Cliche (Love Series # 1)

f i f t y - f o u r

Christmas

(noun, often attributive)

Christ·mas\ˈkris-məs\

: a Christian holiday that is celebrated on December 25 in honor of the birth of Jesus Christ or the period of time that comes before and after this holiday

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Today's the twenty fourth of December, every filipino household is already preparing their best utensils and plates as well as their pamasko for their inaanak. Mothers are busy preparing and cooking for tomorrow's food while the rest of the children are too excited for tomorrow's occasion.

I, in particular, is very nervous about tomorrow's meeting. I'll be seeing Willmark's parents, who doesn't get nervous meeting their couple's parents?

Me and the rest of my family is currently eating our dinner, adobo and a side dessert of fruit salad. Joshua was smiling from ear to ear eating fruit salad while my brother went to the kitchen again to scoop another cup of rice.

"I already wrote the names of all of your inaanak" she said as we continued to scoop some fruit salad on our glass "Since jamie won't be here this Christmas, Jerimie and you-" mom pointed to my elder brother.

"What? I'm going with my friends tomorrow"

"You will after you finish giving out all the pamasko" after mom finished her sentence he groaned out loud but didn't comment further into it.

"Joshua stop eating! You're going to finish all of that even before Christmas starts!" Jerimie scolded Joshua and take the fruits salad away from his clutches.

"I can buy it! I'll have money tomorrow! Mom's gonna accompany me to my ninang and ninong!" He retorted while my mom just shook his head at his plea for eating more.

Meanwhile, I ate in the corner silently, my head still wrapped to the fact that I'm gonna meet Willmark's parents and that they'll meet his girlfriend. What should I do if they didn't like me? How about his sisters, would they think that I'm not gentle enough, feminine enough?

Argh! I don't want to overthink but I can't help it! Ah! Let's just sleep this anxiety, you're the best looking girl and a rare gem Jamie, just tell that to yourself!

Soon, the rest of us went to our own rooms and I was soon drifting off to sleep.
...

I was awoken by my alarm clock and my sister's grunts, then I sit up and rubbed the sleepiness away from my eyes. Then I decided to wash up and clean every part of my body, I even put on lotion and whisked  myself with perfume. I smelled my wrist and nodded in satisfaction before opening my closet and laying down the clothes, now I have to choose.

Great.

It took me a very long time, since my whole body is thrumming in nerves and that my stomach feel so tensed, I decided on some slim jeans and a peter pan collared pastel blue blouse.

It's better to look simple rather than to wear extravagant clothes with no function, besides I want to impress his parents with my personality and not my looks. I just really hope they would have a good impression to me since first impression last.

I look at my phone and notice the time, it's just nine thirty in the morning and I'll officially meet them in ten so I quickly arranged everything. I bought my pouch with me and my phone and head to the streets.

Children are dressed in their best clothes and all of them have a smile on their face. They each held their mother's hand and a toy on the other as they walked around to visit their ninang and ninong. The street was entirely buzzing with joy, toy vendors gathered around the place earning more than they have before and the children ran around to show off their gifts to other kids.

It didn't take me long enough to wait for Willmark, he parked his motorcycle on the side and held my hands.

"I'm nervous" I couldn't help but admit.

"Well, I am too" he suddenly said and continued " I know my family would like you since I like you the most so... I know they would see what made me like you"

Ugh! His sweet words couldn't fail to relieve me of my anxiety and spread sweetness in my heart. No fair.

"Fine, I'll hold onto your words then" I pouted before riding on his motorcycle and holding his waist.

Soon we drove off to his house, fortunately he's here to drive me to their home or else I'll be late due to traffic. There's a lot of people going into different places, either going to the mall or to their ninang and ninong either way the Jeepneys are filled to the brim with passengers.

My heart begun to beat loudly against my chest, my hands have become sweaty and my whole body become stiff. I took a deep breath and got down, while he's parking hos motorcycle, my eyes are already looking towards his home.

There's a steel with words written on chalk are seen, it's the menu for their tapsilogan diner, then a woman with a fair skin came out of the narrow road.

"Oh~ It seems like my younger brother's girlfriend is finally here" uh-oh, she's Willmark's elder sister, I should greet her.

"Hello po, I'm Jamie, how are you po?" Great job!

"I'm fine, let's go and meet your in-laws" I became embarrassed at her teasing and sought for Willmark.

"Let's go and meet your in-laws then" I immediately slap his arm and glared at him bashfully.

We reached his house in just a few steps and met his cousins first, then it was her grandmother and I was kind of surprised when she hugged me. Of course I was a bit confused but my feelings of anxiety had already submerged with that one hug.

Then it was time to meet his parents, his father is tall like the rest of his siblings, his mother is beautiful and have a fair skin that they definitely got from her. His mother hugged me and his father nodded at me, my goodness, I feel like my heart skip several beats before that happened. I was too nervous, his mother must have seen that and decided to let me sit beside her and talked about Willmark's childhood. I met the rest of his siblings, all of them look beautiful and fair, we just smiled at each other briefly.

After introducing myself, his grandmother came to the kitchen and told us to eat. He held my hand and sat beside me on their dining room, conversation were made and a few laughter can be heard.

They asked about our love story and I was a bit shy at first but then got the courage when Willmark shared some memories about us. I was also embarrassed by their teasing but nevertheless, the boulder in my heart has finally lifted.

Thank goodness.

Notes:

• In English, ‘regalo’ means gift or present and a Christmas gift is called “pamasko”.
• Inaanak, the child for whom a grown-up person takes vows at its baptism (or, as in the Philippines, at its confirmation): anak (inaanak) sa binyag (o sa kumpil)
• A godmother (ní·nang) is a woman who sponsors a child’s Catholic christening and is expected to be like a second mother.
• Buko salad has buko (coconut) as the star of the salad while fruits salad has different canned or fresh fruits in the mix

***
Christmas is around the corner and that means finals are too! Great! I still have a lot of school works to finish or start, just freaking great.

Anyways, lesson learned: don't be lazy like me hehe~ Stay safe and healthy as always okay?! Have a great day everyone!

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