photograph // darren espanto

chapter two - pilipinas meetings

bc the picture describes Lei's personality. keep it in mind ;) enjoy the story :))
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Lei's POV

We've been in the airplane for a while now, my dad and brother are asleep while my mom was just watching a movie from the little tv on the backseat. I fiddle around a bit with my jacket zippers and bracelets, until I realize something. I look at my wrist then see something missing. My eyes widen. Oh no no no. I shuffle around in my seat to see if I dropped it or not, but I saw nothing. My mom took off her headphones then gave me 'what the hell' look.

"What's wrong? Dropped your wallet again?" My mom asks, laughing to herself about what happened last time.

She's a young mom. Like me, she dyed her hair, this time she made it dirty blonde, with a little of her black roots showing. When you see her, the first thing you'd notice is the rose tattoo on her arm. You could say she's a 'cool mom' but she's also pretty crazy.

I roll my eyes at her then shuffle around some more. "Alright that was one time. And i'm looking for my bracelet. The one I got from Hawaii that has my name on it"

"Oh that old thing? Don't worry about it, i'll get you a new one" My mom said carelessly, then put her headphones back on.

I got that bracelet back in Hawaii when I was little. It was adjustable, so it somehow managed to fit my wrist for like 13 years. Knowing me, I don't hold on to things that often, moving from place to place never gave me much of a house to store all my stuff in.

But for some reason, that bracelet was somewhat special. I don't who gave it to me, or where it came from, but I liked it. It was a gold chained one with the writing "Ho'onalu" engraved on it, and "Leah R." in the back.

The only thing I remember from it when I was little in Cebu. Some guy returned it to me when I apparently dropped it on the ground. Honestly at that time I didn't know I had a bracelet like that, but I just took it anyways. I forgot who the dude was, but he was a little weird...and kinda ugly.

I just sigh and slouch on my seat. I probably dropped it at the airport. And now i'm never getting it back.

After like 10 minutes of being bummed about my bracelet that I've had forever, I decide to just not worry about it and listen to music or something. We spent a few more hours in the airplane and finally arrived at the airport.

Gotta enjoy the Philippines while i'm here, right? We're staying with my mom's side of the family so Manila here we are.

We did the our basic airport routine. Get out of the plane, wait for our luggage, mess around a bit, watch Nick get yelled at by security for riding his skateboard. Y'know, the usual. We'd usually get a taxi ride to the place we're staying, but this time we actually had family to pick us up, surprisingly.

Gee I forgot how cool Manila is...and how hot. After we went through that routine, these two guys and one woman went up to my parents. My parents immediately went up to hug and fist bump and all that stuff. They did it for about a minute, all you could hear was "ayyeee" "what's uppp" "ano naaaa". Nick and I just stood in the sidelines awkwardly watching old people get together. They were all caught up in their own thing, until my dad got a glance of us.

"Oh, guys. This my sister, Tita Emily" My dad showed to us, she gave us a big friendly smile and a wave. I gave her a weak wave back. The lady seemed older than my dad. She had short black hair that reached her shoulders, with a little gray hairs peaking. She also was heavy with the red lipstick and white powder, but hey i'm not here to judge.