My stories are based on my personal experiences. They are NOT fiction or fantasy. Each story is as close to accurate to what actually happened as I can remember, and I have a pretty good memory (even many years later).
These stories are posted in the order that they happened, so if you want to read them first to last, just read the story with the oldest publish date first and then move through the stories from oldest to newest, and you will be reading them in order.
Nobody in this story was underage.
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Hi. I’m Pete. Now that I was living in Cebu City, I had discovered the world of Filipina university students. It is truly a subsection of the population of the Philippines. Education is one of the only avenues of escape for most Filipinos (and Filipinas) from the grinding poverty that grips most in the Philippines. The true value of education is that it allows those who have graduated from university to find jobs overseas. To get a truly good job in the Philippines, they need to have good connections as well as a good education.
Back when the Philippines applied for independence from the United States, the Philippines actually had three options, but few know that. They could have declared independence (as they did), they could have remained as a commonwealth of the United States (as Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands and the Northern Marianas Islands did), or they could have applied for statehood, but that would have required that the country be broken up into three separate states (Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao). If they chose independence or statehood, the decision was permanent. If they chose to remain a commonwealth, they could change their decision at any time in the future to one of the other choices.
The Filipino leaders at the time made their choice based on their own best interests (which were to retain power for the elite few without any outside influence) and the Filipino people have suffered the consequences ever since. Before the split, Filipinos could travel freely to any part of the US or its territories for work (or for education), but since the split, travel has become increasingly difficult for citizens of the Philippines.
I bring this up because now, education and overseas work are basically the only ways (other than marriage to a foreigner) that common Filipinas can escape the control of the Filipino ruling class. Anybody who has spent a lot of time in the Philippines can name the families that control everything (government, land and business) in the Philippines.
April was one of those who aspired to get a university degree and then find work overseas that would compensate her for her efforts. Inside the Philippines, it is connections that get a person hired and promoted, not just education or experience. That is why you see so many Filipinas with advanced accounting degrees working as common cashiers in stores in the Philippines. Education is valued in the Philippines only for who can be blocked from employment through crazy requirements rather than as a stepping stone to success. OK, my rant is over.
April was a student at the University of San Carlos when I met her. She was working toward a nursing degree, thinking that degree would give her the best chance for overseas work. I was sitting in a coffee shop when I spotted her with her friends. I asked her for her phone number, and she typed it into my phone.
I waited until later that evening to text her. I told her that I thought she was stunning, and that I would very much like to get to know her. I said if she might be interested in a relationship with an American, she should text me back. I hit ‘send’ and waited. It only took a couple of minutes before she replied. Her text reply was simple, “I am interested.”
“My name is Pete,” I said. “What is your name?”
She replied, “My name is April. I’m happy to meet you Pete.”
We texted back and forth for the next few days with lots of questions and answers, always with the intent of getting to know each other better. On the fourth day, I asked her if she would like to meet me. She replied, “Yes. Where?”
I asked, “When are you available first before we set a place?”
“I am free on Friday at five in the afternoon,” she said.
“OK,” I replied. “Can you meet me on the steps between the mall and the garden area at Ayala?”
“The Terraces?” she asked. “Yes, I can meet you there at five on Friday afternoon.”
“I will take you to dinner at a restaurant, so bring an appetite,” I replied.
A few minutes before five on Friday, I was standing on the steps between the Terraces and the mall. It was only a few minutes before I saw April walking toward me. I stepped toward her and introduced myself in person.
She thanked me for inviting her, and she said that she was very happy that I had shown an interest in her. She asked, “What attracted you to me in the first place?”
I said I had to be honest, “The first thing that attracted me to you was your beauty.”
“I’m not beautiful,” she said.
“Pardon me if I disagree,” I corrected. “You are stunningly beautiful.” Her face lit up in a smile even though a blush swept across her face at the same time. It was obvious that she wasn’t used to being called beautiful.
We went to one of the better restaurants at Ayala. The best restaurants in Cebu City area aren’t in the malls, but I figured that this would be easier as a first date.
We sat and talked and ate. Our date went very well, but I knew that it would likely end at her boarding house rather than at my apartment. It was OK. That would come in time if I was patient. April was as smart as she was beautiful, and she asked me a lot of questions that weren’t easy to text. Of course, I asked her a lot of questions as well. By the end of the evening, I think we knew each other pretty well.
I asked her if she wanted me to take her home or if she had time for something else. She asked, “What else did you have in mind? I have the weekend off.”
“I was wondering,” I said, “If you might want to see my apartment?”
She thought for a moment and then replied, “I shouldn’t go with you to your apartment, but I want to anyway. Will I be safe?”
“Of course,” I replied. “I won’t do anything you tell me not to.” That put the responsibility for stopping me on her. If she didn’t say anything, then I didn’t need to stop.
“OK then,” she said. “I will go with you.”
We went outside and caught a taxi to my apartment. We took our shoes off just inside of the door, and then went inside the apartment. As many girls had been, April was impressed by the size of the apartment. She asked, “Are you sure you don’t have a wife or a girlfriend? This is too big for just one person.”
I repeated, “I am not married and don’t have a girlfriend yet.”
“Yet?” she asked.
“It isn’t that I haven’t been looking.” I replied. “I just haven’t found the right girl yet ”’ but I am hopeful with you.”
“Oh my,” April sighed. “You think I might be the right girl?”
“Maybe,” I answered. “I guess we will just see how this weekend goes.”
April sat down on my bed, and I went into the kitchen to get some wine. I poured us each a glass and left the bottle on the night stand. We continued our conversation. She asked, “How will you know if you have found the right girl?”
“I think I will use the IKIWISI method,” I answered.
“IKIWISI?” she asked.
“I’ll Know It When I See It.” I replied. “IKIWISI.”
“Oh,” she said thoughtfully. “This is a nice wine. May I have some more.”
I hadn’t realized that she had emptied her glass, and I immediately refilled it.
“Thank you,” she said. “I haven’t ever had wine before, and I didn’t know if I would like it, but this is sweet and yummy.”
“Drink all you want,” I said. “There is more where that came from.”
“So,” I asked. “What do you think of my apartment besides the fact that it is big?”
She looked around, “I like it. Everything is very nice and everything is clean and the bed is big enough for five people to sleep on.”
“Would you like to sleep on it with me?” I asked.
“I’m not sure,” she replied. “Am I the one you have been looking for?”
“Maybe,” I said. “Only time will tell me if you are the girl I’m looking for. Do you want to give me time to find out?”
“I think so,” she replied.
“Are you OK to stay with me for the weekend?” I asked.
“I have never been with a man,” she said, “and I am very scared, but if that is what you want, then that is what I will do. I had a very good feeling about you the first time I met you, and I haven’t lost that feeling. I want to know if you are my one and only.”
I leaned in and gave her a romantic kiss. It was soft and slow, and I mostly used my lips, only sparingly using my tongue to tease her teeth. She responded in much the way that I have come to expect from a Filipina virgin. April was startled at first, but then she settled into the kiss and enjoyed it.
I released her after the kiss and asked, “Did you like that?”
“Yes,” she replied. “At first I was scared, but then I realized that it felt good.”
“Was that you first kiss? I asked.
“Was it that obvious?” came her reply.
I laughed. “It isn’t all that unusual that a good Catholic Filipina like you hasn’t been kissed. You have been taught all of your life to stay away from boys.”
“I will tell you now, though, that I want to kiss you a lot more now that I have tasted you,” I said.
“OK,” was all she said in reply.
I leaned back in for another kiss, this one increasingly passionate, with a lot of tongue play and hand explorations. Again, she was startled at first, but then accepted the pleasure I was giving her. Her eyes had turned dreamy.
When we broke for air she looked me in the eyes and said, “I am afraid that you will just take what you want and then not want me anymore. I am fearful of continuing this because I will lose control.”
“April,” I replied. “I will stop anytime you tell me to. However, if you do stop me, then I will take you home and that will be it. I will consider that you have decided that you don’t want a relationship with me.” I wanted to put the ball in her court, forcing her to be the one who either allowed my liberties or called for a halt.