Kick-Start

The End

The reporter smiled and looked at her notes before continuing.
"With everything that happened and how it turned out, would you do it all again?"

James and Ella looked at each other and said, "God no."

The reporter looks at them. "Why not? You survived and look where you are now. No?"

James answered, "Well, we are glad that we made it. But, look, we'd start and end our day starving. It got to the point where I even considered stealing from the library or selling illegal stuff just to get more money. The only thing that was stopping me that time was that I wasn't too far gone and I still considered the consequences of my actions - if I did that and got caught, they would take Ella away, I would lose support of my lola, my parents, my scholarship... I ran to my Lola that day and broke down. Sabi ko parang hindi ko na kaya..."

Ella held his hand.

"Dun sinabi ni Lola that whatever happens I will always have her. Kung desperate na kami sa money, run to her. She made me keep looking for opportunities and options, but it helped that I knew I had her support. Luckily, few times lang naman kami tumakbo sa kanya and we made sure we paid her agad."

He looked at the Interviewer. "So, you see? It was so tough. I wouldn't wish it on my worst enemy but I was asking the love of my life to grit her teeth and bear it with me."

Ella leaned in and kissed his cheek. "Ilang beses din, we talked about giving up - 'Ano? Uwi nalang tayo?' - Minsan, naka-pack na kami tapos biglang may mag-o-order ng maraming cookies or he'd get additional overtime pay or even lang magpapadala ng food yung kapitbahay kasi galing sa birthday ng kamag-anak and they had extra. So, kami naman - o sige, let's hang on for one more day."

"So, you both considered going home?" asked the Interviewer.

James and Ella nodded. "Oh yes."

Ella expounded. "Especially that first year. Ang hirap talaga! We went to school hungry. When the barkada ate lunch at a fast food, we would swipe some of their fries. Eventually, we noticed they always order large fries na and they would share it pero alam namin na it was because of us. We had good friends talaga, but we also lost a lot of friends 'no?"

James nodded. "Oo. People distanced themselves from us kasi pinagchichismisan na kami sa school."

"And, I felt so bad when we would go to sleep and hear his stomach grumbling. I would wonder if I should just let him go home but, selfishly, I didn't want us to separate and I'd fall asleep thinking about my dilemma," Ella said, sadly.

James kissed her forehead. "Remember when we both got colds? Tapos we couldn't buy meds so we just bought a lot of calamansi."

They chuckled.

James continued the story. "One time, Ella bought our ulam... niloko kami! Puro sabaw pala yun adobo and it only had, what, four pieces of meat? Iyak ng iyak si Ella and there was nothing I could do. We never forgot that kaya siguro we swear we never sell our customers short with our products. Some of them, yan ang dinner nila or the only food they could afford, and we know how it feels kaya we make sure they get value for their money."

Ella beamed up at him. "He always reminds our staff that. And I couldn't be more proud."

"Do you have any regrets?" The Interviewer asked next.

Ella nodded. "Yes. He also got a lot of insults - nagpapikot daw, tanga kasi - ganung stuff. And, I used to feel like I robbed him of his youth. Yung barkada magiinuman, pupunta kung saan-saan, he would have to pass because he has work pa or because he didn't like leaving me home alone. Marami siyang hindi nagawa when he was younger and, no matter what I do, I can't give him that."

"Ngek! I don't even think of that, but I understand the guilt," James consoled his wife.

"Kayo po, Sir? Regrets?"

"Hmmm," he thought about it for a few minutes. "Other than having her deal with the hardships and being cut-off from family? It's the names she was called. Whatever insults thrown my way was nothing on what they called her. It was horrible. It didn't matter that she still topped her class and was in the Dean's List every semester - she was thought of as - no, I don't want to repeat those things. They're not worth repeating in front of my wife."

Ella smiled. James had always been protective and loyal and she couldn't be more grateful. "Thank you, Santiago."

"These people weren't thinking. She was studying or baking or finding people who had food to spare for us or making sure our house was as clean and pleasant as she could make it para daw when I come home hindi ako maiinis sa dumi or whatever," James recalled lovingly. "She didn't have time for all the other things they were accusing her of. Remember Mahal, one time may nag-cancel ng order?"

"Yes. We sold it sa school or sa mga kasabay namin sa jeep," she added.

"So the two of you got through the situation because of a lot of love?"

"Love," Ella agreed. "A strong one. But, also LOTS of help, I can't emphasise that enough. Take out one and we probably won't make it. Then, on our part, love, commitment and grit."

"But, people shouldn't forget, we still split." James reminded.

"Yes," Ella said. "It wasn't as if we moved together, went through tough times and then all was good. We split. And we had to grow separately. Looking back now, yes, maybe we needed that but we could've easily just went on our separate ways. Lucky for me, this guy decided to make papansin again and kick-start our love story."

Epilogue

"Mahal ko! I have pasalubong for you!"

Ella looks up from the shirt she was repairing. It was taking her longer these days because her eyesight was failing and her hands no longer steady.

James makes his way to her, slowly, with the aid of his cane.

Ella smiles. "What is it, Santiago?" She beams when she sees the cookies with ice frosting. She shouldn't be surprised but still she says, "Thank you, Santiago! How was the Board meeting?"

"It's fine. Nothing new and our kids are running the businesses well. Now, it's time for our pasyal. Where do you want to go today, Mahal?"

Setting aside his shirt, she took the small bag he gave her all those years ago. She still favoured this, even if James had given her more expensive ones over the years. Checking if she still had money, she turned to him and said,"Take me to the palengke, please, Santiago?"

And hand in hand, they headed to the nearby market for their afternoon stroll.

The End