Heart Rallies

Neuf: Pericardial Disease

There were perhaps fifteen people inside that Bea saw. They were all laughing and chasing each other around as soon as they opened the door. She was overwhelmed with what she got.

"Hi guys," Seff greeted them and two kids immediately ran up to him and kissed him on his cheeks.

"Hi Tito Seff," one boy said.

"Hi Dada," he said and pinched his cheeks too.

"Hi boys," he said and embraced the two. "How are you two?"

"We're good," one answered. "Lola said she baked some cake for us."

"Great! So do you have your jerseys? We'll be playing later," he said.

"I got a new pair of shoes! Daddy bought me," the one who called him Tito Seff said.

"Uncle Chad gave me a new jersey," the younger one added.

"Cool," he said. He was about to further ask the boys something when he heard Ava grunt and pointed the woman he was with. He has totally forgotten about her. "Oh, yeah, I'm sorry. My bad."

Seff stood up and guided Bea to join his family.

"Guys, she's Bea," he said. "Bea, you know my Mom. The guy beside her is my Dad. Then that woman wearing a black shirt is our eldest Ava Yu-Castillo and beside her is Paul, her husband. He's also a lawyer. Corporate lawyer though. No rallies. That kid wearing a red polo shirt is their only son Gavin. Then I'm the next one. After me, you know her, Akira. The guy beside her is Anthony, Akira's boyfriend, fiancé maybe. I do not know if he changed his mind about my sister or not. He's an architect. Then our youngest, Ethan. His wife's the woman wearing the maternity dress, she's Raffy. Raffy is Paul's only sister. Ethan and Raffy's kid is the one wearing the black shirt. His name's Cali Alexander. That woman in pink is Gavin's nurse, the one in white is Cali's. The others are our househelp."

"You got a guy with a big family," Ava smiled at her. "And you are now officially welcome to our family. This is a weekly habit so you have to make sure you don't get to be absent."

Bea laughed and she was still feeling tensed. She's not used to the kind of welcome that his family gave her. It is very different when it comes to their household.

"We were just waiting for the two of you. Let's have lunch now," his mother said.  They all sat around the table and gave their grace.

"Amen," they all said.

"Let me just tell everyone how happy I am that all the seats are finally occupied," Amanda said smiling. "Before, we don't have as much and we pull chairs from the rest of the house if we have gatherings and guests but now, my family is finally complete. It was a good decision for me to see Seff. At least, hindi nya maitago sa akin yung girlfriend nya."

They all laughed.

"My, my Seff! You said before that you will do what you can to get her out of your condo. I didn't expect that it would end up with you moving in to be with her," Akira laughed.

"He said that?" Bea asked Akira.

Akira laughed. "Yes. He said that. I didn't realize he'll fall in love."

It made the others tease them. Seff drank a glass of water while Bea remained smiling.

"Should you decide to get married, you have my blessings," his father added. "Just do not make it on the same year as Akira's. If I'm giving away my children, the least you can do for me is do it once a year."

They all laughed. They asked her a lot of things about her work and her family and she gave basic answers but not complete details. She learned a lot of things about everyone and saw how bonded they are, how cool their parents are. In a short time, she learned how Raffy and Ethan fell in love and how they got married, how Paul and Ava met, how Anthony got Akira to say yes.