Chasing Our Dreams

prologue

"Cassie wake up" sabi sakin ng isang lalaki, which I knew was my older brother since the voice is a little raspy meaning he just woke up, tsaka tinapik yung kanang pisngi ko making me look at him with one eye opened.

"Kuya maaga pa. Patulugin mo muna ako" sabi ko sakanya tsaka tinalikuran sabay taklob ng kumot.

"Cassie wake up, it's 7 o' clock" sabi sakin ni Kuya sabay hatak ng kumot ko, making me jolt up from my bed.

"Why do we even have to wake up so early?" tanong ko habang nakanguso sabay kusot ng mata.

"We have to go to Bulacan before 10 o' clock since we have a family reunion there" sabi sakin ni kuya while stretching. "Go ahead and wake Eya up. I'll start cooking our breakfast".

Tinanguan ko lang sya at tumayo na para unatin ang katawan ko at para magising ko na din si Eya.

God I hope Eya won't be a brat early in the morning. She has that tendency when you wake her up early in the morning and I'm not here for it.

After washing my face in my bathroom. I made my way to our little sister's room. Once I reached it I knocked first, with the assumption that she might be awake already, but no one answered so I decided to go in.

"Eya wake up sweet" sabi ko sabay tapik sa pisngi ng kapatid kong mahimbing na natutulog. Makalipas ang ilang tawag at tapik ko sakanya ay binuksan na nya ang mata nya at umupo na.

"Ate its early" sabi nya sakin habang nakanguso tsaka kinusot ang mata. I feel so bad for waking her up tuloy.

"I know sweet but we are going to Bulacan to see our other family members" sabi ko sa kanya tsaka inilahad ang dalawa kong kamay para buhatin sya which she accepted. For a 7 year old she still likes being carried.

I made my way out the door and through the corridor that is leading to the kitchen making sure that she won't bump her head on anything because she might cry and Kuya might go here and scold me and that is one of the least things I want to experience at 7:00 am.

"You two are just in time. I just finished cooking our breakfast" masayang sabi ni Kuya samin making our little sister smile. Her eyes widened when she saw her favorite ulam tocino on the table along with some fried rice and sunny side up eggs.

"My favorite, thank you!" masayang sabi ni Eya making the both of us chuckle at how happy she was while eating her breakfast.

After the three of us finished eating we told Eya to go to the living room while me and Kuya finish cleaning the kitchen.

"Kuya?" tawag ko sa lalaking nasa gilid ko.

"What is it sweet?" sabi sakin ni Kuya, not even looking at me since he is so busy looking at our baby sister.

"I hope Eya doesn't grow up too fast" I said while smiling, making Kuya look at me with a raised eyebrow. "What?".

"That is physically and mentally impossible Cass but yeah I hope she doesn't grow up fast either" sabi sakin ni Kuya sighing a little. "I hope she has a better childhood tho".

"What is that supposed to mean?" tanong ko sounding offended when I wasn't since I know what he was trying to imply.

"I just don't want her to grow up like us" sabi nya trying to make me feel better. "We grew up watching things that a child shouldn't".

"Don't worry Kuya, I know what you mean" I said sadly chuckling a bit.

We stayed quiet for a few more minutes but continued to do the rest of our routine.

"Eya come here Ate Cass will bathe you na" I called her since she was busy watching Peppa Pig on her ipad. Gosh if she starts speaking english the way Peppa does I'll ban any form of Peppa Pig in this unit.

"But Ate its still not done yet" sabi nya pouting a bit. I swear all she does is do her puppy eyes with a matching pout just so she can get what she wants.

"Catherine Freya Gonzaga you can watch the rest of that in the car" I said in a stern voice making her huff and whine but she followed me nonetheless.

Once I was finished bathing her I dressed her in a baby pink shirt and maong overall shorts pairing it with white sneakers. After dressing her I gave her to my brother since I needed to shower as well. After showering I dressed myself and went to the living room para sabay sabay kaming lumabas ng unit.

I wore a cropped white shirt with denim shorts paired with white sneakers. While kuya wore a black button down shirt pairing it with dark blue jeans and black sneakers. The two of us always matched if not we complimented each others clothing pallet whenever we go out together we wanted to include our little sister but she likes wearing bright colored clothes which you won't be making me or my brother wear.

"Ate carry me" sabi sakin ni Eya while extending her arms towards me making me put my phone in my small backpack and carry her agad.

"You're still a baby naman pala" I told her, making her glare at me while I chuckled. "It's true naman eh. You're already 7 and yet you still like being carried".

"Kuya, si Ate" sabi nya while pouting making kuya glare at me.

"Stop it nga, both of you be on your best behaviour since we will have a bit of company while we are going to Bulacan" sabi ni Kuya while placing our bulky bags in the trunk.

"Kuya, you didn't tell me this before, so why the sudden announcement?" Tanong ko, genuinely confused about it. "Sino?".

"Just get inside the car Cass, you'll know once we get to their house" sabi ni Kuya in a stern voice making me huff since I didn't get any info about the "mystery people'' who will accompany us to Bulacan.

After checking that we got the stuff that we will be needing for the Bulacan trip. I sat beside my little sister in the middle seat while Kuya went to the driver's seat since he will be driving obviously. We started to hit the road to who knows where so I just went for a shut eye since Eya is already sleeping.

"Kuya, I'll take a nap muna" sabi ko sa kanya to which he just hummed in response kaya I quickly adjusted my position para mas maganda yung tulog ko.

After what felt like a few seconds Kuya woke me up telling me that we were almost there and that I needed to fix my posture. I rubbed my eyes with my hands as I sat up straight and fixed my belongings. The car had stopped at a familiar house and street so I looked around trying to get the thoughts I have out of my head only to find more evidence that made me relive everything.

"Kuya, why are we here?" I asked him in a very nice way, making Kuya look at me sighing.

"You don't have to like them again Cass, makisama ka lang" Kuya told me rubbing his temples a bit.

"Ayoko nang sumama" sabi ko kay Kuya crossing my arms as well. "Let's go back to the condo and I'll stay there instead".

"Cassandra Fleur Gonzaga we are not going back to the unit so you can stay there because of him" sabi ni Kuya in a stern voice again. I swear he is getting extremely annoying by the second. "Be nice so we wouldn't have any problems".

I just huffed in response and crossed my arms while leaning on the back of the chair. A few minutes later we heard knocking on the door so I opened it just to be greeted by an annoying face.

"Cass" sabi nito sakin while smiling.

"Vince" I said while looking at him up and down.

"Judging me already Cass" he said, making me look at him with a raised eyebrow. "What a nice welcome".