chose to ignore the days when I came home to a drunken father wallowing in self pity and sorrow. When I was younger, Father kept the reason of Mother's death from me. However I soon discovered the truth when I found Mother's diary hidden in one of the heavy trunks in her bedroom.

Mother died giving birth to me. Too much hard work during her pregnancy and worry caused her death. Father had been a gambler and to pay off his debts, Mother had to wash laundry for a living even when she had been heavily pregnant with me. On that fateful day, I arrived a week earlier than expected and she had been washing clothes as usual. Nobody had been around to give a hand when her contractions started. I don't really know what happened on that day because her diary stopped recording on the day before that. Later on, I guessed that she didn't survive the ordeal of giving birth to me. I was filled with hatred and anger at my father when I knew about this.

However as the years went by, the anger dissolved into a dull ache and finally even that disappeared too. It helped that Father stopped his vices soon after my birth. Yet even so, he spent a great deal of time mourning for the wife that he didn't cherish when she had been alive. He didn't climb out of his grief until I was well over mine.

That had been about 5 years ago. Father and I rarely talked about Mother. Now that he is seeing another woman whom may become my stepmother very soon, I knew that something has to be done. As I left Joey's house, I knew that it is time for us to talk.