A little too well

Sayo

"Nikolai Sharlene San Pedro"

I heard a soothing voice call my name accompanied by a gentle touch in my shoulders.

Sinasabi ko sa inyo, in all fairness naman ang bango nitong gumigising sakin. Naligo ba to ng perfume?

"Ayaw talaga magising Kuya eh"

"Talaga? Wait lang"

I heard muffled conversation pero ano namang pake ko?

I'm happy in dreamland and I badly need sleep... So sorry nalang

It was quiet for a few minutes

As I was about to fall asleep, I prepared kasi baka mawiwindang ang pagkatao ko.

Pero I was slowly guided to sit down and a hand was rubbing my back and I immediately knew kung sino yun.

"Kuya Robi, 10 minutes pa please?"

Sabi ko habang nakadantay ang ulo ko sa balikat niya and I was yawning for Pete's sake

"Bambi you know I want you to get as much sleep as you can pero it's the first day of school na"

His voice was kind and bonus na he was still rubbing my back kaya I had no choice but to actually try and be awake.

"I'm up na Kuya" sabi ko at nag stretch

"Ready na ang food sa baba"

Pagpapaalala niya while he was busy taking out my school uniform out of my closet

"Thank you Kuya, I'll wash up first" I went to the bathroom after I kissed him sa cheeks

Let me tell you a little something about Kuya Robi, he's the sweetest of all.

He irons my clothes, he cooks for me and he's very gentle with his words and action.

Astig ng Kuya ko no? One of a kind eh.

We got no parents na, they're not dead, just gone in our lives. Nanay and Tatay separated when I was 15 and Kuya was 23.

Since may work naman na nun si Kuya, he decided that we should stick together and exclude ourselves from the new families ng parents namin.

Growing up we were always quite independent, and if I ever needed help, I'd go to Kuya agad.

Well you could say we had a complicated family.

Nanay was rarely home kasi busy sya sa travels nya.

I think it was just an excuse so she didn't have to face Tatay.

Meanwhile Tatay is the workaholic Dad pero nagawa pang mang babae.

We've known long ago that the only thing that was binding them together was the paper of their marriage and kami ni Kuya.

The second we told them that we're okay with them separating ways.

They filed for divorce without second thoughts.

Talk about love right?

But it never bothered me.

It was always Kuya Robi naman who I ran to, and kami ang palaging magkasama.

It was like growing up with parents physically present pero di mo mahagilap ang presence.

Wow that rhymes hahahaha.

At sa kadadaldal ko natapos na akong magbihis and was descending the stairs.

"Oh akala ko ba pagkain lang yung aabutan ko dito sa baba? Bakit nandito to si Donato?"