"Yeah! That sounds great! I would love to that, I've been wanting to do something like this for a while! Have a contract drawn up and sent over as soon as possible! Oh, okay! Great! Send those over too!"
"What was that about?" asked my mom. She and Lee were in my kitchen making dinner for the family. Abby and Jon were filming until really late tonight so it was just me and my little dysfunctional family. It's a "no significant other's" family dinner. Gilles and I were both without our girlfriends and Lee without his boyfriend. Just mom, dad, my two brothers, and I. A very rare occasion.
"Have you fed the dogs yet?" my mom asked me in Tagalog.
"No, I'll feed them now," I replied in Tagalog. I grew up with Tagalog as my first language, my family raised me to be bilingual. When it's just us at home we all usually speak our native tongue, only one who doesn't is Kevin, he understands but can't speak the language and we never let him forget that.
I put the three dog bowls down filled with food and lean over the kitchen island where my mom and brother are cooking my all-time favorite Filipino dish, kare kare! I'm literally drooling and wipe the corner of my mouth as I start to say, "I just got an offer to record three to five songs and release them as an EP. All the songs are gonna be in Tagalog!"
"ALL OF THEM?" my dad says from the couch in the living room.
"Yeah! All of them...it's only maybe five songs, max!"
"What the heck?! You've never sung in Tagalog..." Kevin laughed.
"Hahahahah dude can you imagine what she's gonna sound like singing?" Lee and Kevin joke together.
"I can speak it, it can't be much harder than singing it. Plus the company offering the deal want me to do OPM covers? He said they would be classic Filipino songs that are known throughout the country, so it's not like I'd have to write original music in Tagalog." I said defensively.
"I think that's a great opportunity, anak." my mom said supportively.
"Thanks, MOM!" I emphasized since she was the only one that was being supportive at the moment.
We sit at the dinner table eating together when Lee abruptly says, "I'm going to propose to Jon. I don't know when or how but I know I'm going to and I know I'm going to marry him."
All of us jump out of our seat, my mom and I are already crying big tears of joy. Even Kevin sheds a tear. Our dad is silent and remains seated.
"Is that okay, Dad?" Lee asks for approval in Tagalog.
"Of course. It's your life and your decisions. We love you, son," he says in Tagalog.
We all gush over the details and the excitement of a proposal and a wedding and officially having Jon as a member of our family.
We're all sitting in my living room with the fireplace on watching TFC (The Filipino Channel) because I said I needed to do research and this is what my parents love to watch so my brothers and I just let them be when we have our family dinners like this.
Lee:
Are you ever going to tell them about you and Abby?
Kevin:
SEEECRET LOOOVERS THATS WHAT YOU ARE
Lee:
LMAO!!
Me:
IDK. You guys better not say anything.
Kevin:
आप पढ़ रहे हैं
Endlessly...
रोमांसOlivia is a glass ceiling breaking filipina-american celebrity. Once a child star, now a well renowned singer, songwriter, pianist, actress, producer, and philanthropist. She does it all. She was in a very public and adored relationship since she wa...
