Stonehearts 3: Aquamarine

Special Chapter

I walked in and saw Rina staring blankly at the wall, I'm quite not sure for how long. She didn't even notice me going in, ni hindi niya man lang ako nilingon.

"Hey baby, what's wrong? You looked like your cat just died. But we don't have a cat so. . ." I joked, in attempt to lighten the mood.

I was burning my seat in the office for four hours and was hoping she would be asleep and that I would just easily slip in beside her after I finished working. What I didn't expect was for her to be wide awake, let alone have her sight fixed on the wall like she's goddamn possessed or something.

"Baby?" I tried again.

"There's something wrong with our daughter. Something is wrong with Lou." She finally spoke, but still her attention was transfixed on the wall. My smile died, the way her voice quivered tells me that this is something serious.

I scurried my way to her side. I cradled her motionless body to mine, her head and hand landing on my chest. It took her a moment before she continued talking.

"Something's bothering her and I don't know what." The fear and tremble in her voice crept to me like allergies. I begun caressing her hair, soothing her with my touch.

"She seemed okay when she left for work this morning. At mukhang okay rin siya sa dinner kanina." I reasoned out, but my mind is working double time. I'm trying to remember if one of my babies is instead acting differently.

Rina simply shook her head, "She was pretending, baby. Try to focus your attention at her. When she wakes up and joins us for breakfast, hahalik lang siya at mauupo. Hindi siya makikisali sa kung ano mang usapan, the same goes with dinner; ni hindi niya nga masyadong ginagalaw ang pagkain niya. She takes a few bites and then stops and just toys with her food. Kapag natapos kumain, agad na magkukulong sa kwarto niya at hindi na bababa."

I went silent for awhile, thinking really hard this time. Fuck me, she's right. My beautiful wife is right. Lou's not herself lately. Whenever I joked around her, she would just smile and continue to do whatever she's doing.

That's not my Lou. Kung okay siya, malamang sa malamang nilait na niya ang mga biro ko. She would often complain about my 'dad jokes' and would call it 'baduy' or 'corny'.

When Rina started to shake with her tears, that's when I started to panic. "Hey, baby. Don't cry."

"I wish I could take away whatever pain she's carrying."

"Rina, baby, I will fix this, okay? Ako ang bahala."

She didn't say more, so I just held her closer and tighter to my body. Goddamn, I need to fix this, and I need to fix this quick before Rina starts to question her maternal capability.

The next morning, I waited by the stairs for my eldest daughter to go down. She was dressed already dressed for work. She's in her cream colored body-hugging knee-length skirt and her red, chiffon blouse. If this is an ordinary day, I would comment on how form fitting her skirt was and would coax her into changing into something less curve-revealing. But since, I'm here to figure out what's wrong with one of my babies, isasantabi ko muna 'yong gigil ko sa suot niya.

"Hey, my sweet girl. Good morning." bati ko sabay halik sa noo niya.

She smiled faintly all the while averting my gaze, "Good morning, daddy."