Searching For My Future Husband [COMPLETED]

Chapter 46 - The Tea

"Anong ginagawa mo dito?" tanong ko.

"You wan't some tea?" sabi niya sabay pinakita niya sakin na may dala siyang tea.

I sigh. “I don’t need tea. I need to go to bed.”

She takes my arm, leads me into the sofa, and I’m too worn out to stop her.

Ano bang balak niya? 

Mag pagka'weirdo talaga tong babaeng to.

“I’ll be right back,” she says. 

After minutes bumalik na siya.

She fills the copper teakettle with tap water and sets it down.

Then she put her box of tea at the table.

She removes something from her box. “Fenghuang dancong oolong. Fenghuang means ‘phoenix.’ This is the one for you.” she said smilling.

"Huh?"

She opens my cabinet of drinking glasses and takes out a pink teacup. 

"Huhulaan kita" sabi niya.

"No way!" hello ? hindi ako naniniwala sa hula hula na yan!

"Yes way! Dali na.."

"Clydell... pumunta ka dito para hulaan ako?"

Ang weird niya promise! Sino pa bang tao ang naniniwala sa hula?

"Yes" nakangiti niyang sagot.

"No."

She thinks for a moment.

“Aren’t you the least bit curious?”

“No.”

But I say it too quickly. She spots a waver as the back corners of my mind answer differently.

Who isn’t the least bit curious? I know fortune-telling is a deception, but my life has become such a struggle that I can’t help but hope for an answer anyway.

Maybe the fortune will tell me something about Dylan...

Maybe it knows something I don’t, or maybe it wil make me think of something I wouldn’t have otherwise realized.

The kettle whistles, and she scoops a spoonful of tea directly into it.

The longer we wait, the edgier I become. I almost get up to leave a dozen times, but curiosity has a strong hold on me.

“Drink,” sabi niya sakin, “Leave about half a teaspoon of liquid.”

I sip the tea, because it’s hot.

The flavor is light, and it tastes like a peach, but with something darker hidden inside.

I finally reach the bottom. 

“Now what?”

“Take the cup with your left hand.”

“Is that my magic hand?”

 “Now turn it three times, counterclockwise—faster than that. Yes, good. Turn it over onto your saucer.”

“Won’t all the leaves run out?”

“Shh. Keep your hand on the bottom of the cup. And close your eyes and take a moment to think about what you’d like to know.”

I feel stupid. THAT is what I think about. And . . . I think about my future husband.. .

“Turn it back over. Carefully,” she adds. I slow down and right my teacup.The leaves have used the last remaining droplets of liquid to stick to the sides.

“I’l take that now.”

She’s silent for many minutes.

“Well.” she sets it down and gestures for me to scoot closer.

“Do you see this cloud here, close to the handle?”

“Sort of.Yeah.”

“That means you’re in a stage of confusion or trouble. "

Tinignan kong mabuti yung tinuturo niya...

“But do you see these dots, traveling around the edge of the cup?”

I nod.

“A path of dots means a journey. This one wil be taken over the course of several months. If it circled al the way back around, it would have been at least a year,” she explains. “But the journey ends here, into this shape. What does that look like to you?”

“Um. A moon, maybe? With a . . . stick coming out of it?”

“How about a cherry?”

“Yeah! I see that.”

“Cherries represent first love. In other words, this path you’re on leads to first love.” 

First love???

Eh ang first love ko ay si Michael? Na tinangka akong gahasain!

Clydell is messing with me.

She pauses. “Why don’t you tell me what shapes you see in the cup?”

I stare into it for several minutes.

I look for dogs or shoes or anything recognizable, but al I see are wet leaves. My eyes keep returning to the cherry. I set the cup down. “I don’t know. There’s a pile of sticks on that side. And a curlicue thing.”

“Okay. The loop is near the rim, so that means you’ve been making—or you’ll soon be making—impulsive actions.”

“Good or bad?” I quickly ask.

She shrugs. “Could be either, but are things done on impulse ever really a good idea? And see how the sticks are crossed, al on top of each other? That suggests a series of arguments. It usually leads to a parting.” 

“A parting.” I stand. “Yes, thank you. This was very educational.”

Arguments, partings, impulses. Clouds of confusion. I thought fortunes were supposed to make people feel BETTER about their lives.

"Wait Mira."

"Sorry Cly, pero masama yung pakiramdam ko eh" sabay dumeretso na ko ng kwarto ko.

"It will help you. Tandaan mo lahat ng sinabi ko ah" sabay narinig kong sumara yung pinto.

Pag alis niya ay inisip ko yung mga sinabi niya..

I don’t know why I’m giving any of this crap my consideration. 

I toss in my bedcovers, unable to sleep from the guilt over Anna my best friend, from the caffeine in the tea, from that stupid freaking cherry. Maybe cherries don’t mean first love. 

Okaya baka ang tinutukoy niya ay yung first kiss? Kase kung ganun si Vince yun.. Edi nasa right path naman pala ko?