Hello, Goodbye!

It’s 7 o’ clock in the evening. A mother in her late twenties with her two-year old son arrived in the entrance of the Jollibee store located in the busy town of Malolos. She seemed to be in a hurry. The guard opened the door and gladly said with his winsome smile, “Welcome to Jollibee Ma’am!”. The woman nodded and put on a gentle smile on her face while murmuring something to her child. They headed toward the lines of the customers who are picking up their orders. The store was full of people, children, students, families, lovers and even senior couples. It was indeed a busy night for the service crews of the store, for every line leading to the cashier there stands 8 people or more. The mother and her son waited for a couple of minutes. A service crew came to them and promptly asked their order.   The mother thought for a while, asked the crew and the latter written something on the order slip and gave it to the mother with a smile. They waited again for a couple of minutes. The child seemed to be impatient because of the long line of customers before them. They were fifth on the line, and looking at the people inside the store, the child said something to his mother. The mother whispered on the child’s ear and kissed his cheek while pointing out a picture of the value meals on the upper corner of the store as if to shift the child’s attention to the foods they will order. The child nodded, smiled and hugged his mother tight. The mother suddenly turned around and faced the entrance door and pointed somebody outside.

           A tall man, of the same age as the mother, stands outside with a 4-year old waiting for them. The man held a huge red-lined plastic bag on his left hand, while a Lacoste bag strapped on his shoulders, and on his right side stands a gray trolley bag and another yellow plastic bag rested on top of it. The child seemed to be hungry or just really wanted to eat, impatiently and playfully tugged his mother’s hair. Then the mother turned around again, facing the customer behind them, said something briefly and headed to the entrance door. The mother and the man-seemed to be husband and wife talked, and after a while- the man took the child from her mother, murmured something to the child and hugged him; while the mother reached for the elder son’s hand and headed inside the store- back to their place on the line.

          After a couple of minutes, at last it was their turn to order. The mother gave to the cashier their order slip, talked with a smile to her and pointed a picture of a value meal posted in front of the cashier’s computer and nodded. The child with her said something then she lifted him up and sit him to the side of the ordering station .Just a couple of minutes passed and their order were ready. It was a take-out dinner supposedly. The mother held out their dinner, lifted it as though showing it to her husband and son outside the store as she faced toward the entrance door seemingly saying, “Here’s our order!”.

          The mother and his son stepped out toward the door, while the father held again the trolley bag and gathered all their other belongings. The mother got the younger son from her husband and the latter held the elder son’s hand and they started to walk. Soon, they left the Jollibee store and headed to the tricycle terminal and gone in a matter of minutes from the store’s sight. Supposedly, it was their last time of being together as a happy family sharing their favorite meal of the said store as a father, mother, and children…for the next day scheduled the father’s departure bound to another country.. because he would be staying in Saudi Arabia working there for two years..and it will be long before this scenario could happen again.

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[a/n] this story is written by my Tita. Just want to share this to you guys. This is a true story :'))

©akosiMELODii