Wrong Send

My phone vibrated in sync with my boyfriend’s moment to set off from work. I knew it was him even before I unlocked my phone and read the text message.

"Pauwi nko ynaro. 2log himbing. Mwah! Love you!"

Sarap pakingan ano? The problem is, our term of endearment is MAVIE and not YNARO.

I replied.

"WRONG SEND KA!!"

He texted back.

"Mavie ko "ynaro" means "my love" sa japanese. Hnd po ako wrong send syo."

Natameme naman ako.  I was embarassed, almost apologetic. Maybe I just over reacted... or maybe not. So I went scampering to the other side of the production floor en route to the workforce bay cause I know for a fact that one of those schedule keepers did hard time in the land of the rising sun.

Me: Jane, what's the japanese word for "My love"?

Jane: Huh? Sorry I can't remember.

Me: Is it Ynaro?

Jane: Well, I'm pretty sure it's not.

By this time I'm already fuming. Nanginginig na ako sa galit. But still, I stayed calm. Jane said she's pretty sure "Ynaro" is not the translation for "My Love." But then again, she also said she can't remember her Nihongo. At this point, I need certainty and "pretty sure" is not sure enough.

I search for the english translation of "Ynaro" both in Yahoo and Google. The closest possible english translation was the spanish word "Enero" for the first month of the year.

Maybe I got the darn spelling wrong kaya nag-search pa ako for the english translations of, "Inaro", "Ynaru" and "Inaru".

Nada.

My anger shifted to pain... cardiac pain. I'm hurting big time. Still, I forged on and tried seeking out for answers and hoped that my last resort will come bearing fruits... and not the bitter kind.

I translated three possible variation of the japanese word in 2 translator websites.

Love - ai

I Love you - Ai shi teru

My Love - watashi no koi / watashi no ai

My eyes were fixed at the glimmering LCD monitor hoping if I stared at it long enough the information might changed. I went down and sat outside the building, composed myself and pushed his mobile number on my phone with bitter pain.

Who I thought was watashi no koi was engaging in a sankaku kankei.

1 year and 1 month after he asked me to be his boyfriend, I seriously considered giving him up. Sana sinaksak na lang niya ako. At least after my blood flowed out of my body, it would also carry away my worries, my pain and my life I planned to share with him.