Leaving it to chance [ Serendipity Series #01 ]

XII: mapanibugho

Mapanibugho — (n.) jealous

* Should there be any Bisaya words used throughout the chapter, translations & a Bisaya glossary will be placed at the end of the chapter for your reference.

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"Ma'am Nina?" the guard called, hoping to catch me before I got on the elevator.

Lumingon ako sa kaniya, still with a smile. Good mood na good mood kasi. "Uy, hi! Yes, Kuya Brando?"

"May iniwan po para sa inyo kanina. Galing raw po sa ate ninyo," Kuya Brando explained, handing me the box. Medyo mabigat siya, in fairness. Ano kayang laman nito?

"Sige po. Salamat, ah!" Timing sa pagbukas ng elevator. I jogged to catch it before it closed, waving goodbye to the guard.

When I reached my unit, I found Astrid in the living room. The TV was on while she laid down on the couch, typing something on her laptop. Probably a paper or something. "'Dito ka na pala!" Her head turned to me with a wide grin. "How was the date? Blooming ka ngayon, ah. Nadiligan ka ba?"

"Busog lang! Diligan ka diyan," sambit ko, giving her a weird look. Her laugh echoed throughout our condo. Not even Astrid's teasing could ruin my good mood.

"Ano 'yan? Bring home?" She sat straight, curious at the package I brought with me.

"No, it's from my mom. I am not sure what it is, actually. Probably food." I shrugged, placing the box on top of the counter. I took a quick shower and changed into some comfortable pajamas, ready to finish some school work to cap off the night. But before anything, I decided to open the package just in case there was food in it.

I took it off the counter and put it on the floor, dragging it between my legs from where I sat down. Astrid momentarily stopped what she was doing to check out the items inside; we were like kids opening a present.

I smiled as I slowly took out the things inside one by one. There were some dried mangoes, chicharon, and ampao (not the red envelope, but the rice krispies) from carcar, a couple of packs of tablea from argao, buwad na danggit or tuyo, and a couple meditation balms for when nahihilo ako—it was a tita staple. What can I say? Actually, I knew na dinamihan niya ang meditation balm para mabigay ko sa mga kaibigan ko ang iba and so that I had stock in case I ran out. These were things I could probably get here in Manila, but the thought itself, that my mom put her heart out into this care package, touched me. It made me miss her a little bit extra today.

Astrid helped me store everything on our shelves in the kitchen. Actually, I think she was happier than I was because this would mean we would be having champorado for either breakfast, lunch, dinner, or meryenda. Depende. Kung hindi kami tamaan ng katamaran.

Pumuwesto na ako sa sahig, leaning my back against the base of the sofa as I sent out a text to my mom, thanking her for the package. I didn't expect her to reply fast because either she was already asleep or at the hospital. While I was on my phone, I decided to check my social media accounts, pampalipas oras. Nanlaki ang mata ko when I refreshed my Instagram feed and the first post that popped out was Mikie's. This one was posted two hours ago.

It was a picture of a girl in front of a painting, pero likod lang ang nakikita—wait, ako ba 'yan? Ako yata 'yan!

His caption read: an artwork amongst artwork.

I didn't even know he took this photo! I was too immersed into the painting in front of me to notice. His display picture was surrounded by a rainbow colored border, signifying he posted a story. Of course, dakilang chismosa sis ninyo, ch-in-eck ko agad.