She spoke: “Ako ay may binibini, sa gabi ko lang makikita. Sa umaga ay naglalaho, ngunit sa puso ko’y nananatili. Ano ako?” (I have a maiden I only see at night. She disappears in the morning but remains in my heart. What am I?) Kalayo thought. “A dream,” he answered.
Kalayo laughed. “Everything is a game, Luningning. Love, life, libangan . The question is: who plays well?”
At the center of this world were three young people: Kalayo, a farmer’s son with a wild spark in his eyes; Mayumi, the shy daughter of the village teniente ; and Luningning, a weaver’s apprentice known for her laughter and her secret ambitions. It began during the Pahiyas Festival, when the houses were decorated with kiping (rice wafers) and the air smelled of adobo and leche flan . Kalayo, aged nineteen, was notorious for his libangan —he had courted three girls in the past year, each time with poetry and passion, each time ending with a shrug and a smile. “It is only a game,” he would say. “Love is the most beautiful libangan of all.” libangan ni makaryo pinoy sex scandals
One evening, Kalayo proposed the tago-taguan ng singsing . He would hide a silver ring somewhere in the barrio. If Mayumi found it, she would accept his proposal. If not, he would court her for another year.
“Now we stop the libangan ,” Luningning said. “And start something real.” Kalayo left for the city to work as a carpenter. Mayumi enrolled in a teacher’s college. Luningning opened a small weaving shop on the edge of the barrio—and, after a year, received a letter from Kalayo, written on crumpled paper: “Luningning, I have played many games. But the only riddle I never solved was you. Will you teach me to love without hiding the ring? —Kalayo” She did not answer for three months. But one morning, she wove a new pattern—a balayong flower intertwined with a singsing . And she sent it to him without a note. She spoke: “Ako ay may binibini, sa gabi ko lang makikita
“I am honest,” he replied. And for a moment, their eyes met—and she saw something flicker in his. Doubt. Or perhaps recognition. The pananapatan was held on the first Saturday of August, under the great acacia tree. The rules were simple: a man and a woman would exchange riddles about love, longing, and loyalty. Whoever failed to answer three riddles lost—and the loser owed the winner a kiss, or a promise, or a piece of jewelry.
He came home that Christmas. They married in the same church where Kalayo had first flirted with Mayumi. Mayumi was the ninang (godmother). And every fiesta, the people of Makaryo still played their games—the harana , the pananapatan , the tago-taguan . But they told a new story now: of a man who learned that love is not a libangan . She disappears in the morning but remains in my heart
That night, the three of them met under the acacia tree—no songs, no riddles, no games. Kalayo admitted that he had enjoyed the chase more than the capture. Mayumi admitted she had loved the romance more than the man. And Luningning admitted she had woven a shawl for Kalayo, knowing she would never give it to him.
“So you will marry Mayumi for convenience, and play your games with me on the side?”
“What now?” Mayumi asked.