Selene Terra Firma

02 : Alpha

Pulling her luggage behind, she turned off her iPod then put it inside the pocket of her jacket. She was walking to the arrival area after her mother when she saw her relatives waving in her direction.

"MANG!" She cried as she ran towards her grandmother and embraced her tightly. "I've missed you, Mamang."

They were welcomed by her titas and titos, together with her cousins as well. She realized how much she had missed them.

"You've grown thinner. Aren't you eating?" Her grandmother asked her worriedly while checking her from head to toe.

"Of course, I am." She giggled, still feeling excited.

"You look more gorgeous than you ever were every time you visit, Selene." Her Tita Lanie greeted her.

"Don't flatter me too much, Tita." She joked.

She was also greeted by her younger cousin Mary by meekly waving at her. After the warm welcome, they all entered the van and departed as soon as their luggage was good to go.

Both her parents, her titas and titos as well as her grandparents were having their usual conversation together. Her brother was also busy being interrogated by her male cousins about computer games, while she was occupied by her female cousins and her male cousins' girlfriends. How on earth did they all fit in the van anyway, she thought.

"Did you bring me pasalubong, Manang?" Her other cousin Mia asked, who was sitting beside her. Pasalubong is a gift people take home from a place they have gone to, like a souvenir while manang was a term for older sister. Manong was for the older brother.

She opened her bag.

"I don't know what to bring but I bought this windmill replica from Antipolo. I was on a road trip with my friends," explained Selene before giving the small souvenir to her.

"What about mine, Manang?" Her other, another cousin, Chloe who was sitting behind her asked too.

"Mine too!" Ting exclaimed at the back.

Selene got overwhelmed by her cousins' energy but instead of getting mad at them, she laughed. She calmly told everyone to keep quiet if they wanted to receive their pasalubong and they willingly obeyed. Despite knowing about their vacation last minute, she still had managed to prepare something for everyone. Though all of it was in her suitcase.

She had twelve cousins on her mother's side of the family; seven from her Tita Lanie, two from her Tito Jano, and three from her Tito Rey. All of them consider her as their eldest sister as she is the eldest granddaughter of her Mamang and Padang. Other than that, she also has two older male cousins. They get to bond together two months every year, so they are close with another.

It was an enormous yet loving family. If only they chose to stay here for good, she would have made more fun memories than she had in the capital city. Selene had only lived here for six years yet she had already gone on countless adventures with her cousins, especially her two older cousins. The memories may be a bit blurry now, but they have plenty of photographs to remind them of their joyful childhood.

Before she turned seven, when she was still living with her Mamang, her father decided to take both her and her mother to live in the Capital for two years—that was when her mother got pregnant with her little brother. When he turned three, they have made it a habit to visit her mother's hometown every summer.

"We should have dinner outside," Tita Lanie said.

The whole gang merrily agreed.

They stopped at a well-known fast-food restaurant. Since they were too many, they connected all five tables to form a larger table. The room was loud and chaotic.