I was stunned as I opened my room door after I heard a knocked "Dad?"
"Hello son"
"When did you came? Why did you didn't tell us?" Sunod sunod na tanong ko. I'm not a daddy's boy but still, I miss him. I took a step closer and gave him a warm welcome hug.
"Bout an hour ago, how are you? "As we're heading downstairs.
"I'm good. We're all good. Why are you here? It's surprisingly dad" his dad only came during special occasions or when he's free----once a year.
"Because we miss all of you" my dad replied with a smile.
"We?"
"Hello grandson" an old man approached me from behind.
"Grandpa" masayang bati ko dito sabay yakap. I'm not a daddy's boy but lolo's boy. I'm more closer to him than my dad. Simply because, I spent more time with him when we're still living in the US than my dad who's been busy in his business.
"I miss you so much Em" and I've missed when he called me with that pet name. Only him called me Em, and my grandma also. But she passed away when I was still young. She's sweet and caring like my mom.
"Miss you too grandpa"
"Everyone, let's eat. The food is waiting" and I saw how happy my mom is. Dad take a step closer to her and held her hand while heading to the dining.
Oldies but still in love...my kind of relationship goal. LDR is not a hindrance. Instead, it's a challenge on how to keep your love still despite the fact of being miles away with each other. And I wish, when I get married, we will surpass the kind of relationship my parents had.
"So what's the real reason you came here dad, grandpa?" I'm just curious. Grandpa never liked to travel. He said, it's too tiring.
"You really know me Em. Buy the way, where's Rav?" grandpa asked.
"Nasa Toronto. Business matters as always. Like father, like son" my mom answered back.
"Like grandpa, like father and son" pagtatama ko sa sinabi ni mom.
"And you'll be next to the footsteps" dagdag ni dad.
"And you haven't answered my question?" Giving them a suspicious look.
"You're really my Em. Okay, I came here to visit an old friend"
"Old friend?" grandpa never mentioned that he had one in here in the Philippines "do we know them?"
"Nope Em. He's my friend since I was fifteen. Till we graduated from college. Only your dad knows him. He's pure Filipino but studied in US so we've met there and became friends. He only decided to stay here when he gets married. And I was left behind because my family was there. But we're still in touched no matter what. Many years ago, when I've find out that he's undergoing treatment because of depression"
"Why grandpa? What happened to him?" I got interested on his friends story.
"Long story but I'll make it short for you. When we both had a family, we decided that if we both had children who's a girl and a boy, we will arranged their marriage when they're both on the right age. And then I had your dad, and he had a girl. We're already picturing a happy family for both of them but somethings happened. His daughter run away with the guy she loved. He search for them anywhere but he couldn't find them. He gave up when he got sick. And then worst thing came. He never saw his daughter----alive again. His daughter and her lover died in an accident. That's the start of his depression. And added to that, he can't find his granddaughter. He got sick and it worsen. So that's why I came here to see him. I heard that he's fine now"
