where will destiny take us?

☆ 16 ☆

"How many times has this happened, Val?"

I looked away from tita Amelia's eyes. I haven't even been living with them for a year and she can already ask that.

I heard her sigh. "I'm sorry no one would be here to take care of you the whole day. We can't afford day offs because we have bills to think about, unlike your other family."

Tita left after that. Sumunod siya kay Dad na nasa labas at kinakausap ang doktor ko.

I just got my stomach pumped out. And after hours, I woke up in a hospital room. Dad, tita Amelia and Ari are with me. Aristotle is already in school early.

I'm still alive, luckily. And Ari was the one who found me in my room.

"Val, can I ask?"

Napalingon ako kay Ari na nasa tabi ng kama ko at nakaupo sa couch doon. She's already wearing her school uniform. Dumaan lang sila nila Dad dito to check on me bago sila pumasok sa work and, si Ari, sa school.

"Yeah?" I answered, my voice weak and hoarse.

"Why did you run away from your home?" She raised a brow. "Your life was easier then. You have everything."

Napatitig ako sa kanya at hindi nakapagsalita. That's really how other people see my life before.

But it's true, I have everything.

"If I were you, I'd just stay," saad niya maya maya nang hindi ako sumagot. "Why'd you even run away when your life was already perfect? Hindi ka sana nandito."

I smiled bitterly at her remark. Perfect life?

Yes, Ari. I have everything. Too much of everything. It's suffocating.

Dad's household isn't the same as Mom's. This was one of the reasons why Nana doesn't like him. It's the gap in their social status. I hate it. Dad's house may not have everything but it feels more like a real home. Minus tita Amelia...

I had everything in Mom's house but one: Freedom.

"You're in eleventh grade now." Dada looked at me, smiling as he ate his dinner from his seat across mine. "What are your plans for college?"

"Ivy League school, right? Harvard or Stanford?" Nana asked, eyeing me while she drank from her glass.

I swallowed my food. "Not those Ivy League schools."

Napataas naman ang kilay ni Nana dahil sa sinabi ko. "Which one then?"

"Columbia or Brown."