Chapter 55
“Tita, sobrang salamat po dito!” I cried while hugging the TFIOS (Okay? Okay.) sweatshirt which came from Nick’s Mom. It was her Christmas gift to me, straight from abroad. Pero ngayon lang nabigay dahil gusto niya itong personal na iabot.
G, James and Japheth are looking at me weirdly as if second-guessing if I’ve completely lost my sanity. They don’t know why in the world I am deeply attached to it. They said it’s just a book, but it’s not just a book!
I just rolled my eyes to shrug their stares.
Ngumiti si Tita Victoria. She has the same smile as Nick. Sa kaniya namana ni Nick ang pagiging palangiti. Karamihan din ng physical features ay sa kaniya niya nakuha. Her hair’s brown, too. It’s kind of wavy but silky. I’ve tried to stop myself a gazillion times not to look at her—because I’m afraid I’ll scare her—but she is utterly beautiful and I can’t help but be in dumbstruck wonderment about it.
“Naku, Jillian. Sobra sobra ka naman magpasalamat. Sayang ang mga ‘yan, may bukas pa,” she kidded. And she’s funny, too. Nick got her humor.
“Tita, pwedeng mamaya na po kayo magkuwentuhan? Gutom na po ako,” singit ni Guian. I can’t blame him, though. He was the earliest among us. But it wasn’t our fault. Nag-text pala siya kagabi kay Japheth kung anong oras ang arrival sa terminal nina Tita tapos mali ng naireply si Japh kaya masyado siyang maaga. Instead of 11:30 am, it became 6:30 am. Hindi ko maintindihan ang logic kung bakit ganoon ang naging agwat ng pagkakamali ni Japh. I teased him that maybe he has a hidden grudge against G. He said that no matter how annoying Guian can be, he wouldn’t do something like that . . . because it won’t be funny if nobody will see him go stupid. So, basically, his point is: if he’s going to make fun of his friend, he will make sure that he has an audience.
Yes, true friends.
“Sure. Sorry, Guian.” Tumayo si Tita Victoria at nagpunta sa kitchen. Sumunod si Nick at tumulong sa Mommy niya.
“Tulong din tayo. Nakakahiya naman sa kanila,” I whispered while my body’s against the table. Lumingon ako sa kitchen at nakita ko sila na abala. Well, everything’s set and ready to be served but Tita still insisted to personally serve us. She said she missed us so much since she hasn’t seen her babies—yes, she considers us as her own—that’s why she wanted it to become more personal.
“Kayo na lang, guys. Papalakpakan ko na lang ang kadakilaan niyo,” sagot ni Guian.
Is he this hungry already that he can barely move? Seriously, he acts like a baby.
He grabbed the apple on the table’s center and ate it without even washing it. I understand that it’s his favorite fruit but what he did was . . . plain gross.
We showed him a disgusted look but he just smiled. Because we’re so churned up , we decided to help Nick and his Mom on the kitchen.
“Sef, go call your dad now and tell him to eat with us,” Tita Victoria told Nick. And yes, she calls him Sef—like Yow-sef not Dyo-sep—that’s the right pronunciation of Nick’s second name. And that’s also the reason why we’ve resorted to just call him by the first. Actually, for all of them. Sobrang complicated kasi ng mga pangalan nila. Like Guian Sxyn which is pronounced as G-yan-Zayn. Thankfully, Cyrus broke the curse and only had one name.
“Isn’t Cyrus coming to eat with us?” she asked. Dead silence.
“Nope. Medyo busy po kasi siya. Pasensya na daw po pala kasi hindi siya nakasama sa pagsundo sa inyo sa airport. He felt bad but he can’t go either,” I said, putting the sliced cucumber on the small bowl. Paborito ‘to ni Cyrus. Sayang at hindi niya matitikman. Ang sarap pa naman nito dahil mayroong suka at paminta. Mas masarap pa sa gawang sawsawan noong nagbebenta ng kwek-kwek sa dati naming bahay. Of course, this is my work of art. I have a lot of confidence on myself.
