AFFECTED GUN [ BXB ] ✓ (SLIGHTLY EDITED)

Chapter 42

Chapter 42: On The Way To The Truth

BLAKE'S POINT OF VIEW

I WAS putting a pack of cigarette back to my multi-purpose wallet when Dad called out to me. Sinabihan niya akong pumasok nang muli sa sasakyan na kaagad kong sinunod.

Who would've thought that it will take days to reach that place? Nababahala na ako dahil wala man lang akong balita sa kalagayan ni Lala sa mga kamay ni Mom. There is no signal. Sana naman walang ginawang masama si Mom sa kaniya.

Wait for me, Mahal.

"Are you okay?" Napatigil ako sa pagtutok sa daan upang salubungin ang mga mata ni Dad na makikita ko sa rearview mirror.

"Do you have any food news regarding Ream?" I asked him. It's been 4 months and we still cannot reach him. And unsurprisingly, he shakes his head.

Napabuntong hininga ako dahil sa sagot niya at ibinaling ang tingin sa bintana. "How about you start to talk, Dad? Two days na ang biyaheng ito and yet you still did not mention anything about Lala's parents' past. You just acted on your own. Sana kinonsulta mo muna ako kung saan ko gustong ihabilin ang pamilya ko."

Sa totoo niyan, pinacostumize ko 'yung kwintas at ginawa kong singsing. Importante ang mahiwagang (?) kwintas na iyon para sa aming dalawa. I'm so much ready to propose to Lala kung hindi lang sana ganito ka-komplikado ang buhay niya.

"Stop talking like that, Blake. Pamilya? Your situation is not even accepted here in this country. Do you plan to go to a very far country just to get married? You're all talk, hindi mo iniisip kung anong sasabihin ng mga tao kapag nalaman nila ang eskandalong 'to. Nakakahiya. Atsaka Mom mo ang nag-aalaga kay Lala, I don't see anything wrong about that." The man's eyes are shooting daggers at me.

Napakuyom ako ng kamao at matigas na nagsalita, "Where is this conversation leading to? Can you just tell me everything you know about Lala's parents, Dad? Paulit-ulit na akong nagtatanong patungkol diyan at sinasagot mo lang ako ng walang kwentang reputasyon na iyan." Parang wala siyang alam sa ugali ni Mom. The two of them are both control freaks, mas lalo pa si Mom na hindi ko alam kung paano naging mas malala kaysa kay Dad.

After the official breakup of Paine and me that was all over the internet, she flooded my phone with her messages. She kept nagging about how right she was, na sana si Kim nalang ang kinursunada ko. I don't have an interest to date Kim simula pa noon, she was just a friend to me, pero parating arranged ang dates namin, kahit pa noong fiancee ko na si Paine. Mom was unstoppable.

Tahimik kong hinintay ang isasagot niya kahit alam kong hindi na naman niya ito sasagutin. I've already asked him to open up a countless times already. Ano bang motibo niya? Why is he delaying it?

Ano pala ang ginagawa ko rito kung wala akong mapapala na kahit ano?

And then miraculously, he broke the deafening silence, "The thing is Lalaine is not normal." My two eyebrows automatically met after hearing his words.

"What do you mean by that?"

"Lalaine is mentally il. She was experimented by her own parents. That time na missing siya, nakatakas pala siya sa mga magulang niya. Her parents ware injecting drugs into her body. They had treated her as a lab rat to achieve a certain medicine. Though hindi natupad ang gusto nilang medisina dahil wala na silang mae-eksperimentuhan. Sa totoo niyan, bestfriend pala siya ng Mom mo before she went missing."