BORROWED TIME

48

"Relax lang, Jho. Parang mas kabado ka pa kesa kay Bea eh." pang-aasar ni Rex sa akin.

Inirapan ko na lang siya at tinitigan ang tulog nang si Bea.

"Hoooohhh." I breathed heavily tsaka ko na isinuot ang surgical gloves at mask ko.

"Please, Lord. Let this surgery be successful." I uttered a little prayer tsaka tinawag si Rex at ang mga nurses.

"Let's start?" Rex asked.

I just nodded.

Kaya mo to, Jho. You got this, Bea.

~~~~~~~~~~~~

"BEATRIZ?!!!"

I immediately screamed as soon as I saw my face in the mirror.

Napaka-walang hiya talaga ng Bea de Leon na yun.

She drew circles in my face using a pen.

"Bea!!!!!" I said rushing down the stairs to find that mischievous giant.

"Oh, Jho. Umagang umaga, why did you look like that?" natatawang tanong ni kuya Loel na mukhang aalis.

"Bea?! Bea?! Si Bea po ang may gawa nito! Nasan si Bea?!" nanggigigil kong tanong dito.

"Wo-woahh. Relax Jho. Hahaha. Alam mo namang punong-puno ng kalokohan sa katawan yun." he laughingly said.

"I guess, di ka na naman nagising when she woke you up earliest in the morning. Nandon. Nasa kitchen. She's eating happily. I gotta go, Jho. Bye."

He turned himself around. "And by the way, don't be too harsh on her. Don't screw her. She has that on her leg already!"

Pahabol ni kuya na may kasama pang tawa.

Napa-iling na lang ako at umakyat muna sa room ko para maghilamos.

Sinabon ko nang todo at binuhusan ng tubig ang mukha ko hanggang sa mabura yung mga drawings. Then wiped my face with a dry face towel and looked at the mirror.

I smiled.

It's been a month since Bea's last surgery happened. Everyone thought it wouldn't be successful. Because we have to wait for Bea to wake up. We expected for her to wake up hours after the surgery but it actually took an entire day bago niya imulat ang mga mata niya.

I still remember how her family looked like while praying for her to wake up. Even I, wasn't confident enough that she'll survive the operation kasi ang daming naka-turok na screws sa binti niya. Naisip ko na baka hindi niya kayanin. Na baka while she was aslept, she was also in pain. And that caused her not to wake up.

But her, being the Bea de Leon we all know, she fought and woke up. She's the bravest person I've known.

Lumabas na ako ng bath room and saw my phone's screen lit up.

Babe 💙

Hi Babe, I miss you. Hope we could spend time for Christmas together. Please come home so soon.

I love you.

I decided not to reply and put down my phone on my bedside table.

I still have an unfinished business to attend to so I decided to went downstairs para harapin yung kapreng gumawa ng kalokohan.

As I am approaching the kitchen, I can see a figure comfortably sitting on her wheel chair while enjoying her first meal of the day.

She's laughing and I'm pretty sure she's making fun of her mom or dad.