From Zamboanga, with Love (First Draft)

Capítulo Uno - My Beloved Hometown

Aldee's Pov

"Angel Grace, what do you want to be in the future?" I asked my beloved sister about this while sitting in the chair in our garden. "I want to be an architect one day, kuya Aldee, I want to build a house for our parents" she said with a huge smile on her face "Wow sis, that's nice. I love it and I hope that you will achieve it one day with the help of our almighty God" I said. My sister loves to draw buildings and houses, and she loves math too "What about you Kuya Aldee, what is your dream?" She asked me "I want to become a lawyer one day and help the people who need legal advice and other legal things. And aside from that I want to be a mayor of Zamboanga City" I replied and smiled back to her "Wow that's nice kuya, it's a long way to become a mayor of our beloved city especially there are a lot of people who are aiming also for that post, I hope and I pray to God and lady pilar for it" she said, yes we are a devotee of Our Lady of the Pillar, our patroness here in Zamboanga City. "Bunso, with God all things are possible but without God all things are impossible" I replied. She laughed while we were playing and doing some fun activities outside since our parents don't want us to use phones or access to social media. "But I like your plan kuya Aldee, Good luck with your journey especially your mayoral dream" my sister said. Our beautiful mother called us for dinner "Xavier, Anghel! Dinner is ready, come inside now" her voice can be heard outside "Coming mom! Anghel, mom is calling us already" I said to her while putting away all of our things that belong to my little angel and cleaning our area. "You go ahead Angel Grace, need to clean up your mess first" I command her and leave. Sometimes being the eldest in the family is not easy because there are a lot of responsibilities that you need to do and can be tiring sometimes. Now that I am done cleaning, I went inside our house and they are still eating. I sat in the chair and got my food. "Aldee, Angel told me that you want to be a mayor of Zamboanga City in the future." She said "si (yes) mama, I want to follow the footsteps of dad" I replied "Are you sure Aldee? Being the mayor of Zamboanga City is not easy, you need to solve all the problems in our city, lots of documents that you need to review and sign, and also you need to do public speaking, " dad added. "If that's what you like then I will support you" he added. I hugged him "Muchisimas Gracias (Thank you) papa" I said to him and kissed him on his forehead "Study well, Aldee '' he replied. I have already decided on what degree program to take up in college. I decided to take up Bachelor of Arts in Political Science since it is the best degree program if you want to be a lawyer and want to study in Cebu City. I decided not to tell my parents first because I will tell them after my high school graduation. I am aware that it is hard there especially if you don't know how to speak their language and it is difficult to understand it.

Dinner time is done and it's Angel Grace's schedule to wash the dishes while I am preparing my things to go to school tomorrow to attend our orientation for graduation day. While scrolling down my mother's phone, I saw some announcements from our school and found out that I am their class valedictorian, how unexpected! " mom, dad look, I can't believe that l am the batch valedictorian" they are very happy with the news "Wow Aldee congratulations, you made it, we are proud of you" my mom said "Congrats kuya Aldee" Angel Grace said "Thank you my bunso" I replied to her happily.

The next day...

"Aldee, wake up it's morning already and you need to go to school, you said that you have an orientation today" mom said. I woke up "Mom, our orientation is from 10AM to 11:30AM" I replied "But you need to go to school early, your dad has work at 7AM in the city hall and no one will send you to school" mom said. I agreed because I had no choice. "Ok mom, I'm coming" then I went straight in the bathroom while my mom was cooking breakfast for me. It's a cold morning and the weather has not been good since last night. Luckily we have hot and cold showers, after taking a shower, I went to my bedroom to put on my uniform and eat my breakfast. Since I don't have time to cook my own food in the morning my mom was the one who prepared food and I have a delicious breakfast for today all thanks to my beautiful mother "I love your cooking mom, the best'' I said and hugged her "Thanks anak, I love you" she answered "I love you too mom, I don't know what to do if you are not here with me" I said while eating my food "Apura (Hurry) Aldee! Your dad is waiting for you at the car" mom shouts again, I was brushing my teeth at that moment and in a hurry too, grabbed some of my things then I went to the car "Bye I'll go now mom" I said and kissed her, and went inside of it. It is very crowded outside because there are a lot of students who will go to school right now. I'm almost late. 5 minutes later I arrived at school safely and since it is raining so hard and it flooded outside there is no late anyways as per our school rules. I almost fell down the stairs, luckily a Tausug girl saw me and she is my confidante and my best friend since Grade School " Aldee!" she exclaimed "Are you ok?" she asked me again "Yes Jahida I am ok, thank you for asking me" I said to her "Alhamdullilah Aldee that nothing bad happened to you" she said and I continued walking towards my classroom.