JUST A TASTE OF YOUR LOVE

Being the eldest daughter is a curse.

Your parents act like you're their savior sent by the heavens, from passing down their unfulfilled dream profession to being the one responsible to pay for your siblings' tuition. All the high hopes complimented with harsh words and with very minimal room for error – I thought I would end up dead. But being competitive as I am, I refuse to let them win.

If I needed to change the tides' direction, then I'll turn a whole damn ocean in reverse.

So I did.

I'm the first college dropout in the family.

The moment I dropped the bomb in my parents' faces it was as if I had taken their oxygen with me, swept them off, and knocked them out like a car beating the red lights.

Though my parents eventually accepted my decision, I can never run from disappointments and the constant rants from my aunts and uncles whose presence wasn't felt until someone died or some unfortunate cousin ended up pregnant. They never looked at me the way they looked at me before, but eventually, I learned to ignore and start minding my own business.

Like literal business – I now run my own catering services and I'm about to cater the grandest wedding for my sassiest client.

"Ma'am, for our staff po, you need to pay for their meals pero 'yung meal po nila ay iba sa menu ng guests niyo, so it costs less. You can order from fast-food chains if ever you don't want us to handle our service crew's food, " I told Sarah, my client. She wants everything to be perfect – well, every bride I've worked with does. But she's particularly meticulous about the food.

"No. Just do your thing. It's a hassle to order from other restaurants when you're already offering it and besides, I don't want to get stressed out on my wedding day."

I nodded in agreement, most of my clients don't like it when they have to think of other people on their special days. "For the dishes ma'am, we agreed to have a traditional Filipino food aisle and Japanese aisle on the other end," I told her as I showed the set-up I planned for the catering. She smiled and nodded; thank goodness she's in a great mood today.

"Please include chop suey on the Filipino menu, my husband loves it," she added.

"Noted ma'am, is the chop suey with pork po or shrimp?" I asked just to be sure. The last thing I want during the event is someone having an allergic reaction to my food, which could be mistaken as food poisoning. It could ruin me and my business – things that I had worked so hard for.

"With a lot of shrimps please," Sarah requested.

"Noted, ma'am." I smiled at her as I started to enumerate the things we talked about from the beginning. The wedding date was fast approaching, so I had to make sure that everything would go smoothly.

It did not.

"Hi!" I said to the singer and his friend. If I wasn't mistaken, the singer's name is Keith. The emcee said his name earlier to thank him after the performance. "Here's your food, enjoy."

"Tamang-tama, gutom na kami!" his friend said with glee. I just smiled and turned to walk away when I heard a voice.

"Ikaw ba nagluto nito, miss?" It was Keith who asked. I just stared at him, noticing his striking eyes deeply set and his squared jaw. He looked dashing with his disheveled hair – was it styled that way? Like, hey, I just woke up with this hairstyle.

"Miss?" he said again and pursed his lips, trying to hold back a smile.

"Ah -- yes, I did. Is there a problem?" My forehead creased. Did the food taste bad?