M.U. means?

A bit of a story about my past love life and my dumbfounding stupidity.

As I mentioned in this part of my Buhay banda series, I had a somewhat funny M.U. episode during my years in Mapua High School.

I once fell in-love. She started as a friend and bus-mate, but we eventually grew closer after spending considerable time with each other - our bus rides from Doroteo Jose, Sta. Cruz, Manila to Malinta, Valenzuela took close to an hour one way.

During one of our bus rides on our way home, I decided to confess my feelings to her. Unfortunately though, she just gave me a smile and didn't get a definitive response. Later that week, she asked a friend to hand me a wallet-sized picture of her and to tell me that we're "M.U."


Stupid as I was, I mistook the term M.U. to mean "Mis-Understanding" and that the picture was some sort of a farewell remembrance. Basically, a very kind way of telling me that she didn't feel that same way and that she didn't want to see me again. So from then on, I shied away from her and tried not to show up ever again. In fact, I avoided her completely in school. I didn't take the bus home anymore. Instead I took the "service" jeep that my brother rode on, even if I had to wait more than an hour everyday (seniors end their classes later than us).

I found out 3 years later that M.U. meant something else, something actually positive (Mutual Understanding for those who still don't know). Dang!