The Beauty of Love

Chapter 2

The next days, many people were already entering the café. It's a good thing I created a page about my shop to persuade people to visit. Some of my friends from college and family kept sharing my posts and I guess that's one of the reasons we're attracting more customers now.

I keep thinking about whether I should hire more staff members because the number of customers increases each day. Maybe I should. I was thrilled to serve the customers, and I loved making their orders.

On the weekend, I visited my parents at our house. As my mom promised, she cooked my favorite pasta for me. While we were eating, daddy asked me about my business and how is it going. I told him that it's going well and they were both glad to hear my answer.

I am an only child. My mom is a psychiatrist and my dad is a retired doctor. My dad is American, so I am half American. We resemble each other a lot. I didn't have his blue eyes, but I did get his fair skin and nose.

My mom is Filipina. I got my almond eyes and pinkish lips from her and she says they suit me well. And the best thing is, I got her caring attitude.

When I was in high school, many of my peers wondered why I don't know how to speak the Philippine language even though my mom is Filipino. The reason was that I was born in America and we lived there for years.

When my parents decided for us to move to the Philippines for good, I tried to learn the language but I had a hard time. My mom was always at work, so she didn't have time to teach me that much.

My dad always talk to me in English and it was my first language. Learning Tagalog has been difficult for me. But growing up and socializing with Filipino people, especially at school, has helped me slowly learn the language.

Truth is, I know how to speak Tagalog but I'm so used to English that I often forget to respond in Tagalog when someone speaks to me. I end up speaking in Taglish most of the time and I feel guilty about it.

My college friends and classmates speak in English all the time too in our university, so I haven't had many opportunities to speak Tagalog fluently. When I do speak Tagalog, many people would tell me that I sound too maarte.

I clearly remember when I was in college and tried to ride a tricycle for the first time, I spoke to the driver using Taglish. I overheard a student inside calling me 'maarte'. Perhaps she didn't know that even though I'm not fluent in the language, I understood it well.

I know how to speak Tagalog, but not an expert enough to speak it straight without mixing in English.

So, going back to my parents, I was sure many people wondered why I didn't pursue medicine as well. Most especially my relatives. Given that both of my parents are in the medical field.

"Don't you like the medicine program?" I always received this question when I went to college and pursued another program.

The reason is, I was obsessed with computers back then and I couldn't see myself pursuing medicine. I simply didn't see myself in that profession. I was super curious about coding and technology, so I chose to pursue a program in Information Technology in college to understand how it all works.

And I didn't regret it. After graduation, I got a job where I'm in the office facing my computer and I felt great about it. Working in a company with colleagues who share the same goals. Making the company and ourselves grow has been really fulfilling.

But the thing is, there are moments when our hearts suddenly change. One day, I just woke up with a strong desire to run my own business. I'm just thankful that my boyfriend and parents have always been supportive of everything I do which gives me the courage to take risks.