Promise of Beating Hours (Sunset Avenues #2)

Puesta Del Sol

This is already the last chapter of Promise of Beating Hours and the next one would be the epilogue. But I'd hope that it had captured you in a sunset that is worth of your heartbeat. Thank you so much for reading!

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 "Take a vacation, hijo. After a year-long enduring fight, you deserve to at least rest," Mom's worried voice woke me up. Tumikhim ako.

"Don't worry about me, mom," I answered nonchalantly.

Dinala ko ang kopita ng alak sa aking labi pero hindi tuluyang iniinom. I think that with the silence and just sitting there alone calms me or putting an oblivion to a chaotic mind. I just stare like I always do.

"Hijo. Don't you think it's time for you to settle down? Bigyan mo na kami ng apo ng Papa mo. Make this vacation I am suggesting para.."

"Ma," I cut her off. She sighed as she sat beside me.

She's really eager for a grandchild, silang dalawa ni Papa. Wala pa sa isip ko iyon. Even at my age which suggests for me to settle down, burn all those paper works and unending numbers and just go home to a kitchen.. But with the recent happenings, with how I bear in mind the family, I couldn't seem to prioritize my own wants and needs. I'm content with just being here. Paroon at parito sa Norte.

The Valencia's Paradise, Pagudpud. Can I just change its name to someone else's name? Immediately, I dismissed that idea. It sounds foolish.

Damn. How can you still hope for her, Christiano? Kahit na nga ba ang munting pagkikita ay malabo na ngang mangyari?

"Wala pa sa isip ko iyan, Mom. Not until when the time comes, perhaps?"

Isang buntong-hininga ang pinakawalan ni Mama. Iniyakap niya ang kan'yang braso sa akin. I couldn't give it to her what she has long been wishing for, ang magkaroon ng apo. Ang iba sa mga pinsan ko'y mayroon ng pamilya at sila na mismo ni Papa ang nagtutulak sa akin.

"Anak..You are already thirty-three. Nauna na sa'yo ang mga pinsan mo. Hindi ko inakalang ikaw ang mahuhuli sa pagpapamilya. You are handsome, successfully stable, goal-oriented. Ano pa bang hihilingin ng mapapangasawa mo sa'yo hindi ba?"

"Mom, it's not yet my priority. I have the RCRV with me as well as TVP under my supervision."

"But son, don't you think it's time for you also to get the happiness that you deserve?"

"I'm going back home tomorrow, mom," I sighed.

That put a smile on her face. Finally, I gave into the vacation she's suggesting.

"Saan kung ganoon, hijo?"

The side of my lips rose. "Where else could home be if not Lolo's hometown, Mom?"

You stood for the family for years, mom's voice echoed. Inilaan ko ang aking paningin sa natatanaw ng aking mga mata. I could see the endless white giant structures of the North somewhere else. The fine sands that represent something significant.. the blue waves crashing the shores. Everything combined to form a reminiscence. The familiar warmth I used to feel whenever I go back here.

Rest. Home. Those descriptions were made in the past. But now, it's completely different. A complete void that I keep on escaping. How long has it been, man? Pero mistulang ikaw na lang ang nakatanaw sa mga windmills na iyon.

After so many years of drowning yourself in paper works, growth that you would want to impale in the name that you are carrying, tiring yourself until you can feel nothing. And still, returning to an empty house. Is that the life that you would pursue at thirty-three, Christiano Valencia?