The Story Of Us

one: i'm back

[January 29, 2020]

I wonder what will happen during this vacation.

I thought to myself.

I've been here for a week, and this time I'll be staying at my grandma's house for atleast a month.

It's a small town located at Southern part of Cebu City, it is the hometown of my father.

We always visited there during summer or even weekends when I was a kid until 2002; where my dad was assigned to another area because of this work.

After being away for 7 years, I had my summer vacation there again with my cousin, Clarice; that was six years ago to be exact.

We had a lot of fun back then.

But things have changed, some of my childhood friends are busy with their work and my cousin Clarice can't come with us because of her classese in Junior High School and she also pursued Master's Degree.

Guess it'll be just me this time. Anyhow,

I'm already done preparing my stuff, and got bored waiting so I decided to open my phone and watch online videos for awhile.

Then my mom called.

"Did you leave already?"

"Not yet we're still waiting for uncle Joseph to fetch us. He said they will be arriving here in a minute,"

"update me, okay? Bye"

"Bye, love you" she hanged up and I continued watching the video.

Time check it's already 3:15pm. Our initial plan was to leave around 2pm.

It's just me and Ate Jojo

(Which is btw by grandma's sister. Since we were young we're already used to call her Ate jojo)

So, we waited for them for like hours.

I have nothing else to do, so I let my phone charged for bit and went downstairs to play with Bimbim.

"BIMBIM! COME HERE!!" Once he heard his name he immediately jumped infront of me and licked my cheeks.

"Good boy," he laid upside down and I rub his tummy. Bimbim is sweet and hyper Labrador. He never gets tired playing with you all day.

"Shan! They're here, let's go" ate jojo called out and reminded me to get our things

"Bye, Bim see you soon"

After placing all our things in the compartment, we bid goodbye to our relatives and went inside the car.

"How are you? You've grown so big." Aunt Jackie broke our silence.

"I'm doing fine. Yeah, it's been six years since I last came here."

"I never thought it's that long, what year in college are you?"

I was about to answer her question but then uncle Joseph answered on my behalf 

"She already graduated last year."

"Oh right, I forgot. Im getting old." She laughed and continued "anyway, I hope you're planning to stay until the fiesta."

"Yes, I'm planning to stay there and accompany Ate Jojo for awhile."

"That's great! Yeah, you should really enjoy your vacation while you're still looking for a job"

I smiled back at her and we all remain quiet in the entire ride.

And as silence consumed the entire ride, I can't help but think about someone. Then, a local music in the radio played

🎶 "Kung siya man ang ma pili-an wa nakoy mahimo ana pero, sakit lang gyud kaayo" 🎶

Have you ever get that feeling when you're down, suddenly all songs will hit you hard.

I let out a deep sigh and just ignored it. I shifted my attention to the window counting how many cars will passby.

[TN: Kung Siya Man - Is a local Filipino language (Visayas and Mindanao) that says "If he/she's the one you'll choose, I don't have a choice but it still hurts."]

+++

3 hours later, we finally arrived at the town. We bought a roasted chicken for dinner and stopped by at the pharmacy to buy some medicine for Daddy Nestor.

We arrived at our house around 7:36pm and Aunt Jackie told us to join them in dinner.

"ATE SHAAN!" I heard a vioce calling out my name in the dark, when light finally hit the silhouette, I saw Nikole running towards me.

"NIKOLE!" I hugged her tightly "I missed you!"

She hugged me back and said "I miss you too! What took you so long? Why did it took six years?"

"Well, atleast I came back"

"Yeah! There's someone waiting for you earlier this morning, too bad he already left for his class now.
"

Oh, yeah right I forgot.

"Your mother is waiting let's eat first okay?" I replied changing the subject.

I immediately went inside and helped prepared the food.

I let out a sigh again. I hope things will be better during thise weekend.