“Big sister, come on! Hurry up! We are going to be late if we stay here for more minutes!” Kokoy shouted in a hurry outside my room. I quickly tidied myself and hurriedly reached for my bag then opened the door. I saw Kokoy fully dressed with his basketball jersey while Maymay was sitting on a wooden chair in the living room.
“Come on, kids. Let’s go,” I said. They approached my direction and we left the house together.
As I locked the door, I saw Bel waiting for a vehicle that we could take a ride. Moments later, a bus stopped in front of us and we immediately stepped inside. Kokoy and Maymay were very excited to go to school. They both went to the same school.
Bel and Maymay ended up sitting on the right side of the bus while Kokoy and I were on the left.
After I paid the fare fee, I caught a glimpse of Kokoy who now had a smile on his face but you could see he is undeniably nervous as well.
I just tapped his shoulder twice to give him courage. The two of us looked at each other and both smiled before we looked outside of the window.
I happily watched the day-to-day life on the road. Vehicles were everywhere, busy people, open establishments, and also people helping a beggar who’s begging for food.
A sad smile formed on my lips. I am still lucky enough to have a good life with my siblings and with Bel.
****
I clapped and I couldn’t help but shout to cheer Kokoy up when he came up on stage. Someone wore him a medal and handed him a trophy.
A wide smile escaped his lips. He happily approached his teacher who gave him a microphone. It looked like he was going to do a speech for us.
“First of all, I thanked God for all the blessings we receive every day. I am also thankful to my teammates who are tirelessly practicing day and night. They are dedicated and hardworking to win the game and gladly, we did.”
A group of students at the front of the stage shouted for joy and support. They were clapping their hands. Girls were also clapping their hands and looking at him in admiration.
No doubt, my Kokoy is now a big boy.
I chuckled at that thought.
Bel and I were standing at the back of the student’s lane. Maymay, on the other hand, was with her friends in the middle of the covert court, sitting while watching her older brother making a speech on the stage.
“All these achievements are for my older sister, Angela,” he said and pointed in my direction. People automatically looked in my direction. I shyly lowered my gaze. I felt a little embarrassed. I couldn’t deny the fact that sometimes, I felt uncomfortable in a crowded place. I was also thinking about what if there is someone in the crowd who became one of my clients before? What if they recognize me? My siblings might get bullied again like what they experience before when I was a prostitute.
They got bullied up until now sometimes but not that severe because I am no longer a prostitute and add the thought they excel in class.
I came back to my senses when someone held my hand and gently intertwined it. When I looked up to see who she was, Bel’s gentle smile appeared in my sight. She looked at me understandingly and whispered “it’s okay. Do not worry.”
Because of that, I now dared to look at the stage again. I ignored the idea swirling in my mind earlier.
Maybe I got it wrong. Maybe, my enemy here is my own thoughts.
“Big sister, I know the hardship you went through just to make Maymay and I can study and put food in our stomachs in everyday life. That’s why we love you so much, big sister,” Kokoy said tearfully on stage. I also saw Maymay in her seat crying as well.
Bel and I were in tears too but there was a smile on our faces.
Kokoy also said thank you to his Auntie Bel, Maymay, to his teachers, coaches, and classmates before he came down to the stage.
After a few more hours, the program successfully ended. We left the school together with joy in our hearts.
***
“Where are we going today? Shall we go for a walk and look for a resto?” I asked with a wide smile on my face. My two siblings strongly agreed that makes me and Bel chuckled in unison.
“Yes, sister! I would like to eat rice porridge. It is delicious, especially with a boiled egg!” Maymay said excitedly with a warm smile on her face. Kokoy nodded in agreement as well as Bel.
I just smiled and we went straight to a small resto with rice porridge on the menu. The resto we went to was Kokoy’s suggestion.
When we finally reached the place, we looked for a seat. When we sat down, someone approached our direction. I assumed he was the waiter. He was tall and had long hair and a face mask covered his face. He also has fair and looks so soft skin you could say that he was coming from a wealthy life.
However, I just shook my head and brushed off all the ideas forming inside of my head. When he was finally in front of us, I said our orders. The waiter took a pen and a small piece of paper and wrote down our orders. After writing it, he just bowed to me and left our table without repeating our orders. I looked at him weirdly.
“Weird,” I whispered into the air.
“What is that, Angela?” Bel asked in curiosity. It looked like she heard what I said.
“I said the waiter is weird. From the time he took our orders, he left us without repeating the list,” I said and grabbed a tissue that was placed in the center of the table. I made flower origami from it.
Bel remained silent and didn’t say any words about what I said. She just shrugged her shoulders as if to indicate that she also did not know why the waiter acted that way.
My siblings and I had a conversation first about their schooling while waiting for our orders. The four of us laughed and giggled at our topic. We just stopped talking when our order finally arrived. The waiter who took our order earlier was the one who served the food.
He served the food gently on our table and he gave me a lot of tissue which makes me think it was unusual. I would have given it back to him because there was a tissue in the middle of the table but stopped because he left immediately and he went back to the kitchen of the resto.
I just shrugged my shoulders and put the tissue to the side of my bowl. We prayed first before starting to eat.
We were chattering and giggling while remembering the past. Our topic was when Kokoy and Maymay were just little kids. They were stubborn but cute at the same time back then.
I was almost finished eating my rice porridge but I stopped scooping when I almost choked after I bit something hard inside my mouth
I grabbed Bel’s shoulder as I felt the object in my mouth.
“Are you okay???” Bel asked in panic as she looked at my face. She even held both of my arms and made me face in her direction.
I could not answer her right away. My tongue still felt the thing in my mouth.
It was not a bone of meat.
I decided to grab a tissue from the side of my bowl of food and spit out the thing.
My eyes widened in shock the moment I saw what it was.
“A ring?” I uttered in astonishment and quickly looked at Bel and my siblings.
Why was there a ring on my food? Not just a ring, it was a diamond ring.