FEROX FOREVER 1: Nothing Sinful ✓

Kabanata 33

Abby

"Yes, I got the bottle of wine, Dad, how can I forget? You sent five separate messages to me about not missing it," I berated my father good-naturedly as I stepped out of the convenience store.

"Just reminding you. It's not always that we have something to toast for tonight."

"Sige, sige," I said. "I'm on my way back."

Dad was right. It wasn't always we had something to celebrate for. Shawn's treatments were successfully effective. His last rounds of chemo blasts had managed to reduce the cancer cells from spreading further to other organs that could lead to more complications. He didn't need a bone marrow transplant anymore.

Shawn finally had a winning chance to fight his illness.

So yeah. We were fucking celebrating.

Basa pa rin ang buhok ko kahit na mainit ang simoy ng hangin ngayong tanghaling tapat. Kakaalis ko lang ng gymnasium kanina at pauwi na ako. I put the cheap bottle of Carlo Rossi in my bag as I commuted on my way back home.

It seemed that everyone was at my parents's house already when I arrived. Kuya Colbrin's car was parked across the house. Pati yung lumang Terrano ni Ate Tara ay nasa labas din ng bahay.

Of course it was Shawn who greeted me upon entering the living room.

"Auntie!!!"

"Shawn!!!" I hoisted Shawn's small body into my arms and twirled him around. He laughed and giggled.

"Careful, you don't want to break his bones," sabi ni Ate Tara na nakaupo katabi ni Landon sa couch, drinking beers and sharing a bowl of potato chips dipped in ketchup.

"How can someone so strong can break so easily, right, bud?" I grinned at Shawn before I finally put him down. "He just didn't go through a grueling chemo sessions just to shatter in my arms."

"Yeah, I'm Superman!!! I'm invincible!!!" sigaw naman ni Shawn na kanya naming ikinatuwang lahat.

Traces of weariness was still evident on Shawn's pasty skin. His cheekbones were a bit hallow, his limbs a little too delicate. Despite the happiness emanating from him, faint black circles still rounded his tired eyes. He looked thinner compared to the last time I saw him.

But I knew he was getting better now. We had the results. And the treatments didn't fail him. He'd recover.

My deal with Veric hadn't been worthless.

"How are you doing, Landon?" I fist-bumped Ate Tara's boyfriend.

"Peachy," he said with a wide smile. "I'm marrying your sister."

My jaw dropped. "You proposed?"

"Yesterday at the station. Nothing fancy or overly romantic. I just asked her out of the blue during lunch and she said yes."

"About time you two," I said. I glanced at Tara. "Congratulations, Ate."

"You didn't tell me you're bringing someone in," she said, her face stoic, though I could sense the tension in her words.

My brows knitted together in confusion. "I didn't. What are you talking about?"

Landon's lips pulled into a tight line as he nodded his head in the direction of the kitchen.

My mind ran a mile a minute.

"I hope you know what you're doing, Abby," Tara muttered, my eyes still frozen in the hallway that led to the kitchen. "I hope you're not making a mistake bringing him here."