Rainbow After The Rain

Chapter 5

All I could do was take out my handkerchief and hand it to my mother. Never in my life I have imagined my mother crying. I have never witnessed her shed a tear and the vulnerability that she allowed me to see is making me scared and ballistic. To my surpise she accepted it. "Change your clothes and eat. Miss Chel is on the way."

"But Mom-"

"I don't have to repeat myself," inihagis niya ang handkerchief at umalis. Pinanood ko siya hanggang makaliko at mawala na sa paningin ko. Ginawa ko ang sinabi niya. Mag-isa akong kumain at eksaktong pagkatapos ay dumating na si Miss Chel.

I don't know if I was able to properly function while practicing. Judging from Miss Chel's expression, she was not at all enjoying my performance. Miss would usually vocally tell me about my mistakes and shortcomings but unlike today, she handed out through writing it down.

Nililigpit ko ang violin nang magsalita si Miss. Nasa may pintuan na siya banda at nakahawak sa door knob. "Your mother told me about what happened, Estella. Learn to separate your emotions from our lessons," napatango nalang ako at pinatuloy ang ginagawa.

I do have seen my father mad. Mad at the mistakes his employees make. Mad at the irresponsibility of other people. Although, he was never mad at me. I cannot recall a time he raised his voice to me nor tried to slap me. It was the same thing for my mother. I have never seen him raised his voice at her nor hurt her not until last night.

All I could do was pull my mother to my room. My heart broke when she sat down on my bed and started crying. It was hard for me to witness her like that because she never cried. Maybe she did, but never in front of me. The next morning, Nanay Maning informed me that Mom went back to Cebu.

"Estella, are you going to touch your food or no?" I was pulled back from thoughts when Nico snapped his finger in front of me. Beside me are Zel and Von who were also peeking to check on me. I put out a small smile and waved my hand. "Yeah. I will."

Pagkatapos kumain, pinauna ko na sila kasi may kukunin ako sa library. Sumama naman si Kai kasi may kukunin din daw siya. "You can tell me," napatingin ako sa kanya at napahinto sa harap ng pintuan kaya siya na ang nagbukas. Kakaonti ang students ngayon dahil na rin siguro nag-lulunch pa sila. "Tell you what?" Inalis ko ang tingin ko at nagsimulang pumunta sa bookshelf kung saan nandoon ang libro na kukunin ko.

"Problems can't fix themselves," I heard him utter behind me. Honestly, I don't really need to borrow a book. I just wanted to be alone, and yet somehow Kai coincidentally needs to borrow a book too. Kai doesn't borrow books. The book was a bit high so I tiptoed. My fingers tried to get it, but instead it just pushed it away. From my peripheral vision, I saw an arm take it and the next thing Kai was already handing it to me.

"Thanks," I took it from him and started walking to the Librarian's desk. Miss Yna is not the strictest Librarian. She may get mad and scold the students, but it is just part of her job. When she is outside the library, it's like meeting a different Miss Yna. More softer and vibrant. I greeted her as usual and thanked her after the book was scanned. "Aren't you gonna get the book?"

"Huh? Book?" His brows furrowed. "Oh! Yeah! It's fine. I'll just pick it up later," he smiled. I nodded and left.

My mind is still stuck from what happened last night. I haven't heard them fight like last night. They did have some misunderstandings and disagreements too. Mostly, it's really about the business. Last night sounded personal.

I snapped out when I felt a tap on my shoulder. My head turned to Kai who was squinting at me. "Are you okay? Kanina pa kita kinakausap," my lips formed an 'o' before looking at him. "Yeah, I'm just thinking about something."