Descending Stars (Fallen Heroes Series #1)

Kabanata 9

Kabanata 9  |  Four clover leaf

“Dad…” bulong ko nang maabutan ang ama na gulo-gulo ang buhok at damit. His room was a complete mess and there were two hospital staff guarding him.

Paulit-ulit niyang inuuntog ang sariling ulo sa pader na ngayo’y halos magdugo na.

“They're gone… They're gone… They're gone…” he chanted.

"Anong nangyari?” tanong ko kay Nurse Eden.

One of the staff tried to stop my dad only to be hardly pushed by him. Agad dinaluhan ng nars ang ka-trabaho at nilabas sa silid.

I slowly entered the room. “Ms Valdez…” dinig ko ang boses ni Nurse Eden.

“He’s my father. I’ll be fine.”

I harshly bit my lower lip. I sincerely hope that'd be the case.

Dahan-dahan akong lumapit sa kanya. "Dad, this is Amaya… I need to talk to you about something. Let's sit first, if that's okay?” subok ko.

“They're gone… They're gone…”

Napatingin ako sa nakakuyom niyang kamao at nahagip ko doon ang isang papel. Dahan-dahan ko iyong kinuha mula sa kanya.

It was a drawing of our family with me in the middle and holding his and my mother's hands. Bahagya pa akong natawa nang makita ang rainbow na nasa likuran ko.

Right. I used to love rainbows.

Halos punit-punit na ang papel at basang-basa na animo ay nailublob sa tubig.

Nilingon ako ni dad. I felt my heart breaking into pieces with the sadness in his eyes.

I admire the drawing once more.

It's indeed… gone.

Tinupi ko ang papel nang mapansing may kung anong butil ang tumulo. I looked at my dad and put my hand to protect his head from the rough wall.

Ilang oras niya iyong ginawa at nanatili lamang ako roon.

My dad was never the chairman's favorite son and doesn't even expect anything from him. The problem occured when dad married mommy. It was announced that Dad will marry a family acquaintance of the chairman. Ngunit naglaho ang plano ng chairman nang ipagbuntis ako ni mommy.

The chairman removed all dad's shares in the company. Walang tinira ni isang kusing. It was the toughest time for my dad… especially with my mom pregnant.

Things went down when the chairman tried to hide the pregnancy for the marriage to still continue.

As you can see, hindi pumayag si daddy which is why I'm carrying his name now. Daddy got depressed… it got so bad and I was just a two years old and mom's still recovering at that time.

So, when dad got admitted to this hospital, the chairman gave all dad's shares back to us for mom to raise me.

I can still even remember the first words the chairman ever spoke to me when I graduated valedictorian during my elementary, drowning from medals.

“It's not a waste that you carry the surname, after all."

And here we are.

Nilingon ko ang lamesa kung saan nandoon ang natumbang baso na may lamang tubig. I guess he accidentally spilled the water into the paper.

I sighed.

"I think you got it wrong. Look at the rainbow, it only has six colors. You forgot the blue one,” I told him.