JLo is my Boss

😔 24 : Forget the past, perhaps?

Jennifer Lopez's POV

I've been to a reunion/gathering with the family which was held at the Beverly Wilshire Hotel in Beverly Hills. My cousin Nardo just came all the way from Puerto Rico where he's been taking care of his business. He's been working a lot ever since his father died years ago. His mother Mercedes, was also with him, was the one who urged him to come to California to bond with the family.

*****

Brianna's POV

I can't get over how Jen forgot about me. She can't be just be unfair like that. Let's just forget the past perhaps? I don't know.. So maybe that's what she meant in the letter?

I already cashed the cheque in American Express and I almost got 50,000 in Philippine peso. That was an awful weekend. Monday, so now I'm back to being alone in the house. That's much better than going out and bumping to some people who you used to know in 2017 and suddenly forgets about you now that it's 2018.

I just decided to clean my room (well basically mine and MY mother's room cause we share), and I just remember that one meme on facebook saying When I clean my room, it's actually: 5% cleaning and 95% enjoying the stuffs I've found while cleaning. Cause I found some stuffs under the bed, in the drawers and in the closets.

Then what caught me the most was the dusty shoebox which was placed underneath the underwears. I sat on the bed and opened it. I should be better off have something to make myself busy and stop mourning about the ignorant person that I've been idolizing my whole life but care nothing about me. Ugh fangirl problems..

I found out that those were photos stacked in that box which, I think, mama kept. I took a look at those pictures and I've never seen most of them. There were pictures of me when I was a baby. And also Brandon's. We even had a picture together where he was like 3yrs old. I was biting his arm and he was crying. Haha silly one-year old me.

There are several photos of us with my aunts and my cousins. Also my graduation in kindergarten and elementary. There are also black & white ones of my grandparents, they still looked young in those pictures. So many photos involving different people, friends and relatives. BUT no dad.

Oh I was wrong. At the bottom of the stacks, there was this one picture of a family.  A mother, a father, and two children. It was mom, who was holding a 4-yr old Brandon. And the man, who I supposed must be the dad, carrying a little girl, which was me.

I do remember that we had a father. But I can barely remember the name and the face. Mom said I was just two when she started raising us as a single parent. And oh my dad was a foreigner? Not a white or a British though. But I'm sure he's not a Filipino. I knew that mom met him in one of the countries she had worked. But I'm not quiet sure which one. I can't keep up with all the places she'd been. My mom has been an overseas worker her whole life, like I said in the beginning.

They never had a chance to marry, I thought. Cause if they did then Brandon and I would have been bringing his family name. I wonder what could be his family name?

The very last photo was a solo picture of my father. He probably gave it to mom and they exchanged their younger photos as souvenirs. He looks exactly like Brandon when he was younger! Well he might look different now that he aged.

I wanted to do research as much as I can about my father. And I want to do it on my own. But how will I ever find him? To start off, I don't even know his name! Perhaps the only way to know is mom..

*****

At dinner time..

"Mom, what was dad's name?" I asked for the very first time in years since I was a kid.

Choking at my question from nowhere, Brandon handed mom a glass of water. She didn't expect that was coming for sure cause we never brought up that topic ever.

"What prompted you to ask that?" She said after calming down.

"I'm just curious about my father."

"Our father." Brandon corrected.

"Well," mom started. "Your father was like gone many years ago I don't know if he was abducted by some aliens or whatever.. I met him and stupidly fall in love with him. I thought he wasn't going to leave me especially when we already had 2 children, yet we didn't marry for some reasons he had which I don't know. Perhaps it's his parents WHO probably didn't like the idea that their son loved a simple and poor domestic helper. And even had children with! And I'm so stupid to love someone like that man, I don't even know much about his family nor his background. Time suddenly came when he no longer show up and if ever he will, I will surely kill him cause there will NEVER be enough explanation of what he did." Mom was gasping and us Brandon got so quiet.

"If he really loved me he would have think of other ways." She said almost sobbing in front of her plate.

Brandon and I looked at each other, then to mom, sympathetically. I already lost my appetite. Though the foods were good. Actually, the foods were getting better and the stuffs around the house. I see few improvements since Brandon was earning his own money, like new furniture, appliances and other things. And I also gave my money to mom and only spared $100 for me.

"Excuse me for a bit." Mom stood up and walked out. I didn't know that this kind of moments also happens in real life. I thought they're just in movies.