The Time Capsule

Chapter 4

"There are things I wish never happened. He is never one of them."

- From Corazon's Diary

I didn't know what I should do. Should I put it back inside that drawer? Should I read it?

I looked around, expecting someone to be watching me.

Alone in that room, without anyone to see me, I could do anything. So I chose to close the drawer and take the diary. I wouldn't read it tonight. I would just keep it safe.

I grabbed the photo as well.

As I exited my grandmother's room, I saw Erik reach the top of the steps. He saw me as I closed the door. "Hey," he beamed. "What are you up to?"

"Nothing you should know," I answered, arching my brow.

He shrugged and turned to the left corridor.

"Where are you going?"

He frowned. "To my room. I need to rest as well."

"Your room?"

"Do you have a problem if I was given a room here? Would you prefer I sleep outside with the dogs?"

"Is that possible?"

"You wouldn't want to hear me bark," he teased.

I grimaced at the thought. I walked to my room without a word and locked myself in. How come he was given a room upstairs? Well, Manang June had one. Maybe he was given the other room in case he was needed during an emergency when Wawa was still alive.

I walked to the bed that once belonged to my mother and looked at the diary in my hand. A big part of me wanted to read it. Another said that it was not right. My grandmother was to be buried the day after tomorrow.

My eyes went to the photo. She looked so happy. What had changed, then? Or did things change? Was I wrong? Did I paint a different picture of my grandmother in my head?

A knock on the door pulled me back from my thoughts.

"Stephanie, it's Dad."

I went and unlocked the door. The door creaked open. I saw my father enter and stop after a few paces. He looked around. "I've been here twice, you know."

I settled back unto the bed. "In this room?"

He nodded. "When your mother and I married, we stayed here for a day. And then we were gone."

I desperately wanted to ask him what happened, to tell me the whole story, but I was afraid. I was afraid to know that my grandmother had been cruel to my father. If possible, I wanted to be left in the dark on that matter.

"What's that?" He motioned at the diary in my hand.

"It's nothing." I nonchalantly placed the book to the side, over the photo like it was a journal I brought at the National Bookstore. "Notes for work. Why did you come back? I thought you were having a good time?"

He smiled. "I knew Mr. and Mrs. Luzuriaga years back. They've been my mentors."

"In what?"

"Business, of course. I used to work for them before I met your mother."

"Ah...yes, I remember. You introduced us earlier."

"I didn't think you were interested," he said when he read the slight bitterness in my tone.

"If they're people you know, I would want to know them."

He approached me and stroked my head. "I'll introduce you tomorrow."