Concealed Truth

Epilogue

It was the day of my exhibit and also my birthday. Everyone’s too busy setting everything in place while ako naman, sobrang kinakabahan. This is my fourth time to have an exhibit and I don’t mind giving out lessons or demos but there’s just something today that is making me so nervous.

“ Dude, you should get ready. The gates will open in an hour and you have to give your speech.” Paalala ni Alex.

“ Plus, I have to take a few videos of you.”

“ Uh, what for?”

“ Para mapost sa social media and also to advertise your craft dude. Malay mo mag-viral ka bigla.” aniya

“ Fine. sige na punta muna ako sa kotse. I’ll just get something.” tumango siya saka na ako tinapik sa likod.

I went outside but didn’t really go to my car. Wala naman akong kukunin talaga eh. I just want to breathe and relax before the event starts. I lit up a cigarette and started smoking.

“ Hoy! Ivan tama na yang yosi, tara na sa loob bilis.” anyaya nina Rex at Tri. Tumango na ako and put my cigarette off saka na sumunod sa kanila.

“ You ready?” tanong ni Eli. Tumango ako and went to the front kung saan naghihintay ang mga guests.

“ Good morning everyone. First of all, I would like to thank all of you for coming in today’s exhibit. It means a lot for me that you are all here to see all the artworks that I have done for the past years. And also, to see the art of our features artist which is Mr. Nikolaj Islanov. He was the actual guy who taught me how to create sand arts and art using pyrotechnic. Thank you everyone. You have made my birthday a little more special. I do hope you enjoy your tour around the exhibit and for the kids who are interested to learn about the basic art techniques, we have our ates and kuyas from the UP College of Fine Arts to teach you everything you want to learn about art. Once again thank you and enjoy.” I finished off and they all gave me a round of applause. Eli handed me the scissors and I cut the ribbon away to officially open the venue.

***

Buong araw ay abala ako as I talked to some interested and important people. I toured them around the area as I explained each painting they see.

“ Mr. De Leon, what was your inspiration for this particular painting?” tanong ni Mrs. Pineda. I looked at the painting she was pertaining to and smiled sadly. It was mom. Yung first painting ko sa kanya in college, inulit ko siya for this exhibit.

“ This? This is actually a painting I did when I was in college. It was a requirement to paint someone who inspires us to wake up everyday and honestly at first, I never really thought of any reason. I just did this to get a good grade. But as I started the painting years back. I started thinking that she really does inspire me to wake up and greet each day as if there was nothing to worry about. My mom made me strong. She inspired me to be fearless and to just smile despite the circumstances. So out of all the paintings here, this one will always be my favorite.”

“ That’s very nice, Mr. De Leon. We all can see that you really love your mom so much.” I gave them a proud smile as we continue the tour.

***

After we went through every painting in the exhibit ay hinayaan ko na sila to enjoy their visit. Ako naman ay lumabas muna to breathe some fresh air. I was about to light a cigarette when someone spoke.

“ You told me you’ll stop smoking already Ivan.” aniya. Paglingon ko ay nakita ko si Jho. Napangiti ako saka tinapon yung yosi na dapat sisindihan ko sabay lapit sa kanya and hug her.