“miss, meron po ang master sa dining hall. Hinihintay po kayo.” Sabi ng isang maid pagpasok ko ng bahay.
“sabihin mo, magbibihis muna ako.” Sabi ko.
“opo, miss.” Sagot niya.
Tapos pumunta na ako sa kuwarto ko. Nagbihis ako nga isang pambahay na dress tapos bumaba na ako. Nakita ko naman ang matandang grandpa ko kasama ni daddy sa dining hall.
Hindi sinabi ng maid kanina na meron si grandpa ah. Hindi naman niya sinabing mga master or masters ,diba?
“hi, dear.” Bati ni grandpa nang Makita niya kong papunta sa dining table.
“hello, grandpa.nice to see you.” Bati ko sabay kiss niya sa noo ko.
“good evening, my beautiful lady.”bati ni daddy. “good evening, dad.” Sabi ko sabay yakap ko sa kanya. It’s been so long na hindi kami nagkita-kita.
Kumain lang kami ng dinner tapos nagkuwentohan saglit bago umalis si grandpa.
Papunta n asana ako sa room ko kasi magt-10 na pero nakita ko si dad na nasa living room na parang may mabigat na problema. Of course, meron palaging problema si dad dahil sa company but not this down.
Pumunta ako sa kanya at umupo sa tabi niya.
“dad, you look so down.”sabi ko.
“well, do i?” tanong niya na parang gulat na gulat.
“yah. Is there a big problem?” tanong ko.
“ maybe, I’m just stressed out.”sabi niya.
“dad, you are always stressed out.” Sabi ko.
He sighed.
“you do have a problem.” I concluded.
“maybe, you should know.” He just blurted out.
“about what?” tanong ko na may halong kaba ang nararamdaman.
“it’s about your mom.”
Mas lalong lumakas yung tibok ng puso ko.
“w-what’s about m-mom?”
He sighed again.
“she’s not dead.”
“what?” gulat na tanong ko.
“she’s alive. I met her a while ago, not intentionally”
I calmed myself for a while. “and?”
“nothing. She didn’t talk to me. She was just……..shocked when she saw me.”
“okay. Will you now tell me what’s really between you and hmm……mom or whatever?”
“as you know, she left us when you were 7 years old, so she’s not literally dead.”
“yes, and why did she left us?” I curiously asked.
“she.. she has another man while together with me.”
“really? So why didn’t you tell me she’s alive and yet you told me, she’s DEAD?”
“sorry. I was just afraid that you’ll be going to look for her and……..”
“ you should have told me the truth. With that reason that you don’t want me to hate her after I’ll find out that she has another man. I’m sorry to tell this but, dad, are you stupid? She left us and betrayed you, why do you have to cover up for her. Though I came from her, which I obviously know, if I knew the truth before now, yeah. I will really find her just to call her words that will describe her. E.g. slut, bitch ,etc.”
Dad’s speechless but he stared at me with a ‘so-are-you-going-to-find-for-her’ look.
“don’t worry dad. I won’t waste my time looking for a long lost animal which is unfortunately….gave birth to me.”
He just gave me a hug.
“it’s already late. Come on let’s sleep. Good night ,dad. I love you.” Sabi ko.
