A Discovery of Love

Kabanata 1

"Aj, sweetheart gising na dyan. Bangon na, breakfast is waiting for you.", it's mom again. It's always been like that, like a routine. Mom's waking me up and I lazily follow her like a zombie every morning. Cause if I don't, kawawa ang aking door sa walang katapusan katok ng Mama ko.

"Aj bangon na dyan. You know my rules," my mom's voice suddenly change. It's not a warning, sounds like a threat to me. I know what will happen next if hindi pa ako sasagot.

"Gising na Ma.", as I open the door to give her the assurance that I woke up already. She nooded and smile sweetly at me.

"good girl. Goodmorning sweetheart.", she gave me a peck on my cheek but I immediately wipe it. It's disgusting I'm not a child anymore.

"hmmm, wash first and come down for breakfast. Bilisan mo lang you only have an hour before going to school.", as she walk away from me. She's all dressed up already and ready to go to her work, why bother to wait for me?

"ok", I groaned.

After twenty minutes I'm done. You might actually in disbelief but believe me it only takes me 15 minutes or less to take a shower and 5 minutes to dress up. I'm just a normal girl, very normal girl it is. No doing of rituals like many girls are doing outthere. Plain shirt paired with skinny jeans and sneakers is my normal outfit all the time. As I go downstairs I saw my mom lifted her head. Looking at me from head to toe. Shaking her head in disapproval of what I'm usually wearing right now. Hindi na ba siya nasanay na ito yung comfortable zone ko sa pananamit? She always want me to dress like a lady, wearing dress and heels, do make ups and what else does a lady do? Ewan ko, wala akong pakealam.

I sit opposite to her and starting to fill my plate with the food served by manang Gina, our only helper for almost 2 decades. She's already a family to us.

"Aj, dahan- dahan naman sa kanin. Hindi kaba natatakot tumaba niyan?", she noticed that I'm taking another round but it didn't bother me to stop taking another scoop of rice. Eh sa masarap ang lutong minudo ni manang Gina. Sino ba kasi ang nagsabi na paborito kong ulam ang iluto.

"kung lagi ka pa lang ganyan, I'm sure wala nang manliligaw sayo. Graduating ka na ng college and till now wala pa akong narinig sayo na may nanliligaw sayo Aj." she continued but para lang akong bingi na walang naririnig.

"Aj, are you even listening to me?", medyo galit na ang tono ni Mama. But it also irritates me kasi nakekealam na naman siya.

"Ma, stop it ok? Nasa hapag kainan tayo at nag-aalmusal, can't it wait till we are finish with our food?", I know it's kinda harsh to talk back to my mom like that but it's the only way ai think to make her stop in critizing my actions. I think obviously you can guess now what kind of relationship we have.

"ok, we'll stop it here now but later we'll talk about it again. Malelate na kasi ako sa trabaho.", she said as she hurriedly wipe her mouth and carry her plate sa lababo kahit hindi pa niya naubos ang kanyang kinakain. Wasting of food again.

"sino ba kasing nagsabi na hintayin pa ako," I murmured.

"Did you say something?", she asked nang makalapit siya sa akin. But I just shake my head saying it's nothing. Then She kiss me and bid her goodbye. Nagmamadaling umalis kasi nga late na nga. She's an interior designer. She's well known in her craft, actually she has her own company designing together with Tita Riza, her sister who happens to be a designer as well. Designing i think runs in our blood because I also happened to be an architect in the future. Maliban kay Papa na nasa politics ang hilig but it was already in the past. He's not with us here anymore.

Afterwards, after I finish my food as well, I also left the house at nagpaalam na kay manang Gina. I have high respect with her because I treat her more than just a family, I treated her like a mom too. She's nice eversince I was a little girl. I drove to school with my motorbike which my Dad gave it to me as a gift on my 18th birthday. Kahit kontrabida si Mom ng panahong iyon ay nakuha ko parin ang gusto ko, medyo spoiled ako kay Dad at nakuha ko din sa kaniya ang hilig sa mga motorsiklo. My dad loves it and I love motorbikes too especially those highly classic kind of motorbikes but my mom hates it. Now, can you imagine me wearing a dress and heels while driving it? Siguro hindi lang niya tanggap na ang kaiisang anak niyang babae ay hindi katulad niya. Frustration indeed. Pero she loves it when I decided to take architecture as my course in college, although sabi pa niya dati kahit hindi talaga actually interior designing ang kinuha ko at least related parin daw sa pagdedesign kaya pina-enrol ako sa isang kilalang unibersidad. She even boasted it to Dad, nakakatawa nga silang dalawa parang bata na pinag-uusapan kung ano ang nakuha ko sa kanilang dalawa.

I arrived at school 5 minutes late but it's ok kasi I know hindi naman agad niyang magkaklase. More on like introducing yourself in the first day of school. The parking attendant, manong Jessie greeted me as I enter the parking lot. I am about to go to my slot particularly my slot since the beginning of my school days here in the university ay may biglang sumingit at nang-agaw ng aking puesto.

"what the hell?", i said out of anger.