Hiraya's dreams

Chapter 5 

Hiraya came home with her Mom waiting in the living room. Her adorable Mom runs to the kitchen and came back with a plate full of sweets and other various types of yummy treats.

“Mom, did you make all of this?” Hiraya exclaimed with glee, her eyes sparkling with delight.

“Oh, of course, my dear daughter. I will do anything for you and I won’t let your smiles be lost to the world. Here, I did this all day; I watched online videos just to make these pastries for you. These are too difficult to make. I know you are drained and tired at work, so this is your reward. Eat to your heart’s content, my dearest daughter. Hiraya, I named you as such because I know and I want you to be like its very meaning; a product of courage, dreams, and desire. You are my daughter, an old Filipino language teacher and you are a very workaholic and obedient daughter, but I know that you do not take care of herself. You keep all of your miseries to yourself, and I know that because I haven’t heard even a single cry or complaint from you. You can aim and have dreams all your life, but please do not forget that you exist and live because of yourself.”

Hiraya is on the verge of breaking into tears. She already ate half of the sweets, and almost finished and emptied the plate. She felt like she felt like she is going to choke, so she ran fast straight to the kitchen to give and pour herself a full glass of water.

Maybe I will develop diabetes and hypertension one of these days, but who cares? Sweets and fried foods give me comfort, aside from my mom’s warm and tight hug. Hiraya said to herself.

Hiraya drank the water in an instant and finished it in just ten seconds, and saw a big brown box. It looks like it came from a nearby online shopping store, and it looks like it is just recently delivered.

An opened box. Too neat to be an old one. The labels surrounding the box have drawings and pictures that seems and look like the sweets similar to what Mom offered me.

I smiled. She is really priceless. I will always love and cherish her.

“Mom, I am going to bed early. I have a terrible migraine. I feel my head is going to burst at any minute.” Hiraya shouted from the kitchen.

“Wait, Hiraya, I am gonna make you some dinner. This won’t take an hour. I will do it fast. I promise.” Hiraya’s mom ran to the kitchen and grabbed the pans and kitchen utensils and proceeded to open the refrigerator that is not organized.

Hiraya walked back to the living room, throwing herself in the cosy sofa and laid her head on the throw pillows in it to check her social media account. Scroll. Scroll. Scroll.

All my female classmates are getting married except me and my girl best friend, Lisha. She is very pretty, and men always chase her, and kneel before her for her to love them, but Lisha won’t budge. She says that she wants to feel something like a spark, and she haven’t met that man and thus, haven’t felt that kind of feeling from the men surrounding and wooing her in her daily life.

Both our ages are nearing the end of the calendar. We need to hurry ourselves up. Vying eyes are everywhere, asking us silently why are we not married in our ages, and why are we not independent or have any real estate properties, that we should have acquired massive amounts of money in our bank accounts, and also not owning a pricey car.

But having a relationship right now is draining. Living every day is a hard one because the economy is failing; prices of commodities are rising and we barely earn a dime. And also, I just experienced my first heartbreak. Why would I trust a man again and delve into something that is not have surety in its entirety? I am a very trusting and patient person, and I cannot afford to cry and lose myself just because of a man. I need to come back to my senses, because I have my Mom, Lisha, and myself to hold on. It is more than enough reason to continue living. I can stay single and die single until I die. I will just spend my time with my Mom, Lisha, and my cats and dogs, my pets. Taking care of pets needs money for me to take them to veterinarians, and I should make some more money if I want to prolong their lives.

The idea sounds nice; having no mate all your life is appealing, right, Aristophanes?

I woke up from my daydreaming when Mom called me for an early dinner.

Hiraya’s mom came back to the living room and served her a plate of smoking roasted fish with boiled vegetables sprinkled with generous amounts of garlic, onions, ginger, chilis, and peppers, hot miso soup in a bowl, a full bowl of brown rice, and a platter of various slices of tropical fruits. Her meal is a full healthy meal.

“Eat until you are full, Hiraya, those are brown rice and those are healthier than the white ones.  You can eat huge amounts of it because it contains good carbohydrates. I lessened the salt I put on the fish and soup to take care of your internal organs. Finished it all, especially the fruits. I know you do not eat properly at work. Eat it all, it is not good to go to bed when you are hungry.” Hiraya’s mother is pouring her a fresh glass of fruit juice that have the healthy sugar of green stevia.

“You said you won’t take an hour preparing my dinner, but you took almost an hour and a half to finish it.” Hiraya said, teasingly laughed at her mother. Her mom frowned at her.

“Well, whatever. Eat all of these before I regret preparing you a meal and taking these all away. Food tastes not so good when it is cold.” She continued pouting at Hiraya.

Hiraya got hold of the eating utensils and started eating her dinner. I ate without restraining herself. 

The company meal tastes awful. My Mom’s cooking is heavenly, no one’s gonna beat that, well, except for the sweets I like. I won’t lose this opportunity to stuff my stomach with good food. Being skinny is sometimes okay.

But most of the time, it is not.

Upon finishing the food, her mother started getting the plates. Hiraya stared at her.

“I will wash the plates this time, because you look so pale and sleepy. Your eyebags are bulging. Go to sleep now. I will myself will wash these.” Her mom smiled at her.

“Thank you, mom, do not worry, I filed a leave this day, and it will be for a month. I will wash the plates for a month. Hahaha!” Hiraya gave out a laugh.

“Okay, I will count on that. Hurry, now, and go to sleep.” Her mom rose to her feet with the arranged pile of dirty plates and walked toward the kitchen.

Hiraya went to her bedroom and laid on her bed. She stared at the ceiling for a minute and decided on something. 

Crying myself to sleep will be on my schedule today. Crying is a good emotional exercise. I think I will fell asleep easily after crying my eyes out. For the One who made eyes not only for criticizing, but also for crying, I salute you and am grateful to you. 

As she drifted herself to deep sleep, she remembered what her love said to her over a text message. Hiraya called her boyfriend, and her boyfriend answered it quickly. He questioned her how are things going, and if she already had her breakfast. She said that she is breaking with him, and he asked why. She said that she saw him with another girl, and the guy did not respond, the call got disconnected. After a second, the guy sent her a long message saying that he is sorry for what he had done to her, but he is also a man, who wants attention and thrill. Their relationship is not working anymore, it kinda felt monotonous. She also became unruly as years pass, and that turned him off. He told Hiraya that they are both the reason why the relationship ended up like that; and her loyalty and loving nature is not enough to sustain a relationship. He is disloyal, and Hiraya is too dull like she already had many children. He told her that he really loved her, but that is the past, so they both have to move on with their own lives. Hiraya had a mental breakdown. She is not thinking clearly. It came back to her again, all of it, in her dreams, while she is sleeping in a comfortable bed and an airconditioned room. She is having a nightmare and wailing while in her sleep.

She suddenly woke up from her nightmare.