Felli and her friends were altogether to continue with their embroidery project. Accidentally, she poked her finger with the embroidery needle.
"Are you okay?" Mercedes, her friend, asked. Felli was squeezing the tiny hole that the needle caused.
"Yes. I was just uhh out of mind," Felli replied. She heaved a sigh staring at her finger.
"Is there something wrong with you?" another friend asked.
"I was just thinking of Arthur, that first male friend of mine," she answered giving her friend a wistful smile. Mercedes grabbed her arm and went somewhere far and quiet. She asked Felli about what happened and if she needed someone to tell her problems to. Felli couldn't take it anymore so she told everything to Mercedes.
"I can not believe I had a male friend. I know I wasn't able to do so," Felli ended.
"I am sure he's doing okay somewhere. But let me remind you that no one else should know about this," Mercedes replied.
"My family knows about it already. It was so hard because no matter what I did, they still didn't believe me."
The two went back to their group. They finished everything that they had to do and proceeded to their homes.
Felli arrived at their house. She quickly hid her books and helped her mom prepare their table. It was her brother's birthday and they had a small celebration. Her sister, her mom and Felli cooked the food while the boys went to the rice field to help their father. A few hours later, it was already time for the celebration.
Their relatives came and gave presents to the birthday celebrant. A new pair of pants from Manila, a new shirt, and a pair of shoes were all given to her brother. Since they had a pretty large family, they only celebrated someone's birthday a year and the rest are just regular days. They couldn't afford celebrating everybody's birthday in a year.
After eating their favourite roasted pork, the family gathered to dance together as they only saw each other rarely. It was a tradition to have a dance party every special occasions. Someone would play the guitar, some would dance and some would talk to each other. Felli sat on the bench and watched her entire family enjoy each other's company. Rosa sat next to her and said, "I am going to Manila soon," Rosa knew that it would hurt Felli but she still told her about it. Felli stared at Rosa for a couple of minutes. Felli replied, "You can't go. You know you can't go, right?"
Rosa gave her a wistful smile and said, "I know it's hard for you but I have to make smart decisions for my family. I need to work somewhere else to give them a comfortable life."
Felli paused for a moment. She then went to her mom to ask if she could go to Manila. Of course Felli knew that her mom would say no but she still did it anyway.
"A young damsel like you should not be away from her family. You are staying here," her mother answered.
"But it's good for our family! It would help you and Papa provide for us all,"
