MIONG: And the Sublime Paralytic

Pamamahay



On the 21st floor of the condominium in Katipunan, there stands the suite that could probably cost around 10 million pesos (roughly 192,300 USD), excluding the interior. Appy was aware that Miong might be from a well-fortunate stand point, but he did not expect that he's way more than a well-fortunate.

Miong opened the door using his key card. He pushed Appy's wheelchair inside, while the boy gasped on how spacious the place is.

"I'm sorry it's not that much." Miong started, leaving Appy in the middle of the living room to start the dinner.

"Excuse me, are you trying to be humble? Because it's not working." Appy said, manuevering his wheel-chair on his own to face Miong. The man was rummaging through his bountiful refrigerator, but it took him time to decide what to get. Oh, the problems of the rich, Appy thought.

"Yeah. Well, there's only one room in this suite. It's a bachelor's pad, so, that space is the only bedroom." Miong pointed a room just across the kitchen and beside the living room. The said room only has white translucent curtains as division from the rest of the suite. The room has no veranda, but one entire wall is made up of glass, over-looking Quezon City. Not from afar, the entire U.P. Diliman campus can be seen.

"Wow." Appy said, steering towards the translucent curtain. He easily parted the curtains, making him see the campus clearly. University of the Philippines Diliman is the most prestigious school in the country. It's the largest, too. All the best lawyers, senators, political analysts, and businessmen and women came from this school. His favorite Senator, Senator Miriam Defensor-Santiago, studied in this school.

U.P. Diliman is his dream University. He's in senior High School, maybe he can get in. He can get a scholarship, sure, but there are thousands of applicants every semester. How can he compete? And there's also the high-standard of living in Quezon City, boarding would be too expensive despite the free tuition.

And how about his current condition?

Good thing he made those propositions with Miong. In a sense, his mother was right. What if Miong drops him midway? He'll have to continue studying even when Miong halts on sponsoring him. If so, at least from the very beginning, he must get a scholarship.

Miong walks inside the room and took Appy. "Excuse me, I will get you now. Let's eat."

It was suprising that Miong knows how to cook. He made Adobo (it's like a Filipino steak with bay leaves) together with garlic fried rice. They are currently eating in the living room since the dining table is a bachelor's type table; the kind of table that looks like a bar counter. It's too high. Appy cannot not reach it, so Miong decided that they must eat at the low coffee table of the living room. Despite the proper height, Appy still cannot reach the coffee table because he can't lean forward so much. He's paralyzed from the waist down so it's hard to move his hips.

He bit his lips in frustration.

And he knows who's the source of that frustration.

Before Miong could even swallow his rice, he noticed Appy's glare.

"I can't lean forward." Appy mentioned when Miong finally looked.

"How about I put the plate on your lap. Would that work?" Miong suggested.

"Maybe." Appy breathed.

Miong set the plate on his lap, but oh, Adobo is a delicacy with soy sauce. A lot of it. It's not like Appy can control his legs to balance the plate properly, resulting in a stained white pajamas and face-palming Miong.

In the bathroom, Miong was setting the pants on washing machine while Appy, without a bottom, takes care of himself by wiping off the soy sauce from his white legs while seated in his wheel chair. Miong cannot not deny, the boy has nice pair of hairless legs. It would be easy to stomach taking care of a guy if his features are not as gross as that of a very manly guy. Appy has very skinny structure, too. He's light, easy to carry. His waist is small and his shoulders are narrow. He's like a girl who refuses to eat, just that, Appy really had nothing to eat. He would be very proud if Appy gets some fats under his care.

"I need to go to class before 2:00 pm, so, I'll leave you after this." Miong declared.

And Appy glared.

"Of course I will help you put on some pants before I leave." Miong followed.

"Wonderful. By the way, there's another reason why I'm glaring at you." Appy lifted his white polo shirt and revealed a stained white underwear. 'Oh great', Miong thought.

Miong can't do anything but abide, of course. He's not getting late anyway, but in this kind of lifestyle where he must always put another person in consideration, he will have to adjust his entire schedule. He decided, that from now on, he must be one hour ready to leave the house to take care of Appy first.

He lifted Appy from his wheel-chair and assisted him on the disabled-friendly tub that he just recently installed. When he was about to lift Appy's polo to get to his underwear, Appy covered his part.

"I can handle it." Appy said, blushing. He proceeded on dragging his underwear all the way down, while Miong attends his laundry. After awhile of struggling, Miong hears a painful sob.

"What's..." Miong cannot finish his sentence. He's currently looking down on a boy who has his underwear below his knees. Miong knows what this means. He cannot push his underwear further down because he can't bend his knees.

For the second time, Miong felt it again.

He doesn't understand this feeling, but it's probably what his sister was talking about: pity, symphaty, emphaty, whichever. It's a foreign feeling. It's a feeling he knows he needs to be able to level-up as a human.

Miong crouched down on the tub to pull the underwear away from Appy's feet. As he was about to proceed to Appy's shirt, the boy pulled it further his manhood while sobbing.

"You need to let me do this." Miong insisted. "I'll need to wash you."

Appy shook his head side-to-side, very weakly. "No. I can do it from here."

"I'm not going to judge your manhood. Is that what you're worried about?" Miong said, suprised of his own sensitivity.

Appy covered his face, and from there, he began a louder cry. "Although I'm practically enslaving you because this is your fault, I can't help but think that this is my fault, too. If I didn't cross Katipunan Avenue that night to sneak inside U.P., I would still be walking. I've always wanted to depend on myself, but I can't because I'm poor. People are just pitying me, and I know it's a trouble for them, too, so I want to be more independent. I want to help people, too. But look at me! Can I help someone in this state? I can't even help myself! I can't even pull down my own underwear! I can't even eat properly! But it's my fault, too."

Miong can't say anything. It turns out pitying might not be that good, or at least showing that you are pitying.

And so he did not say anything.

He continued helping Appy remove his final piece of clothing, not even mentioning how below average his manhood was. Appy surrendered, probably tired from over-thinking and crying. That gave Miong the freedom to run the bath and dry the boy. After drying, he helped the boy put on fresh clothes---his clothes, as he had not taken Appy's clothes from his parents.

He left Appy in his room that over-looks U.P. Diliman campus. There, Appy absent-mindedly stares at the city, trying to put his mind in his current condition.

"Ah, I can't feel my legs." He sighed.

[Pamamahay = Nesting]