Just The Strings (COMPLETED)

Kabanata 37

#JustTheStrings

Kabanata 37

It had always been a wonder how easy people can lie to one another... Because I had tried lying but it didn't feel good. Nung unang beses na nagsinungaling ako kay Kuya, sa sobrang lakas ng konsensya ko, I admitted my wrongdoing a few hours after. Tapos isinama ko rin sa confession iyon. At hindi pa rin ako natahimik kaya nagdonate pa ako sa foundation... At saka lang ako pinatahimik ng konsensya ko.

I had asked them a couple of times now pero palagi nilang sinasabi na okay lang daw ang lahat. They lied over and over again na minsan nga naniniwala na rin ako na okay lang ang lahat. But then I would remember that my brother's God knows where, and Ate Jas refused to take any of my calls. Kaya paano kaya nagagawa nila Liza at Kath sa akin 'yun? Not that they had the responsibility to tell me everything... pero kaibigan ko sila, e. And somehow, I was affected.

"Liza, I tried calling you yesterday pero wala ka raw. I wanted to ask you to come with me. Nasan ka kahapon?"

"Ah..." she said uneasily. "I was out."

"With?"

"With my mom," she said. But she was with Kuya Benj.

Why would she blatantly lie about that? Kung wala namang kung ano sa pagitan nila ni Kuya Jackson, bakit siya magsisinungaling? She could've just said na magkasama sila.

"Kath..."

"Hmm?"

I sighed.

"Do you know where Kuya is?"

She looked at me and just smiled. Didn't say anything but just smiled.

Hindi ko na talaga alam. Sinusubukan ko naman na habaan iyong pasensya ko pero hindi naman ako santo. Mahaba man ang pasensya ko, may hangganan naman iyon.

"Do you want to hang later?" Kath asked me.

I shook my head.

"May lakad ka later?"

I nodded.

"Oh. With Saint again?"

Tumango ulit ako. It's just that I didn't want to sadden myself more. Tuwi kasing nakikita ko sila, mas naaalala ko lang iyong mga bagay na tinatago nila. And hard as I tried to not think about it, I still did. I overthink things. And it's bad. It's really, really bad.

So I figured that instead of worrying myself over things that I had no control over, I should just focus on other things instead. I was constantly praying for the people around me but even I knew that I couldn't keep living that way. Dalawang araw na nga akong may sakit, e. Sabi nung doctor stress and overfatigue lang naman daw kaya konting pahinga lang, okay na ako. And maybe it was wrong to feel happy that I got sick pero kasi medyo nagiging okay na sila Mama... They were talking—a little, yes, but that's still an improvement. And that was because the doctor told them that I shouldn't be stressed. E sila naman iyong malaking dahilan kung bakit stressed at hindi ako makakain nitong mga nakaraang araw...

And Saint.

Well, since he found out that I was rushed to the hospital, agad niya akong pinuntahan. Hindi pa tapos iyong team building nila pero umalis na agad siya. Naawa nga ako kasi halos one week siyang pinapahirapan sa training nila pero sabi niya, okay lang naman daw. Kaysa naman daw nandoon siya sa Tagaytay habang nasa ospital ako. Pero pinagalitan ko nga siya dahil ang bilis niya raw magmaneho according to Cohen. He beat at least three red lights! Nagtataka nga ako kung bakit hindi siya nahuli, e.