The Most Beautiful Person

"You're the most beautiful person I've ever met," they said. Not in unison, but in different timelines.

The first person said this to me in high school. The teacher had arranged a seating plan for the whole class and we ended up seating next to each other. He sat on my left, and him being on my left put me in an advantage of drawing art over his notebooks and papers because I was a lefty and our armchairs accommodated right-handed people.

The first one was a genius in class, a Salutatorian. I had to rely on him to pass a certain subject during my Senior year.

When we graduated from college and had to endure a long distance relationship because our colleges were from different places, our relationship unexpectedly turned into a disaster.

For him anyway. I fell in love with someone else.

I broke his heart.

My first mistake.

My second mistake was the second man who said that I was the most beautiful person he had ever met. He and I knew that this statement had to be a lie because months later, our relationship was on the rocks. He was falling out of love with me and was falling in love with someone else.

Everything happened so fast like a Domino Effect. I broke someone's heart, my heart gets broken too. Shattered even to the point it can't be fixed.

The second one was a carefree being. He didn't care if he had low grades so long as he passed. He didn't have any hard feelings with life's hardships. Everything went smoothly for him. Whenever life swayed him, he swayed along with it. He went with the flow of everything. Something I deeply admired in him.

After the second, I thought I'd never be able to love again. I hated men. I generalized that each one was ready to pounce and attack. However, with the help of my best friend, I had a shoulder to cry on and a rock to hold onto.

My best friend was the third person who told me I was the most beautiful person he's ever met. It wasn't an intimate kind of statement. It had no deep-rooted meanings of hidden affection. It was merely a statement meant to make me strong. Meant to tell me the truth.

I was the most beautiful person because he thought I was genuine. He told me how a great friend I am. How true I really loved someone even if I made a lot of mistakes in life. Despite the number of times I've stumbled with heartache and regret, he told me that he admired the number of times I stood back up. And I believed him.

I've dated a lot of other guys out there who I felt were never really a match for me. My heart never really moved while I was with them. But I was proud of myself for trying out different things. I was happy to learn that I could do things without having to depend on someone else. Pain and heartbreak taught me that being alone was not so bad, that the space I had was a moment where I could learn more about myself.

The fourth person was quite unexpected.

He worked as an IT officer in my college. I was still a student who participated in the Supreme Student Government assigned in the Students' Affairs office at that time.

He never really said anything at first except hang out with me, make small conversations, and make jokes. He was a funny guy, someone who had gone through the same heartbreak as I did.

He had been cheated on for four years by the same person who was always with the same third party, and when he met me, he told me that I was the most beautiful person he's ever met because finally, he had the strength to let go of the villain in his life.

Out of all the girls he saw that would enter the office, I was the one who stood out. Diwata, that's what he called me. In English, it meant a fairy or a female deity. The reason why he called me this was because to him, I had the prettiest smile. He told me things I never expected to hear in a long time. He told me that my smile was enough to make his day. My presence was enough to satisfy him.

I was lucky, I guess, because he would always send me home whenever he could. He was a surprise to me, and he was always a surprise every single day. Every day, he reminds me that he loves me. Even now, he is still the same man I met four years ago. We have gone this long, and even as I write this, I am still surprised.

Right now, we are miles away from each other. And I promised myself I'd never make the same mistake before ever again or else I'd face the consequences of heartbreak.

Looking back at my life, I realized the path is strewn of broken pieces of my heart. Time heals us in the most unexpected ways. One day we're crying, and the next we're already happy with someone else.

I'd never expect to see myself with the man I love, mostly because I thought that one heartbreak was enough to make me bitter. One heartbreak was enough to make me lose hope. And I did lose hope, maybe just for a moment.

I thought I was going to be alone forever when in fact, I was merely being naive. I didn't have to pick up the pieces of my broken heart, because my heart rejuvenates itself. It restores itself through time to the way it was before, except it already has mapped out the areas that have already been broken from the past.

The fifth person is kind, loving, grateful, strong, empowered, fulfilled, contented, and all the positive things. She has learned that the setbacks in life are only steppingstones to something greater. She knows that failures and struggles forges her into a weapon. She knows that pain is temporary, that heartache is just water for a seed to grow. She knows that obstacles are necessary to achieve the best things.

That person is my reflection in the mirror.

It could be yours too. All you have to say when you look at your own reflection is: "You're the most beautiful person I've ever met."