★ 1

I'm Leiya, the middle child of my family.

A little recap about my life is just that I'm an 11th grade student and my family isn't really in a great situation like any other families you'd see in social media or places.

Sure they're quite really known for my mom's amazing skills in teaching and my dad for having a small business but really "delicious" food.

They'd usually have a great time and then 5-7 minutes later my mom would crashout and have a breakdown because my dad doesn't like giving free things to mom when he literally has his own money from his business and my mom would pay him just to buy dinner ( I know, it's horrible. )

When I was in 10th grade and was gonna graduate just 3 days ahead, my mom and dad had an argument again. Interesting reason was because my dad stole thousands of hard-worked money from mom just to have an entire restaurant just across our house. Which was insanely shocking or just stupid.

And as for that, my mom left and filed a divorce. Of course she did, mom took my little brother while I was stuck with my dad.

We argued too because my mom and I were close and I wanted her to stay. I couldn't do anything for mom but to stand up for her but classic dad would have me grounded and beat me up like a squashed tomato.

I hated dad too. So much that I cried with anger as I yelled at my dad.

Angry tears rolled down my cheeks.

"PA, I CAN'T STAND YOU ANYMORE. MY SISTER FIRST AND NOW MOM???!! YOU'RE FUCKING INSANE!! YOU JUST STEAL MONEY FROM MOM JUST TO FREAKING BUILD A RESTAURANT WHEN YOU COULDN'T EVEN TREAT US AT LEAST BREAKFAST, LUNCH OR DINNER?!"

My dad didn't utter a word and just stayed silent.

His eyes were shooting invisible bullets at me, but I refused to let myself down and feel guilty.

I was furious at him.

So I stormed out of the house, stayed at my Lola's (Grandma) house, my cousin lived there too and I opened up to them. Lola offered me to stay there for a while until things will get better soon.

Spoiler Alert, it did not get better.

My Lola attended my graduation after that day and my cousin was happy for me. At least I had two relatives that still cared.

After my graduation my lola tried calling mom many times but she wouldn't answer. And that was when I last heard her voice. Just her yelling and crying at the house, then it was her last straw.

Dad wasn't at the house either when I went back to get my other things. Guess he was busy with his now "big-bussiness" or whatever.

And so, my Lola called her daughter which was my Tita (aunt) at Manila to let us stay at her place because another funny fact was dad constantly asks Lola for money and they were furious at him.

My tita agreed as always since she was the kind one. Let's call her Tita Kiki. Lola and my cousin packed our things after that and the last thing I knew was that we were at the airport.

My heart was pounding hard as people's shoes and heels clicked on the marble floor. I was actually leaving and moving forward.

Which was my chance to have a fresh start.

★ 2

Alright so that’s that.

I sat at the airplane. Headphones on, took pictures of the view at the window and I slept the evening, and when I woke up, bam! it was like, 2am and we were landing and holy crap my heart just jumped when a guy was sleeping beside me too.

I just realized that my cousin moved to another seat and sat with Lola and left me here (⁠╥⁠﹏⁠╥⁠)

but we were landing anyways so I was glad I wouldn’t suffer with this samok na lalaki ga hagok baya ywaa ni.

Anyways, I was happy whatsoever. I was actually with my two relatives and we’re now at Manila. I took my bags and landed down the airplane. Wow. It felt amazing actually, but just a little homesick, I also miss my mom and my little bro :(

I grabbed my suitcase and Lola’s bags as my cousin went out the streets to grab a taxi while my Lola was holding my arms.

We then went in a taxi and my cousin called Tita that we were on the way to her apartment. She was busy with work and she couldn’t meet us at the airport. And did I mention she lived with her jowa? She should’ve been married now but we listen and we don’t judge.

( Jowa \= Lover )

Time Skip

As we arrived at Tita’s apartment she welcomed us in, her apartment was small but it was cozy and I liked it anyways. It was cute but lots and lots of dirty dishes and dusty cabinets.

Guess she was really busy and her boyfriend was probably at overtime at the moment.

So as we settled in her apartment she said that me and my cousin would sleep in the same room and Lola would sleep in the guest room. We were happy and also ate dinner, she cooked chicken adobo with rice ^^

Despite the food and all these, I actually just felt like my problems just disappeared in my head for a moment. Like, it kind of blew from the wind. Hmm probably because of the food.

For all due respect, I told Tita that I would clean the apartment tomorrow morning since it was really dirty (asf)  :D

My Tita also laughed it off and said that she would get me and my cousin settled at the nearby High School. We were seniors there anyway and my cousin and I were at the same grades (11th grade) so we’d just be there for 2 years and go to college after that.

We also planned to save some pocket money and also do some part-time jobs to help Tita help pay the bills and grocery. Just for good purposes and also to buy a new phone. My phone was broken.

I plopped onto the upper-bed of the double deck after I washed and wore my PJ’s and I was relieved to finally get a good-night’s sleep as my cousin turned off the lights and Tita and Lola also went to their beds and sleep.

The city’s view at the window shimmered as the lights were still bright as ever like it was just 9pm, and I was just about to doze off, I suddenly remembered my mom, dad, big sis and lil bro and me with smiles and laughter together as tears went down my cheeks to my pillow as I silently cried and went to sleep with a heavy heart.

★ 3

I woke up with heavy-lidded eyes as I pulled out my phone to check the time, I only had 5 hours of sleep after the flight. I still wanted to sleep but the sun kept peeking at me through the curtains on the window.

“Ughh just 5 minutes, aysa gud uyy kapoya”

I groaned as I pulled the blanket up with a heavy sigh. And just as I was about to sleep again, Tita pushed open the door.

“Good morning! ay- natulog pa kayo? Wake up na! you need to eat breakfast, I made beef loaf and there’s Milo and Milk if you want to drink, may mainit na tubig sa kettle just get it there”

and with a sleepy voice, my cousin replied,

“opo tita, we’ll be there, just 5 more minutes”

Tita chuckled and closed the door, faint chatter at the door were heard as Lola and Tita’s boyfriend were outside and ate breakfast, and I am kinda hungry so I just pushed off my sleepiness, went down, charged my phone and went to the bathroom first. Do what I needed to do, washed my face and fixed my hair then went outside.

“Good morning sweetie! How was sleep? what time ba kayo nakarating?”

Tita’s boyfriend, Joshua greeted.

“Kaon na Lei, naa nay sud-an oh”

( Translation: You should eat Lei, food’s here )

My lola said as she pulled out a plate out of the drawer and handed it to me, as well as a fork and a spoon.

“Thank you Lola, Good morning po, 2am napo kami nakarating dito and sleep was good pero it was kulang, it wasn’t enough though”

( Translation: Thank you Grandma, good morning, we arrived at 2am and sleep was good but it wasn’t enough )

I replied with a smile as I took Lola’s kind gesture and sat down and ate with them.

They smiled back and continued eating.

Time Skip.  9am. Saturday

It was now a full morning and I took a bath and started cleaning the apartment while Tita and her bf still has work.

And btw my cousin helped me clean the whole apartment.

But as I cleaned, I would still remember the old days when my mom and I would clean the house together. 10% cleaning, 90% scolding.

I love her anyways despite her short patience/temper, she was still my mom and I miss her.

After for 2 hours, my Lola and my cousin went to the supermarket to buy some food for lunch while I stayed at the apartment and took a short nap.

When I woke up and saw the two of them were cooking and my Tita texted me and told me that I was now enrolled to the school and would start on Monday.

The uniform is just ₱250 and school supplies were free, provided with an envelope. I was happy but something was just missing..

Ahh yes, I wished I received a proud smile from my mom and just hear her voice with happiness and not anger or sadness. Just pure joy.

I closed my eyes and let out a heavy sigh. Well, at least I would like to know if my mom and my little brother are doing okay.