Mirage

nine

Aliyah was in her kitchen preparing to cook while Mira was in the living room, awkwardly sitting on the couch.

"Mira you can watch t.v. nandiyan lang ung remote." Aliyah called out.

"Hindi okay lang." Mira said timidly.

"I noticed wala kang t.v. sa unit mo? Hindi ka mahilig manuod?"

"Yeah, ayoko makanuod ng mga news and stuff."

"Huh." Aliyah hummed to herself. Weird, though nung bata ako hindi rin naman ako pala news.

The girl didn't talk anymore and just let Mira be while she started cooking.

Mira was observing the house. She saw a big book shelf filled with books and a lot of picture frames on a table drawer. It looked like Aliyah really likes books and photos. She stood up curiously and went to picture frames. There was one where Aliyah was in a beach and it was a sunset, perfectly capturing a good moment. There was also a photo of Aliyah and what seemed like her family, four people, must be her parents and a brother?

As she walked towards the book shelf, a book caught her eyes. It was a brown plain-covered book. It differs from the rest in the shelves because it was the only one plain looking, like there were no words written in it.

She grabbed it and randomly opened a page. Mira was wrong when she thought it looked like there were no words because there was a lot. It looked like a novel.

The first phrase was "I got lost in the breeze of lifetime passion trying to become something meaningful, someone who is remembered to be passionate and warm. Right now, the future seemed so far, good times are still being awaited. But maybe there would be something like a mirage to make me hope and dream even if it is deemed crazy."

While reading the phrase, Mira couldn't help but remember her old self that could relate to it. So much that she read it again two times. Until Aliyah called her.

"Mira Jane, kain na. Ano tinitignan mo diyan, ayan ah." Aliyah was teasing as she put down the plates and looked at Mira from the dinning.

"What book is this?" Mira asked.

"What book?" Aliyah looked at what Mira was holding and widened here eyes. She immediately went to Mira and grabbed it from the girl.

She put it back to the shelf and turned to Mira. "That's, uhmm." Aliyah shyly laughed. "A self-published book."

"Really? Ikaw gumawa?" Mira was surprised and amused, she didn't know that Aliyah would be a writer.

"Yeah, well kain na tayo?"

They both sat at the dining table. "Hindi ka na dapat nagluto." Mira sighed.

"Uhuh and you shouldn't have burned yourself."

Mira shook her head and smiled a little. It was sinigang, Aliyah cooked her favorite food.

"You should do that often."

The girl looked at Aliyah with a questioning gaze, "Do what?"

"Smile often, ang ganda ng ngiti mo." Aliyah smiled at her.

She didn't know why but she could feel her ears heating up. She coughed for a moment and grabbed the glass of water beside her plate and gulped it down.

Aliyah laughed, "Cute mo noh. Oh kanin, nahihiya ka pang kumuha eh." She put rice on Mira's plate and also to hers.

They were in the middle of eating; Mira was quietly enjoying her favorite food when suddenly Aliyah remembered something.