Sober

Chapter 17

Lea sat up from her bed when she still couldn’t get a good sleep. She doesn’t know if it is her insomnia again or it was something else. Something that happened earlier before she went inside their house. She blew the hair that was in her face out of frustration. She looked at the time in her phone and it’s almost midnight.

She decided to go out of her room and knocked on Sarah's door, “Sars, still up?”

“Pasok, Ate.” Sarah said on the other side.

Lea twitched the doorknob and open the door. She saw her sister sitting on her study chair, “Buti hindi ka pa natutulog. I need someone to talk to.”

“Got some problem?”

“Not a problem, but... uhm... sort of confusion? I don’t know. I don’t exactly know what is this.” she said and sat on Sarah’s bed.

“Spill it.”

“H-how would you react if someone tells you that they’re falling in love with you? Like... Like they just said it out of nowhere.”

“Depende kung sino ang nagsabi. I mean, if it came from a stranger, I would feel weird. But if it came from someone I know, I would feel grateful? Kikiligin siguro? Why are you asking?” Sarah asked since she finds it odd that her sister is asking things like this. Lea wouldn’t talk about these stuffs unless it bothers her, and that made Sarah think. “Oh my God! Who confessed to you? Kuya Aga?”

“Seriously? He’s the first person who entered your mind? Baliw ka ba?”

“So, meron ngang nagtapat sa’yo? Sino?” Lea looked at her sister when she changed place and sat in front of her. She could see so much interest and excitement in her facial expression. She thought it would somehow lessen her botheration about this thing if she tells her sister, guess that she should have never told her. “I think I knew who it was.”

“Ian’s courting.”

Sarah squealed with that confirmation, “OMG! May love life ka na, Ate!”

“Too soon to tell, Sarah. Nanliligaw pa lang ‘di ba?”

“Bakit? Wala ka bang balak sagutin?”

“Depende. If I see that he’s sincere and genuine to his feelings toward me, then I might give us a shot.”

Sarah rolled on her bed while hugging a pillow. She’s smiling from ear to ear as if she’s the one who got a suitor, “Putakte! Kinikilig talaga ako!”

“Hindi naman halata,” Lea sarcastically answered. “But it made me feel awkward, Sarah. I don’t know... it somehow feels new. You know, the courting stuffs.”

“It’s because it’s been a long while since you got yourself a suitor,” Sarah said and went back on sitting. “You probably forgot how being in love feels like. It’s been a long time since you engaged your self with men, Ate. If ever, Kuya Ian will be your next serious relationship after thirteen- fourteen years? After Kuya Aga.”

“But don’t you think I was not being impulsive that I let him court? The last time I check, I said I am not interested in having a new relationship.”

“That was when everything was still complicated with your life, Ate— with Aya. You’ve settled things with your daughter, not to mention, with the father as well,” Sarah told her. “If this makes you happy, then give this to yourself, Ate. I personally think it’s time for you to have your sort-of happy ending. Kuya Aga has his, you deserve yours too. May it be Kuya Ian or whoever, you deserve to be happy. Well, unless...”

“Unless what?”

“Unless the reason why you’re being so uncertain about Kuya Ian is because you haven’t moved on from the ex yet.”