The day after, it's all over the news that there is a strong storm that might be around until friday. The rain is non-stop and you can see that the winds are strong too.
"Sige anak, I'm sending na your allowance plus extra for the groceries, be sure to buy necessary things lang ha, and make sure you have enough food until weekend, huwag ka munang lalabas hanggang sunday in case bumaha. Okay?"
"Yeah, thank you po, I love you my!" Lilac answered before her mom ended the call.
Good thing she's always prepared for something like this, she makes sure her powerstation and powerbank are full, emergency lights are good, rechargeable fans are okay, all 4 of them. Laptop, ipad and emergency phones are fully charged as well. Emergency radio and speakers are fine too.
She downloaded 5 movies, yes. That will calm her while it's mad outside.
She put on her white tee and black running shorts, grabbed her hoodie and headed outside.
She reads the news as she was on the elevator,
"Bagyong Nora is now heading south. NCR is expected to be the most affected area. Stay tuned for more updates"
"Super typhoon - Nora is expected to make landfall in NCR within 4-5 hours"
"Makati City News - Inaasahang magdudulot ng baha ang malakas na ulan at hangin na nararanasan ngayon ng ating lugar. Pinagiingat ang lahat at maging handa. Sa baba ay listahan ng mga evacuation centers—"
Calm down, Lilac. Everything's gonna be alright.
She thought.
She headed straight to the ATM Machine, making sure she had enough money for emergency, allowance and for her groceries.
As the rain hasn't stopped, even though she just needs to walk 10 minutes to the grocery, she decided to book a taxi.
When she got to the groceries, she made sure to grab the important ones, flu medicines, vicks vaporub, bread, eggs, some meats, some veggies, instant noodles, canned goods, batteries,extra flashlight, candles, a lighter, butane for her secret camping stove, water, lots and lots of bottled water, cat food and cat litter.
She tried to look at the news again "NCR is now experiencing heavy rains and strong winds as PAGASA raises warning signal no. 5". She gulped, she tried to think about if she might be forgetting something.
She made a list on her mind
buy ice sa 7eleven
get the laundry
put away the groceries
cook rice
try to cook something already in case power runs out.
When she was about to check out, she remembered "Bumili ka na ng dalawa, para hindi ka nauubusan" Juan's voice echoed and made her run to the drinks area and grabbed 2pcs - 8 liters of distilled water.
She got home and decided to put away the groceries first, cooked a little too much rice, thawed the meat because she's gonna cook tinola, she took out the ice cooler from her cabinet,before heading down to buy some ice and get her laundry.
When the elevator opened, she saw Juan.
"H-hey" He said
" Are you okay?" He asked
" Yeah, fine. Just a little tired and panicking" She chuckled
" You look stressed" He said
" Because I am" She sighed "Ang lakas ng ulan and baha na sa daan"
"shit" he said "hindi na yata ako makakadrive pauwi"
He dialed on his phone, "Hi Ma, I think I'm gonna stay na lang dito, baha na pala dito sa Buendia."
"Yeah I'm fine. I'll ask Josh na lang if I can stay there pa"
" Yes Ma, okay po."
He ended the call and asked Lilac, "So saan ka nyan papunta?"
"Sa baba, bibili ako ng ice and kukunin ko yung laundry ko."
"Ice?"
" Yeah, can't live without cold water"
" Uhuh, pero nauubusan ka ng inumin"
Minamaliit yata ako nito, grabe mang judge. Para sa tubig?!
"Alam mo, minsan lang yan,nangyayari lang yan kapag hindi ako nakakapag grocery pwede ba wag kang mang judge?" She said annoyed.
"Okay, jeez. Sorry." He said.
"Sana ikaw may tubig ka sa unit ni Josh" She clicked her tongue.
Shit, Wala akong anything. Juan thought. Knowing that Josh's rented place only has a water heater, he knows he's only gonna be eating instant shits for the rest of the day.
While they entered the convenience store, Juan headed straight to the aisle where the overpriced instant noodles are located.
She didn't mind, she didn't care. She's just there to buy ice, oh and some bottled coffee too. She didn't wait for Juan and headed to the laundry shop. She has lots of things to prepare for.
As Juan walked to the counter, he thought May pagkain kaya yun? Is she prepared na? Ice lang ba talaga kailangan nya?
As Lilac entered her unit, she put her hair up, put the ice on the cooler and covered it with an insulated bag. She can hear the wind against her glass window and decided to ignore it.
She started chopping the aromatics, the vegetables and began cooking. Her meal was done, so was the rice. She then transferred the soup to an insulated container and made her coffee.
As she watched the news on her ipad, she cuddled her cat while having coffee.
She messages her mom "Ma, I'm good na, may rice and food na ako, everything's full charged and ready na din yung emergency bag ko. I also got some medicine for flu and cold. Just in case. Thank you. And I hope you stay safe too"
2 hours passed and she saw lots of news that some areas on NCR are already heavily flooded.
She took a quick hot shower and made sure her basin, extra bucket and everyday bucket were full.
She ate, and fried some cold cuts because she' couldn't stay put.
Everything's prepared now, and in silence, she prayed.
She made a phone call with Brie who is now really concerned and crying. She made her friend sure that she's okay and that she's safe.
Brie went to Instagram to post a screenshot of their facetime, captioning "Good thing this one's an overthinker, pwedeng pwedeng magisa! So proud of you! Please be safe!" which then Lilac reposted.
Juan saw the post and thought Sana nga prepared.
