Leni felt a sting on her chest upon looking at her daughter hugging her dad tightly as they sleep. Last night was a complete mess, she didn't expect that it would led into such argument. All she wanted was the best for her daughter. A tear fell from her eye.
"Ma'am?" A voice interrupted Leni. She looked forward and saw that Rody was awake already. "Are you okay?"
She just nodded and left immediately.
He looked at Katja who's still sleeping on his side, he kissed her temple before getting up from bed. He immediately followed where Leni is, he wanted to talk to her about their daughter. He gotta start fixing everything.
"Ma'am, can we talk?" He asked the moment he spotted her on the small balcony.
She nodded.
"About Katja," He started. "Don't you think it's time for us to be okay again? For Katja? Kahit maging civil lang tayo maam."
She looked at him, "Sir, I cannot—"
"Please, maam. For Katja." He cut her off. "I know nasaktan man kita noon, nasaktan ko kayo ni Katja and I am sorry. Alam ko man na ilang beses na ako nag sorry sa'yo maam, but I won't get tired of saying sorry to you. Nagkamali ako maam, and I want to make it right. Kaya please, let me make it right. Please give a chance to make it right, for our daughter."
"Sir, I cannot afford to see Katja being hurt again. Nagkamali din ako. I thought what I did was the best thing for her, but I realized that what I did was only best for me." She stated. One thing Katja made her realized is that she's too scared of being hurt again.
"Ma'am—"
"I want to make it right too, sir." She looked at him straight to his eyes that weakened his knees. "Let's make it right."
----
Katja woke up, confused. She saw her parents sitting together, conversing. She secretly watch them from the door, she smiled at the sight of her mom laughing after her dad said something, he's probably telling her some entertaining stories or maybe jokes. Nevertheless, she felt alive seeing her parents being okay again.
"What are you doing here?" Someone tapped Katja's shoulder lightly. She was startled to see her Mommy Sally behind her.
"Mommy naman, nakakagulat ka." Katja chuckled. "I'm watching Mama and Papa. They're okay already? What happened?"
Sally peeked in through the door to see Leni and Rody too, "I heard them talking earlier at the balcony. Siguro they decided to be matured enough to accept that they both have mistakes."
"Good for them. They both deserve a second chance." Katja smiled as she continued to watch her parents. "Mommy, do you think may pag-asa pa sila?"
Sally smiled as she continued to watch how her daughter smiled and laughed while talking to Rody, and how Rody looked at Leni, she knew there's still love in them. "Who knows. Everybody deserves a second chance."
----
"Di ka pa naliligo?" Leni asked Katja the moment she saw her sitting in the living room.
Katja looked at her mom who just got inside the house with her dad, "Not yet, mama. Bakit po?"
"Magbisita tayo ng mga simbahan ngayon diba?" Rody answered.
Katja beamed, "Tayong tatlo?"
Rody and Leni nodded.
"Really?" Katja asked excitedly.
"Maligo ka na. Hintayin ka namin ng papa mo." Leni reiterated.
Katja hugged her parents, "Thank you po!"
"Anything for you, anak." Rody kissed his daughter's temple.
Katja withdraw from the hug and excitedly went to her room to get herself ready. She can feel that this today is the start of bringing her family back. She's hopeful.
----
Rody excitedly took the car keys after making sure that Katja and Leni was ready to go. They visited the Naga Cathedral first then Basilica Minore where Katja took a lot pictures. She made sure that she's capturing this special moment, the last time she was with her parents was when she was 9 years old. She's 30 now that's why she gotta admit that this is one of her treasured memories.
On the other hand, Katja couldn't still choose a church where she's gonna get married until they went to St. Jude Parish located at the heart of Concepcion Grande in Naga City. This is where her parents exchange their vows decades ago. She knew it was the perfect place to get married.
Leni look around the moment she went down from the car, a lot has changed but she can still remember that day when she go down the aisle with Rody waiting for her. She can still remember how excited she was to marry him, so excited to build a family with him. It was indeed the best day of her life aside from the day she had Katja.
"Are you okay?" He asked her after seeing her paused.
She looked at him with teary eyes, "Hm? Yeah. I just—"
He grabbed her hand and intertwined his fingers with hers, "I am feeling the same, Leni."
She looked at him, perplexed. She didn't exactly know what he meant by that. She was about to speak when he started to walk towards the main entrance of the church. Her heart beats faster with every steps they took, she then realized that it's the same stairs she walked through when she said yes to being his wife. She suddenly felt something on his finger, she looked at their hands intertwined and there she saw a ring— their wedding ring.
----
It's already 1am but Leni still cannot sleep. Her head was too occupied by him, she's got a lot of questions waiting for answers but she was too afraid to ask. She might get hurt. She decided to went downstairs to get some water, surprisingly Rody was there too sitting on one of the high chairs.
"You're still awake." She said, awkwardly.
He was surprised to see her there especially at that hour, "Di makatulog maam. You know sanay man akong—"
"Matulog ng sobrang late. Yeah I know." She smirked. "Nocturnal ka eh."
He smirked, "You always call me that." He remembered how she used to describe him as "nocturnal" because he's really a night person.
She chuckled, "But seriously, thank you for today— yesterday I mean."
He smiled, "Anything for our daughter."
"Katja was so happy. She can't stop talking about it before going to bed kanina." She smiled recalling how ecstatic her daughter was.
"Thank you din ma'am." He looked at her.
"Sabi mo nga diba, anything for daughter." She replied with a smile of contentment.
After minutes of exchanging thoughts, they finally decided to returned to their respective rooms. He insisted to accompany her to her room, he saw Katja sleeping soundly. He kissed her forehead, "Good night, anak."
She smiled as she watched him kissing Katja good night, the last time she witnessed it was when her daughter was still a kid. She missed those days. "Tulog na tulog, pagod eh." She said referring to Katja.
He smiled and stood up, "Mukha nga."
She smiled, "Um sige sir, tulog ka na din."
He nodded and walked towards the door where she was standing, "Um good night, ma'am."
She nodded and lock sights with him, silence took over. He suddenly felt a strong urge to lean closer, she is and will forever be his favorite scenery. He decided to lean closer slowly just to give her enough time to reject him, but she smiled at him silently telling him that she's okay with whatever he's planning to do.
He kissed her lips.
💛💙
