Instead of turning the day red with roses and hearts, this year's Valentine's day color was literally blood red.
Vince and I had really nice plans for Valentine's. He reserved a table at Pepato's (I was craving for the foie gras pasta) in Greenbelt for dinner. It was convenient because they were to play at Temple at around 1030 that night. It was supposed to be a good gig since it was Valentine's day and even if it was a Monday, we were expecting lots of people to watch and celebrate. Anyways, he fetched me from the office at around 530. Since we got to Greenbelt early, we went to look around...actually we went straight to our favorite toy shops at Glorietta. When we couldn't find anything nice there, our next stop was Toy Kingdom at SM.
It was around 7pm but we still had lots of time since our reservation was still at 830. We crossed to SM and went to look at Disney stuff, which were at the back of the Toy Kingdom store. I couldn't find anything I wanted to get either so we were on our way out when we heard an explosion. I looked around wondering what it was and I saw 2 ladies who stopped in their tracks also. One employee said not to worry explaining that it was just the air conditioning. So we were reassured and we started walking towards the entrance. We were almost in front of the store when I saw through the store's glass windows that people were running and shouting. I asked the lady at the baggage claim what it was and she said that a bomb exploded in the MRT station. I looked out again and saw more and more people running, looking back over their shoulders. Smoke was also coming out (Toy Kingdom is the store beside the MRT station entrance). I didn't want to panic since the lady might be mistaken and that a generator or the air conditioning exploded. But I couldn't help starting to panic because I saw the people running and looking over their shoulders. I thought a terrorist or a gunman was chasing them and my first thought was we were trapped inside the store since it was the first store beside the station's entrance. Vince said that we just stay inside (well, I didn't have plans of rushing out anyway) but as soon as I saw all the people rushing inside the store, I said to myself we had to get out. First, I didn't want to be there when a gunman storms in plus I didn't want to get trampled. Vince and I went to the back of the store again and I CALMLY (no matter what Vince says and thinks :p ) asked a female employee if they had any other exit or a fire exit. She said that there was only the employee exit. We were still contemplating if it was safer to go out the stairwell or if there was a bigger chance of being trapped there, when the decision was made for us. I saw everybody rushing to our direction so I pulled Vince to the exit. We went down at least 4 flights of stairs. It was a little difficult because I was wearing heels and I was being careful not to stumble and fall. I was also being pushed from behind by other employees. I was telling them not to push (I think I was the only one talking at that time...actually Vince said that I talked nonstop from the the start of the incident until we got back to the car an hour later).
We stopped at the what I think was the ground floor (other people were still continuing down the stairs). There were 2 doors on both sides. I began asking what door lead to what location. The employee was saying that it we were in front of the Dusit Hotel. I thought that some of the guards were blocking the doors to prevent people from going out...it was either because it was safer inside or to prevent people from shoplifting. Anyways, I didn't care and we pushed our way out one of the doors. Finally, fresh air! The air smelled a little bad and there was smoke everywhere. Everybody, from all the different establishments around the area, was outside. I wanted to call my brother to ask if he could listen to the radio and see if it was really a bomb or nothing but I couldn't get through. The network was congested due to a everybody trying to call somebody to find out what was happening. What cemented in my mind that it was a terrorist act was the heavy police presence and the sirens. Police wouldn't rush to the area for air conditioning. Finally, we walked back to Greenbelt and I was asking Vince if they could cancel their gig. He began calling and texting everybody. I was still a bit shaky. I know that we were a little far from the exact area of bombing but when you're in the situation and you don't know exactly what is happening, you begin to think that maybe this is it, you're in the middle of the disaster.
We still went to Pepato and we were seated at the 2nd floor. I began looking around and seeing big groups of people in a celebratory mood - eating, laughing, talking. As I looked at the menu I felt guilty. I thought about those injured and those who died and I can sympathize with them because I also felt the fear. My mom called asking where I was and I told her I was in the area and heard about the incident. I didn't want her to worry so I didn't tell her I was near the site when it happened. Anyways, Vince and I just cancelled the reservation, stood up and went home.
