At dahil nasa Laguna yung regalo ko kay Agnes bigla naman akong nahiya. Now that we are here, wala akong ibibigay sa kanya ngayon samantalang binigyan ko lahat ng mga kapatid niya.
"Sorry, I didn't get you anything."
"You didn't have to."sabi niya. She sounded sleepy.
"Well, since I didn't get you anything, ito na lang regalo ko sayo."sabi ko sa kanya.
"Alin?"
I leaned closer and kissed her on her cheek.
Hindi ko alam kung bakit yun ang naisip ko kaya sa sobrang hiya ko, tumalikod na agad ako kay Agnes.
"Goodnight."sabi ko sa kanya.
I think nabigla si Agnes kasi tahimik lang siya and she wasn't even moving. I felt myself blush. Ano ba naman kasi naisipan ko at ginawa ko yun? It feels like my birthday all over again. At tuwing maalala ko yung nangyari kanina, nararamdaman kong umiinit yung buong katawan ko sa hiya.
"Pat."
"Hm?"
"Can you please turn around and face me?"
"Agnes I swear if you're planning something stupid, I will hit you."
"Calm down. I'm not. I'm literally an arms-length away."sabi niya. Kaya I turned around and I was met by her eyes. Sa dilim, you won't even see her eye color, but you can still see her round unblinking eyes. And they were so nice that it has managed to trap me again.
"O what?"sabi ko sa kanya.
"Wala. I just wanted you to look at me when I tell you this."
"Tell me what?"
"Thank you for spending Christmas with me."sabi niya. I'm glad na madilim sa kwarto niya and she won't be able to see how flushed I am.
"And thank you for making me happy."dagdag niya. I think my heart missed a beat sa sinabi ni Agnes. She smiled at me and I think I've lost all the thoughts that were swimming around my head.
"Can I at least get a hug?"sabi niya. I nodded and moved closer sa kanya. I felt her wrap her arms around me and I did the same. I rested one of my cheeks sa braso niya and I felt her kiss my forehead.
"Merry Christmas wifey."
"Merry Christmas Aji."
I'm 354 kilometers away from Laguna but even at this distance, I feel like I'm home. And that's when I realized na our house used to be my home. But now it's different. Dito, dito sa mga yakap ni Agnes, this is now my home. And tonight, I'm finally home.
