blame.

088

monday, 4:29 pm

"

he's still sleeping," that was the first thing jira heard when jazen opened the door for vien's hospital room. she noticed some sc officers, talking to a small, petite woman sitting beside vien. "the doctor said he still needs to rest. it's not that severe, but we're thinking of giving my son a break. kahit one week lang bago uli siya makapasok."

she stopped talking when she noticed jazen and his friends walking inside. standing up, she approached them and greeted, "jazen. i missed you! last school year ka pa huling napadalaw sa bahay!"

gasping as she already knew who it was, jane glanced at jira. "si tita vina!"

"wow, still pretty," ani lhia at tumango tango. "she didn't even grow old."

one of the sc officers cleared his throat and mumbled, "tita, sa labas nalang po muna kami," then one by one, they left.

vien's mother just stood right infront of jazen and friends. she watched them and smiled, saying, "i remember you all. dati dati halos wala pa kayo sa balikat ko. ngayon mas matatangkad na kayo sakin," tumawa ito ng mahina bago sila niyakap isa isa.

jira observed her friends and realized that all of them remembered her. so all this time, they also remember vien? bakit ni isa samin walang nagapproach noon?

"oh, my sweet jira," vina giggled as she reached for jira's hand and hugged her tight. "i missed you! ang tagal ko kayong hindi nakita!"

smiling awkwardly, she smiled back and greeted her. "i missed you too tita."

after settling them down at the sofa, vina started- probably nth time story telling to everyone who visited vien. "i'm sorry he doesn't remember any of you.."

"when we migrated to u.s back then after your middle school.." jira was calming herself because of anxiety as she listened of what really happened to vien. sean had to hold her right hand and carress it softly, relaxing her as much as he could.

"vien and his father got into a car accident. the hospital said it wasn't serious. simpleng gasgas sa gilid ng mukha at warak lang ng kotse ang nangyari. but no, i didn't believe them.."

"i started asking vien questions about the recent events after the incident, because he was acting weird. he never mentioned any names of you after that, kaya sinubukan ko nang magtanong."

"the only thing he said to me was, he doesn't remember anything i was telling him. i tried showing off your class picture at yung mga random pictures niyo na kinuha naming mga nanay niyo dati. his head ached kaya tinakbo uli namin sa ospital."

"jira, fucking breathe. i swear to god ipapa admit din kita dito pag di ka huminga ng maayos," saint told jira and gave her his water again.

"that's when they told us my son has selective amnesia," vina breathed out. "yung tipong certain parts of his memory lang yung nakakalimutan niya. either events, o di kaya, tao.."

"madalas sumakit yung ulo niya kaya we stopped trying to bring back his memories. hinayaan namin siyang kalimutan yung mga yon at hindi na namin brining up ulit."

no one talked. even if seven of them had a lot of questions that needed to be answered, wala ni isa ang nagsalita.

"earlier, when i saw him crying because of headache, hawak niya yung phone niya at nakatingin siya dun sa selfie niyong walo. that, i guess, what taken last night."

jira only nodded.

"i know you just started again, honey," she told them, ngunit direktang nakatingin kay jira. "but i think we should give my son a rest for a while. i'm not asking all of you to stay away from him, dahil hindi ko din gugustuhing mawala kayo sa tabi niya, but maybe not this time muna. we should.. let him heal."

"we'll do that, tita," rosie was fast to nod at her. lhia and jane said nothing, and was more concerned at the fact that what might happen once vien wakes up.

"if he wakes up and remembers all of you, then thank you for bringing his memory back. but if he still doesn't, please don't push him to. i know he has been too drawn to all of you, especially you jira, so i'm begging you that if he still doesn't remember a thing and he'd still try to, stop him.."

"w-we can do that, tita," jira mumbled in a low voice. "we can help you."

a small smile, then she sighed in relief. "thank you.."