kundiman.

chapter 8.

"Hello! Thank you so much for coming!" Clara says exuberantly.

There are two weeks left until Christmas Eve. The frigid, December wind chills through the doors of the art exhibit where Clara and her mom are greeting people who walk in. She contacted the local art gallery to showcase her paintings to try to sell them for a little extra income.

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*10 years ago*

It's a hot July afternoon... it's the third quarter of Brian and Clara's game for the summer peewee football league. Clara stands on the sidelines waving her pompoms in the air. Brian just got an unnecessary roughness penalty for pummeling another child.

"Brian!"

He looks towards the stands. It's his dad.

"You gotta calm down Anak!"

Brian nods in disdain. He runs back towards the huddle.

"Woooo! Go Clara!" yells her mom from the stands. She becomes inspired and does a backflip. "Woooooo!" her mom yells again.

"This is great Belen. Brian's just like his dad, and Clara's just like you," their dad says to their mom, giggling.

Clara's dad has been feeling odd as of late though. His chest has been feeling heavy, making it hard to breathe at times. He's been ignoring it, attributing it to heart burn. But today, his chest is feeling like a thousand pounds has been placed on it. He rubs his chest, hoping it'll go away soon. He ignores it again and cheers on his son. As he lifts his arm to instruct Brian from the stands, his shoulder shoots with pain.

"Oh God," he whispers to himself.

His wife notices that something's off.

"Carl, are you ok?" she asks.

"I don't feel too good hon," he replies.

"What's wrong?"

"My chest, it's so heavy."

"Why hon? Are you ok?"

His vision begins to blur. His head becomes clouded and light.

"Hon we have to go."

"Carl what's wrong?"

He gets up and motions to approach the cheer coach and football coach to pull his children out of the game. As he gets down from the stands, he passes out.

"CARL!"

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Clara greets the incoming people walking into the art gallery.

"Hello! Welcome in!"

They look in awe at the intricate paintings hung up on the walls, each one telling a different story. She ushers them in as she explains the details of each work. Just as she begins conversing with her potential clients, someone shyly opens the door and sheepishly walks in.

Clara catches the person at the corner of her eye. "Jason?"

She smiles, her eyes lighting up with joy.

Jason waves.

Clara waves back.

She tries to finish up conversing with the others, constantly glancing back and forth at Jason, who looks like a deer in headlights, admiring the artwork.

"Hi Jason!" Clara's mother, Belen, says as she intercepts Jason to welcome him.

"Oh! Hello po," Jason says as he bashfully giggles.