Stained Recovery

Mommy's girl || Chapter 17

"How have you been? It's quite cold there, anak. Jasmine called the other day." My mom has been worried because of the cold weather.

She always knew that I get sick whenever it's cold. She kept on calling me every afternoon, Manila time, to check up on me.

"I'm okay, I brought warmers and my heat techs. I've been relaxing, watching our friend perform on stage. I'm actually having a lot of fun mom... you know, you should come and visit, you're going to love it." The smile on my lips never left as I told her about what's been happening lately.

I could see her scrolling on her laptop as she listened to my stories.

"Uhuh, it looks like it — you look... happy and... glowing. Does it have anything to do with that friend of yours?" She asked before settling her eyeglasses down and giving me a knowing look.

My eyebrows scrunched into a frown. Jasmine and her big mouth!

I will fucking strangle her. I'm not actually ready to tell my mom yet. But she needs to run her mouth the moment I get some possible improvements in my life.

"Uh... which friend? Jasmine and I were having fun, I met new friends too... so, what are you talking about." I feigned ignorance of course. I'll tell her about Ari soon, but not now.

She just hummed and crinkled her nose like she always does when she doesn't believe me.

"Hmm, sweetheart listen. Jasmine's amazing but she could never keep her mouth shut. Now tell me, are you with the Ariana girl?" Her voice became a bit more serious.

This is what I was talking about. The second she knew I was seeing somebody, she'll go Sherlock Holmes on me. She'll probably get an entire background report on Ari before I could even introduce them to each other.

I didn't want that to happen and of course, I want my mom to like Ariana... because I really like and... adore that Italian woman.

"Mom... please, can we talk about this some other time?" I pleaded.

She just shook her head and sternly look at me.

"Why are you avoiding this conversation. I was merely asking if you're with her. From what Jasmine told me, she seems like an amazing woman. I just wanna make sure that you're not using the poor girl to get over... Miss Valdez." She said Naomi's last name as if it was poison.

Now, Leona Phillips is an amazing mother... but when she loathes you, she could be pretty fucking nasty. It took me a solid five hours to calm her down when she knew that Naomi broke up with me.

She was just starting to warm up to her, then the next thing she knew — we were already broken up. Mom almost called her henchmen to man-handle Naomi just cause she wanted to "talk" to her.

Jeez... if I didn't know my roots, I'd probably think that my family was a mafia or something. My mom has powerful connections... she could make anything happen just by a snap of her fingers.

"I'm not playing, Ma." I sighed. "Yomi and I already talked... I got my closure, and I already forgave her. This new... thing with Ari... we're still seeing where it goes but... I — I really like her... It's refreshing and... I feel like... I feel free when I'm with her."

I couldn't even properly describe how I feel whenever I was with Ari. I just know that everything is better because of her. Just one smile, then bam — all my fucking problems disappears.

My mom smiled at me... it was a smile that made me look at her twice. She had this look — a look she only gives whenever she was really happy.

"My baby, ngayon lang kita nakitang ganiyan ka-saya." (This is the first time I saw you this happy.) She was looking at the camera, as if she wants to reach out and stroke my face.