The Vow

22

Nang makumbinsi ni Jillian yung parents ni Minmin na lumabas, agad kong hinarap si Minmin.

"Min, this is Dr. Cooper, ate Beka, it's me. Do you recognize me?" Tanong ko and she nodded. "What did you ate for dinner?" Tanong ko.

May inabot syang papel galing sa ilalim ng unan nya and she handed it to me.

"Actually doc, sya yung nagpakiusap sakin na tawagan ka. Pakiramdam ko talaga kanina may something na tapos parang takot syang sabihin sakin." Sabi ni Desiree

Inabot ko yung papel at binasa.

Help me

They are my foster parents

I don't want to be in that hell again

My mom hits me with a baseball bat

My dad raped me many times

Please, help me

"Oh my god!" Para akong nanghina sa nabasa ko.

"Tatawag na ba tayo ng police, doc?"

"No, kailangan lang na hindi sya madalaw ng parents nya. We need to do an alibi"

"I can do it. I'm the owner" sabi ni Eli.

"Thank you. Let's save this girl" sabi ko.

"Minmin, I'm Dr. Davis, you can call me Kuya Elijah. I will help you na palayuin yung parents mo sayo, ok? Just trust us, and be healthy. Ate Beka will do your operation, so you need to hang in there, and after that, you will have justice for whatever they did, ok?"

Minmin nodded and smiled.

"Pwede po ba syang operahan kahit may lagnat sya, doc?"

"Re-schedule the operation to 12midnight. Run every test on her, we need evidence that she was abused and raped. We will use that against those devils" sabi ko kay Desiree

"I'll talk with the parents" sabi ni Eli at tumango ako.

Minmin suddenly held my hand, nakita ni Eli at Desiree yun and they observed me.

Someone held my hand, she held my hand but, I can't feel any fear, I don't feel scared.

"Beka–"

"I don't feel scared, but, I can feel her fear." Sabi ko at lumingon kay Eli.

"Will you be ok?"

"Yeah, I am ok." Sabi ko at hinawakan din yung kamay ni Minmin at ngumiti ako sa kanya.

"Ok, we'll go first" sabi ni Eli at tumango ako tsaka sila nagsilabas

"Alam mo ba, nung bata ako, I was almost raped by my mom's affair. I was at your age din nun. I was so scared and I can't fight, because how will a 9 year old fight a big man, right? My mom also didn't believed me noon, mas pinaniwalaan nya yung lalaki nya noon. I was scared and hurt at the same time. Pero ang napuntahan ng tapang ko is yung napilit ko ang daddy ko na iwanan na namin yung mommy ko. I gathered all my courage, and you know what, I am so so proud of your courage right now. Because you gathered your courage to ask help, we will help you. The law will punish who deserves to be punished. My brother is a lawyer, kaya he will take your case, wag mong iisiping wala kang laban, kasi kami ang lalaban para sayo, ok? Just trust us, trust me, ililigtas ka namin from their evil plans. Just hang in there, ok? Wag ka bibitaw, kasi right now, you're my strength, we are each other's strength, ok?"

"Thank you" sabi nya at ngumiti.

"No worries. After ng operation mo, magpagaling ka, tapos after nun, dadalhin kita sa mall or kung saan mo man gusto pumunta, ok?"

"Even disneyland?"

"Sure, we will go to disneyland, ok?"

"Opo" sabi nya at ngumiti.

"Mamaya, Ate Desiree will come back na may kasamang ibang doctors, they will run some test sayo para macheck kung may iba pang need gamutin sayo, ok?" Sabi ko at tumango sya.

Maya maya, pumasok sila sa kwarto at nakatulog na si Minmin.

"How was it?" Tanong ko.

"The parents are gone. Sabi ko, hindi magandang may nakaaligid kay Minmin ngayon except sa mga doctor nya. Jill and Hanz escorted them out para masigurado na umalis sila. We needed the result right away, kasi baka bumalik sila na may kasamang police and might accuse us of whatever they may accuse us. Ipapapriority ko yung result ng tests nya sa testing department" sabi ni Eli.

"May iba pa ba syang handwritten? Just for us to fact check if same ng penmanship. If we will bring this in court, we need a few of her handworks just to compare the penmanship and to prove na sa kanya yung handwriting. Plus the results nga, and once na makapagsampa tayo ng kaso sa kanila, we will need to investigate the house" sabi ni Kuya. "And also the neighbors, kasi for sure may alam ang ilan sa kanila, they can stand as witness"

"May kinontact na akong private investigator para sundan yung mag-asawa at manmanan sila sa bahay nila"

Habang nag-uusap kami, may tumapik tapik sa kamay ko. Pagkalingon ko, si Minmin gising na at may inaabot sa akin.

"What's this?"

"Nagsumbong na po ako sa teacher ko dati, yung boyfriend nya po na IT, pasimpleng naginstall po ng CCTV sa loob ng bahay namin sa mga sinabi ko pong lugar kung saan po nila ako sinasaktan at pinagsasamantalahan po. Binigay po yan ng teacher ko sa akin nung binisita po nya ako dito, sabi nya humingi daw po ako ng tulong sa doctor ko at ibigay ko raw po itong ebidensya. Kaya po naglakas loob ako. Sorry po, kinailangan ko pong pekein yung lagnat ko, para po makahingi ng tulong" sabi nya.

Kinuha ko yun at ibinigay kay Kuya. Akmang tatabi ako sa kanya nang buksan nya laptop nya, kaso tinulak nila ako palayo.

"You can't watch this, it will be too traumatic for you to watch. Baka may matrigger" sabi ni Kuya kaya tumabi nalang ako kay Minmin habang hawak ko yung kamay nila.

Bumalik si Eli na hawak na yung result, na-test na sya kanina and it's already 11pm, pero nakuha nya agad yung result.

"She has a couple of bruises sa likod at bandang tyan and even sa hita nya, yung ibang bruise nya possible na gumaling na. Pero luckily, no broken bones, only the tumor is the problem"

"Kapag po gumaling ako, sa ampunan po ba ako dadalhin?" Tanong nya kaya napatingin kami sa kanya.

Actually naisip ko rin yan eh, iniisip ko na ampunin sya.

Tumingin ako kay Kuya, and he nodded at me.

"Ahm, wag mo muna isipin yan, for now, think about your operation muna, ok? Pag-usapan natin yan kapag magaling ka na, ok?"

"Ok po" sabi nya at tumango.