-"¡callarse la boca!" -"Hazme."

JayWon: Wonnie likes milk

Jeng heaved a sigh as he rested his head on the cold surface of the counter table. Night has come too soon and he is in dismay with the thought of it. He, once again, roamed his eyes on every nook of this four-corner room where he finds comfort. How he wish he could stay the entire time in this daycare, if only Jeng doesn’t have other responsibilities, then no doubt he would.

“Ingat, Pre!”

Inangat ni Jeng ang tingin sa isa sa mga kasamahan niya sa daycare habang inaayos ang bag sa kaniyang balikat. He gave Ethan a smile and nod as he marches his way to the entrance of the building.

“Meow.” Naagaw ng pansin niya ang mga kuting na nasa kanya-kanya nilang mga cubicle at cage, at muling nilapitan ang mga ito upang bigyan sila ng huling haplos sa bawat ulo.

“I’ll be back tomorrow, okay?” Malambing na saad nito sa mga kuting bago sila pasadahan muli ng pinal na pansin at lumabas na sa daycare. The cool night air welcomed his perfect tanned skin, he shut his eyes to appreciate every ripple of it, after basking himself with the damp air, he finally grabbed the hood of his jacket and sweep it on the top of his head to protect him from the tiny drops of the rain.

Despite being a grown man, Jeng enjoys balancing his weight on the edges of the side walk, kicking his feet from time to time, head arched on the back to take a peek on the constellation that probably witnessed a lot of human’s dilemmas. He is comforted with the thought of the sky, watching him too.

Jeng finds bliss in spending his free time in the pet daycare his friend, Ethan, owned. Not really spending because he also has to work his ass off to gain an income. As an orphan, who is also a graduating college student at the same time, Jeng has no time to slack off and probably have to stretch his bones than most teenager his age do. The moment he turned sixteen, he is already welcomed with the responsibilities he has to carry if he wanted to strive to live, that includes finding job that can pay for his daily expenses. Good thing is he’s a scholar who doesn’t have to pay for his matriculation, but maintaining high grades while working three part time jobs will never be an easy task.

The reason why he’s very blessed that he gets to meet Ethan, who offered him a job in their daycare, because despite the job, he also finds solace with his work. It is a convenient job for Jeng, he has a soft spot for animals, especially cats. It is like hitting two birds in one stone, plus the fact that the job pays him a decent amount of money, enough for him to quit another part time job that involves serving and cleaning a restaurant which is very stressing and energy consuming for him.

It is probably the kind nature in Jeng, na kahit gaano kalupit ang mundo sa kaniya, kahit na maagang naulila at namulat sa mundong makatotohanan ay hindi siya nag tanim ng masamang loob sa kahit na sino, kahit na ang mga magulang na inabanduna siya o ang Diyos na madalas sinasabi ng mga nakakatanda na “May plano sa’yo ang Panginoon kaya nangyayare ang dapat mangyare.”

His pessimistic attitude doesn’t even have a deep explanation behind it, he just simply perceives that there’s more to life than just, living: Friends, studying, music, the morning breeze, the last ray of sun as it bid the surface goodbye and most especially, animals. Those are just some of the many things he holds to continue to strive in life, and those are more than enough reason for him to live.

The smell of the pavestone, basked in the continuous rampage of the rain from earlier, render his nose as the lamp render the life back in the silent alley of this city to being . Jeng appreciates every little things in his surrounding and that includes the lamppost, illuminating the path he’s about to take despite having the direction to his apartment engraved at the back of his hand, not until he took notice of a small figure of a fluff creature, shivering and curled due to fear of a sudden attack- probably from a human or another animal.