Melting Me Softly (Sanford Series #5) [COMPLETED]

CHAPTER 2

ISANG malungkot na ngiti ang sumilay sa mga labi ni Sabrina habang pinapanood ang mag-inang magkahawak kamay na papasok sa isang daycare center. Kahit na nakalampas na ang kanilang sinasakyan sa mag-ina ay tinanaw pa rin niya ang mga ito. Nang hindi na maabot ng kanyang paningin ay tahimik siyang napabuntung-hininga.

"Here's your schedule, Sabrina. You are not allowed to go anywhere aside from the school premises. Do you understand?"

Binalingan niya ang kanyang ama na katabi niyang nakaupo sa loob ng kotse. Kinuha niya ang ibinigay nito at tumango. Muli rin niyang ibinalik ang mga mata sa labas ng sasakyan dahil hindi niya matagalan ang presensiya ng lalaking katabi.

Sabrina was angry at him.

She doesn't want to go back to this country but she had no choice. She was living in Alaska with her mother since she was two. But when her mother died two weeks ago, her life changed.

Yelena—her mother—died because of a heart attack. She had no one left in Alaska when her mother passed away. There are some friends, one offered to look after her but she refused. Her mother's friend—the one who offered to look after her—had five children and she doesn't want to add to her responsibilities.

A day after her mom was buried, a man appeared behind their doorstep. He introduced himself as Bernardo Salvador's secretary. He let the man in after confirming his identity. Of course, Sabrina knew Bernardo.

Though her mother divorced her father a long time ago, she did not hide the things about him. Sabrina was about two years old when they left for Alaska and if not's for the photographs and the internet, she won't have an idea how her father looks like.

She agreed to go back to the Philippines for the reason that she wanted to have someone, to have a family. She doesn't want to be alone, she was scared. But her expectations were crumbled when she finally lived with her father.

Bernardo was distant, cold and strict. At least not to his other son, Collin. Collin was her half-brother, her father married another woman after the divorced and they had a child.

Noong una ay nagtaka siya kung bakit wala ang ina ni Collin sa malaking bahay ni Bernardo. Nalaman nalang niya na namayapa na ang pangalawang asawa nito nang marinig niya ang mga katulong na nag-uusap.

Sa isang linggo na niyang paninirahan kasama ang ama at kapatid ay wala siyang naramdamang pagtanggap mula sa mga ito. Si Bernardo ay hindi naman siya pinapansin at pinapaasikaso lang sa mga katulong. Si Collin ay palagi siyang pinaglalaruan, minsan ay sinusubukan siyang itulak sa hagdan, sa pool o 'di kaya'y nilalagyan ang kanyang pagkain ng kung anu-ano.

Ni wala siyang natanggap na simpatya kahit katitig man lang dahil sa pagkamatay ng kanyang ina. She wanted to mourn for Yelena's death but her father doesn't want to hear or see someone crying.

She wasn't allowed to cry, to go out of the house, to complain and to decide for herself. She doesn't like her new school, it was private and she knew that peasants cannot afford to attend there.

When the car stopped outside the school gate, she did not bother to bid her goodbye to her father and went outside immediately. She walked towards the gate and went inside.

Sabrina stopped beside the Narra tree and roamed her eyes around and took a deep sigh at the same time. This was going to be her life now, she should at least learn to accept it. There's no turning back, she can't run away from her father. And she doesn't have a place to go, she cannot go back to Alaska because all the properties that her mother worked hard for for the past years were sold.