MARAHUYO

M- 7

Isiah 66:9
"I will not cause pain without allowing something new to be born, says the Lord."

*

The aroma of her favorite drink in the morning and newly-cooked bacon, eggs, and hotdogs sprinkled from her room up to the living room. She finds it odd that she woke up earlier than she usually does.

It must be her mom who's cooking as she heard her laughs from the kitchen.

But why is her mom laughing? There is no maid with them today as she took a day off so it must be impossible for her mom to talk to her unless she talks to someone over the phone.

That thought considered, she decided to go back to Unique's room to wake him up as he has school today. She saw him stretching his arms as soon as she swung his door open.

"Good morning, baby boy."

Unique gave her mom a sad glare as he heard her call that way.

"Oh, ang aga namang naka-simangot? Papangit ka niyan," she teased him and walked toward him, "Bakit, baby boy?"

"Ma naman!" he retorted, "I'm 16 already. I'm not a baby boy anymore, okay?"

"Bakit? Kahit umabot ka ng 50 years old, I'm still going to call you baby boy. You can't stop me, not even that glare," she chuckled and sat beside him.

She wrapped her arms around her son's waist and placed a sweet kiss on the side of his head, "Tayo ka na diyan and take a bath. Your Abu is cooking na. Baka ma-late ka."

"Ma," he called her attention, "Pwede bang huwag na muna akong pumasok ngayon?"

Her eyes squinted. She then placed the back of her hand on his forehead to check if he has fever, "Bakit? Wala ka namang lagnat. Are you not feeling well?"

He sighed, "Tinatamad na po ako."

She playfully pinched his ear, "Tumayo ka na diyan. Maraming bata sa--"

"Maraming bata sa buong mundo ang gustong mag-aral pero walang pera. Ikaw, you have what you need, tinatamad ka?" he finished her supposed to be short speech.

She could only chuckle. Unique has memorized her line already and she is quite happy that he knows what she's about to say because that just only means he keeps into his mind what she tells him, "Good. Now, take a bath. Bababa na ako."

"Okay, madame!" he exclaimed and stood up.

Before he could enter the bathroom, his mom shouted, "Ayaw mong nagpapatawag ng baby boy pero itong gulo sa kwarto mo, pang-baby boy pa."

"Ma, aayusin ko 'yan," he replied and quickly entered the bathroom to take a bath.

She went inside her room to get her tumbler and her phone, too before deciding to go to the kitchen where Mommy Joy is cooking.

She was surprised– the word is even an understatement– as she saw a familiar built of a man, his back facing her whilst her mom was sitting there, drinking coffee.

"Oh, anak, you're up already?" her mom asked her the moment their eyes met.

Surprise is still on her face that she wasn't able to give her mom a reply. She stared at his back, contemplating whether her guess was right or not.

Finally, he faced her and gave her a warm smile, "Good morning."

She shook her head still in disbelief.

Mommy Joy noticed how surprised she was to see him inside their kitchen wearing an apron and so she explained, "He texted me last night asking if he could come over early in the morning to surprise you. So, no worries. He went here with my consent."