We’ve something a little different for you today, New Pop Lit fans. With Foreign Language, our writer Franz Pantaleon brings you a glimpse of unrequited love; a glimpse that suggests a larger story around it. Franz writes from the Philippines.

You’ve never really experienced heartbreak until you’re forced to watch a foreign romantic-drama alone.

I remember the seat beside me being empty, and all I had in my hand was an unused ticket for the same screening. She didn’t show up at the place we had agreed to meet and I decided against making contact with her to ask if she was still coming. So I went into the cinema alone thinking it would have been a waste of perfectly good tickets.