In Heaven (Completed kaya basahin mo na XD)

Day 5

"Cassie!" Jeremy calls to me out loud while walking hand in hand with a chubby little boy.

"Hi, Ms. Cassie! My name is Carlos." The boy greets me with a big smile plastered on his face which seems to creep the hell out of me.

"Hi." I forced a small smile to him.

Since Jeremy learned that I don't like children that much, I think he plans this is as a new way to make fun of me. Now I regret sharing that certain fact to him.

"Can I leave him to you for a while?" He asks hurriedly.

"Me, babysitting? No way." I mouth to him.

"Please. Just for a little while." He mouths back, his beautiful eyes working its magic on me.

"Is this your kid? Why not just leave him to the nurses?" I whispered to him, making sure the boy would not hear it.

"He's not a patient so I can't leave him to them. And he's not my kid. I'm a proud bachelor." He whispers back. His breath tickling my ear.

"I can take care of myself. You both go and do your chores now." Carlos smiles at the both of us. A smile which made me feel guilty.

Without much further thought, I hold the little boy's hand and walked away with him. I didn't bother to look back at Jeremy, but I bet he is grinning widely at the success of teasing me once again.

Carlos and I ended up seating beside each other at the garden. He is kind of different now as compared to the cheery kid I met earlier. He is now eerily silent and his face is vacant, not a single expression can be seen from it. He was like staring into nothingness. And it bothered me, so I decided to talk to him.

"Want to play?" I ask with a happy tone, trying to conceal that it was a forced one.

He shakes his head.

"Hungry?" I ask again.

He shakes his head again and continue to stare into nothingness.

I decided to shut up in fear that if I say another word, the kid would throw a temper tantrum. After a few minutes of deafening silence, he finally speaks.

"Mr. Jeremy lied to me." He states stoically.

I look at him, my eyes questioning his.

"He told me that grandma was just sleeping, when in fact she is already dead." He continues with great composure which shocks me. How can a young kid possess such solid concept of the word death?

"How did you know that your grandma was dead?" I ask, trying to trick him and support Jeremy's lie.

"Because she bid me goodbye. She even gave me her favorite book." He reasons out while showing me the book which was resting on his lap. I look at it and instantly notice the small teardrops now forming on top of it. I look at his face so he quickly wipes his tears away.

"Go on and can cry. You're just a kid, no need to act so tough. Only we, grown-ups need to be tough." I pull him into my arms as he lets out a loud cry. He muffles his screams of grief by burying his face to my chest, so I give his head a comforting pat.

One reason why I dislike kids is because they cry too much, even for just a simple cause. But with Carlos, it was different. He has every right to cry, for his tears have a deeper meaning. It is of letting go of someone very dear to him. Someone whom he loves.

-

"Thank you Ms. Cassie." Carlos smiles then bows his head before leaving.

His mother does the same so I reciprocate it. I watch them take a few steps away from the hospice before finally taking a step myself. But Carlos startles me as he runs back to me and tugs on my loose patient's gown. He then motions me to bend over for he has something to say. I did and put my ear near to his lips, but instead of a whisper it was a quick shy kiss on my cheek that I got from him. He dashes to his mother's side after that, careful not to meet my eyes along the way. I just smile at his cuteness as I cup my face in one hand.

"Seems that you don't really hate kids at all." Jeremy chuckles as he approaches me from behind.

"I never told you that I hate kids. I only said that I don't like them that much." I articulate the words 'didn't like'.

"Is there any difference?" He furrows his brows.

"Let's go by their antonyms. Like is for dislike, as love is for hate." I explain logically.

He nods his head a couple of times, implicating that he gets my point. "So you like Carlos. How about me? Do you like or dislike me?" He asks plainly.

"Like, of course. I wouldn't be talking to you if I don't, right?" I point out what was already obvious.

He nods his head again, the same manner he did a while ago. "How about..." He pauses, then looks straight to my eyes. "Love or hate, which one is it?" He bit back a smile as our eyes met.

"What do you think?" I ask back, trying hard to conceal the smile slowly forming on my lips.

He doesn't answer but laughs instead.