Everything Has Changed

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Patricia hugs the twins for the second time and kisses them on their cheeks.

"Mama, we'll be fine! Go now. You'll be late for work." -Pippa insists.

Patricia smiles. "I am going to miss you both so much. Be good ha?"

"Mom, this is not a boarding school." -Dylan reminds her. "We're going to see each other later again!"

She pinches his nose and wrinkles hers. "I'm trying to be sweet here, you munchkin." And she finally says her last goodbye and goes back inside the car. She waits until the two get inside the school before telling her driver to bring her to the office.

•••••••

"Go on. I'm listening." -Olive tells Migo.

"Wala ka bang trabaho? Lagi kang dito naka-tambay sa akin eh. If I were your boss I would've fired you already."

"But you're not." She sticks her tongue out playfully. "Dali na! Para nga matulungan kita dyan."

He sighs and puts his attention back to his desktop. "Sino pa ba tutulungan mo eh ikakasal na nga."

Olive widens her eyes. "What?!" She gets her phone from her bag and texts someone. She gets a reply right away. "Wala naman daw singsing ha?"

His eyebrows meet and looks back at Olive. "Daw? Who told you so?"

"Uhm..." She clears her throat. "My source."

"Puro ka source. Sino ba?"

She shakes her head. "Uh-ah. No revealing. Wait. Who told you ba that she's getting married already?"

He breathes heavily. "Her mom."

She opens her mouth.

"Oh, nanay na nya yun ha? Sinong mas kapani-paniwala; yang source mo o yung nanay?"

She texts again. Then gets another reply. She frowns. Then sighs.

"See? We're done. Everything's too late."

She clicks her tongue. "Ay nako, ako na bahala dyan sa love life mo. But for now, i-kwento mo na muna kasi your past with Patricia. What happened? Why did you break up?"

"Ano ka ba? I already told you everything before. We met in college, then we had problems and broke up. The end."

"Eh what happened to that Karen? Did she show up to you pa rin after the graduation?"

"After two years... Yeah."

***

Migo was preparing lunch for the family when someone rang the doorbell. Instead of seeing who it was himself, he called his mom to do so because he was busy cooking her favorite "kaldereta".
She was very proud of him because he finally knew how to cook her favorite dish. Only one thing; aside from that and frying eggs and bacon, cooking rice with the rice cooker and cooking instant noodles, he didn't know how to cook anything else. She would always tell him to buy a cookbook so that he could learn more. So when the time came and his future wife asked him to cook for her, he would know what to do.

"Anak."

He turned and found his mother walking closer.

"Ako na dyan. Bisita mo."

He frowned. "Who is it?"

She sighed. "Karen daw."

He looked down and thought. What the hell is she doing here? After what she did to me and Patricia, she still has the courage to show up?