Unseen Strings

Chapter 1: L'inizio

—————————start: 11-30-24—————————

“you’re too old.” Said by my niece, who’s now busy playing with her ipad, my temple curled in disbelief.

I’m not that old though, I’m 25, who said I can’t play roblox with this age?

“I’m not that old, Leila, I can still roblox play with you.” I said, trying to protest.

I sighed when she didn’t respond. Am I that really old? She doesn’t know I play roblox everyday.

“Hoy! I always play DTI kaya, top model na nga ako! ikaw, aspiring model pa lang ‘no.” pag-mamayabang ko rito, pero hindi man lang ako pinansin nito.

“H’wag mo na ipilit.” pag-singit naman ni Cherrel, ang kapatid ko.

Isa pa ‘tong babae na ‘to e. When I heard her mas lalong kumunot ang noo ko, magka-ugali talaga sila ng anak niya.

“I told you, you should try dating someone.” She said, I sighed. Here we go again, I don’t really want to hear about ‘dating’.

“Aba, I rather play and work than date someone.” Maarteng sabi ko sakanya nang naka-angat ang isa kong kilay.

“You’ll get old na walang dilig?” I threw the pillow at her in annoyance, she always annoys me, hindi ko alam kung sino ba talaga ang mas matanda sa’min.

Wala akong pake kung tumanda akong walang dilig ‘no, takot nga ako ro’n, bakit ko pa i-ta-try ‘di ba. hindi naman ako siraulo.

“I don’t care.” Pataray na sabi ko, while she just hummed in agreement.

“Let  see.” Saad nito na may bahid ng pang-aasar sa tono, I rolled my eyes at her and took my phone out of my pocket.

“See, you’re too feisty, kaya takot na takot sa’yo mga lalaki e, para kang tigre.”

She has a point though, no man tried to court nor approached me, and I don’t know why. Maybe i’m not that attractive, or I’m just not lovable enough to make someone love me.  I’ve been asking myself for years “why?” until, I gave up and closed my doors for ‘love’—and I hope love wouldn’t ever find me.

I know every woman wishes to be loved by someone till they grow old together as their hair turns grey and as their skin gets wrinkled. But not me, I turned down my hope that someone will ever love me like I wanted to.

“No, I’m not.” Pataray na sabi ko, she scratched her head as she head to the kitchen.

“Bahala kana, Ate. I’ll cook for our dinner na.”

“Tita, Mommy is right, you should really date na po! You’re too old, later you’ll be a lola na.” Leila said, looking up at me while still busy playing on her Ipad.

“I’m not too old to be a lola, Leila!” I protested like a child.

“See, pati si Leila tinutulungan kana sa lovelife mo.”

“Mag nanay kasi kayo.” She rolled her eyes at me as she prepares the ingredients for the dish she’ll cook.

No DNA test needed, it’s obvious, Leila is her daughter.

“By the way, naaalala mo pa ba ‘yung boss dati ni Papa na palaging nag-bibigay ng anek-anek nung college tayo?”

Even though it was years ago, I can’t still forget that. Sino ba naman ang makakalimot no’n kung araw-araw ay nakakatanggap ka ng regalo ng walang dahilan, and it’s from my dad’s boss. Inisip na lang namin na it’s just their way so that our dad wouldn’t leave their company.