Love in a Time Capsule

A Hero's First Love - Chapter 2

"¿Por qué?" shouted a woman in a low, raspy voice.

A middle-aged woman whose black hair, which has streaks of gray combed up and secured into a pin, emerged from the staircase. She wears a thin camisa with embroidery that matches the handkerchief that she's holding and a multi-layered brown skirt made of silk. Her stern face is etched with worry, eager to know what's happening.

"Ina. S-she..." The young pubescent girl wearing the same type of clothes but with her hair down and combed back tried to speak, but her voice faltered. Her right hand was trembling as she pointed it at me.

"Who are you?" The middle-aged woman, whom the girl referred to as her mother, pointed her folded fan at me accusingly. "And why are you wearing such strange clothes? ¡Que barbaridad!"

I looked down on my clothes and checked if they were really strange. A pair of black Converse sneakers, shorts, and a plain white shirt. This is anything but strange.

"I said, who are you? What are you doing here?" This time, the woman is holding her daughter protectively while still pointing her folded fan as if it were a weapon. They're both trembling.

"I-I'm Katherine. K-Katherine Dimayuga, You may call me Kaye," I said while raising my hand in surrender. "Ate Lucing asked me to come inside..."

Upon hearing this, the woman let go of her daughter and lowered her folded fan.

"Oh, Lucing and I came to an agreement a few days ago through correspondence. I didn't know you had already arrived, and it is quite brazen of you to come up here immediately and wear that type of clothing on your first day," the mother said with a look of disgust.

"Lucing might not have taught you manners, as expected of your lowly background."

I'm beyond confused. Why does this strange woman paint me as strange when she is the weird one, wearing these old-fashioned clothes in this day and age? But she knows Ate Lucing... so is this some kind of prank? And how dare she say I came from a lowly background?

I was about to open my mouth when the woman raised her folded fan and pressed its tip on my lips.

"You really have no manners, huh? You do not speak to your lady unless asked to," the woman said firmly. She then proceeded to look at me from head to toe and circled around me as if scrutinizing my entirety. I glanced at her daughter from the corner of my eye and saw her wincing at what her mother was doing.

"Tsk, tsk. Poor you. You refer to your mother as ate and do not have any hint of civility within you," the woman said while still circling around me, this time slowly fanning her face with her beautifully embroidered white fan.

"Your lowly background shows, but be grateful that I am a merciful and provident lady. As long as you're with me, you'll be clothed, fed, and taught some manners. But you have to loyally serve my daughter, Segunda."

*****

"What exactly are you?" Segunda asked me accusingly while squinting so hard that her almond-shaped eyes now almost looked like slits on her caramel-colored face. I found myself walking backward while still facing her, with my hands held up in a protective fashion.

"I do not know why Ina bought your story that Manang Lucing sent you here, but I certainly do not. Tell me what you are. Now."

I walked backward some more, but I felt the back of my knees hit the wooden bed frame. My knees gave in, and I almost toppled over Segunda. She caught me by my hands, which she used as an opportunity to get closer.