Red String of Fate

Chapter 4: Scars

Alexa looked at the weak, gray-haired man huddled beneath the blankets and for a second she thought they must have entered the wrong room - the sickly, helpless-looking man propped on the pillows couldn't be her father. Atty. Leandro Carbonel was a tall, well-built man with twinkling brown eyes and ready laughter; not pale, wan and lifeless.

"Daddy." Lee Ann softly called. "Daddy nandito na po si Ate." She whispered as she touched his face. His eyes fluttered open and Alexa tried to ignore the painful twist in her chest.

"Lianna, ikaw na ba yan?" Atty. Carbonel croaked and Lee Ann pulled Alexa closer to the bed.

"Hi... Daddy." Alexa greeted swallowing the lump in her throat.

"Daddy, kami na po ni Ate ang mag-aalaga sayo. Di ba, Ate?" Lee Ann asked and Alexa blinked. Wala syang intensyong magtagal sa Pilipinas pero di nya rin kayang humindi seeing her father's condition. Finally she nodded her head and Lee Ann beamed. "Kaya Daddy pagaling na po kayo kasi nandito na po si Ate." The teenager added before she gently kissed her father's forehead. Atty. Carbonel patted the younger girl's hand and smiled lovingly at Lee Ann. Alexa felt out-of-place watching her sister and her father's exchange. Para syang intruder sa mundo ng mag-ama.

"Lianna..." She heard her father call and she looked at him.

"Po?"

"I'm glad you're finally home." Atty. Carbonel whispered, his eyes welling up with tears and Alexa felt her heart constrict.  

"I'm glad to be home too...Dad." She finally said and averted her eyes when she felt them sting with unshed tears.  

"What was she like?" Lee Ann asked. They were sitting inside the hospital's cafeteria munching on sandwiches, Alexa's first meal in nearly twenty hours. Her arrival seemed to have lifted Atty. Carbonel's spirits as the doctor gave him the go signal to check out of the hospital. Her father had wanted to go home that night but the doctor was adamant in saying that he should stay the night for further observation. 

 "Sino?" Alexa asked as she wiped the rim of the canned Diet Coke she bought with a tissue paper. 

 "Yung Mommy mo po, Ate." Lee Ann said and Alexa slowly put the can down. 

 "Bakit mo tinatanong?" 

 "Sorry po, hindi nyo naman po kailangang sagutin lahat ng tanong ko po, Ate." Lee Ann said bowing her head and Alexa felt guilty. 

 "No, it's okay." 

 "I was just curious, hindi ko kasi matandaan itsura ng Mommy ko." Lee Ann divulged. "I mean, she died giving birth to my baby brother. Both of them died." 

 "Ilang taon ka nun?" Alexa asked, her heart going out to the younger girl. 

 "I was three..." Lee Ann replied and Alexa's guilt doubled. At least I knew my own mother. She thought as she watched Lee Ann push the sandwich around her plate. 

 "Mabait sya. She always laughed and made people around her laugh too. She taught me songs that Dad used to sing for me when I was a baby. She was good at playing the piano and she had a beautiful voice. Sigurado akong kung nakilala ka nya, magugustuhan ka nya." She said and Lee Ann smiled at her. 

 "I'm sure I would have liked her too, Ate." 

 "You would have..." Alexa replied as she tried to smile. Naguguluhan sya sa nararamdaman nya, she felt she didn't belong in her father and sister's world but she can't just leave. "May gusto ka pa bang kainin?" She asked Lee Ann who shook her head.

"Ate, buti na lang umuwi ka na. Alam mo bang gabi-gabi pinagdadasal namin ni Daddy na umuwi ka na?" Lee Ann unwittingly said and Alexa smiled. Hindi ako magtatagal dito. She wanted to say but opted to keep her mouth shut.