Chapter two: Seah

Seah's Point Of View

I am kneeling in front of my father's grave while holding a bouquet of white tulip flowers. He loves these flowers, and I remember he always buys tulips for our little altar. And buying this for his grave made me miss him more. A couple of years had passed since he was resting in his tomb; it seems like yesterday. His happy yet memorable memories and words of wisdom are fresh in my heart and engraved in my soul.

"I love you, Dad." Those three words, three words that I never had a chance to let him hear those words coming from me.

Those simple words that I really loved to say to him yet, I'll feel ashamed, so I kept silent. You know, don't judge me; I'm not really that close to my father. Even when he's still alive, I rarely or never say those three words to him; for me, it's kind of cringe. And definitely, he'll never hear it either, now that he's gone.

Growing up with one parent was a very difficult thing. On top of that, I never grew up in a family that showed you love and verbally said, I love you,” to each other.

You know, I'm a girl; I've got some things that I can't share with my dad that surely should be shared with your mom. But in my situation, my dad was the only parent that stood by my side.

I didn't see nor grow up with my mom. My dad gave me pictures of her, but due to their state, I can't clearly visualize my mom's face within the pictures my dad let me see. It's too old to look into, and some of the pictures are burned a little.

Teary-eyed, I caressed its tombstone and closed my eyes to say my silent prayer. As I feel the cold breeze of air, a memory comes rushing down on me. My dad never showed me the hardest things in life, even when he was raising a kid all by himself. A great dad, he was a great one, and with that greatness, I'm the lucky one to be his daughter.

But along with that greatness, my lucky charm lost its luck when he got sick, and unfortunately, he died. I'm in pain, but what can I do when my lucky charm was needed and it's luck in heaven? I can't defy God's plan.

Today is the day I start searching for a place to stay near where I'm going to university. Although it's difficult, studying is necessary for my future.

I quickly wiped away my tears and immediately stood up and left the flowers on his gravestone. I smiled before getting dressed and fixing myself.

"How about that! I have to go. I'll still visit you, don't worry. Bye! See you again!" I bid my goodbye and turned around and walked away slowly.

I can only look for a place to stay today because school starts two days from now. I can't look for a place in the evening or in the afternoon because I'm also starting my part-time job that I applied for.

I also got a job as a server at a coffee shop that's also close to my school and my shift starts tomorrow afternoon, so today is the only day I can really look for a place for me to stay either a apartment or a rental house.

After a few hours of searching, my aching feet lead me nowhere. I've been wandering around for a while and not a single rental house near the University I'm going to attend is vacant.

I immediately sat down next to a bakery and quickly shook off my fatigue. It was also hot because it was already 10 o'clock in the midday and I had been wandering around here since eight o'clock. I was also hungry and needed to find something to eat again.

I immediately stood up and decided to eat first before starting my search again. I immediately saw a grill that sold various types of street food.

They sell isaw (cleaned and grilled chicken intestine), atay (chicken liver), chicken skin, balon-balonan (chicken crop), and pastil so I immediately got a craving and came closer. It's cheap and you'll be full when you taste this kind of food. And because I'm on a budget now, it's affordable for a student like me to eat this.

“Ma'am, how much is the isaw and this liver?” I asked the woman with her back to me while I was staring at the merchandise. “The liver is 8 pesos (0.14USD) while the isaw is 5 pesos (0.088USD) each!” She said and immediately looked at me.

I was immediately amazed as if this grown women was still young. “Okay . . . I'll have 5 livers and 10 isaw,” I said and smiled at her.

“Raphael Son! Please have the order ready for this beautiful beauty,” she avoided my gaze and called his son.

A young man, still getting dressed and already tripping over himself as he ran from his room, was running towards us.

It was obvious that he had come at his mother's command because of the beads of sweat on his forehead and body.

“My son will take care of you, Miss,” she said, making me nod. He went back to what he was doing and his son turned to face me.

“What about you?” He said without hesitation and immediately fanned the grilled meats on the grill.

“5 pieces of livers and 10 pieces of isaw, and also 3 pair of  pastel please,” he nodded but still didn’t look at me.

It's not that he's strict, he's just quite busy because there are a lot of people waiting for their orders at the tables in front of their house.

They're mostly women and some of them have been taking pictures of the man who's fanning the grill.

He has a pointed nose, dark hair, tall, although I don't know much about his body. He's not thin, but in my eyes he's not fat or thin, as long as he's not skinny or just has the right body.

His eyelashes are fine and his eyebrows are thick. His lips are just the right shape to match his medium-sized eyes. I fine dude, yep not my type.

Since it's been a while since I've been here, I just sat down on the empty seat here. It's right next to the griller's place so it's a bit smoky, and even though I sniffed all the smoke, I just endured it.

I immediately took out my cellphone and checked the corner on the map to see if there was anything I hadn't yet gone to or if I had missed something.

“I’m all set, I’m already in, there’s no one to rent here!” I whispered and sighed as I hung up my phone.

I was immediately startled by the face of the person nearby while looking at me and smiling.

Yes, and this guy is handsome, but it’s not fair for him to surprise me in this situation. I held my chest as I looked at him with wide eyes.

“Are you looking for a place to rent?” I was immediately deaf and I couldn’t even say a word or move my lips.

I’m a startled person and no one surprises me every day so I’m not used to being surprised or being surprised.

“Aren’t you looking for a place to rent?” I just nodded without saying a word and looked at the other table. I saw gaping girls while some of them looked at me in a bad way.

I was just about to eat, why is this happening? The man immediately jumped up and immediately kissed his mother who was busy marinating their food.

I immediately frowned at his action, just a moment ago he looked at me with a frown. But now he looked crazy in my eyes while he smiled at my behavior.

He whispered something to his mother that I probably couldn't hear. His mother smiled and immediately came to my place and sat in front of me.

“Oh my, I'm sorry about my son, miss - - -that's just how it is, but his kind. My son told me you were looking for a place to rent?” I nodded in response and was now able to get over the surprise from earlier.

“That's right, we were renting something, but it hasn't been cleaned yet because we're busy here at the grill, if you want, we'll lower the rent for your place and you'll be the one to clean it,” I immediately widened my eyes and immediately grabbed the women's hand that was resting on the table.

“Really?” I whispered in disbelief, making the woman nod.

“And if you want, we can cook your dinner, lunch, and breakfast, but there is a f*e. Water is also free, but I hope you can contribute a little to the electricity,” I immediately nodded at her offer.

There is nothing lower than their rent these days. Even if it is a pile of things, I will really try to fix and clean it.

“Thank you very much! I have been looking for a place to rent for a while now and I haven't found anything yet!” Tears welled up in her eyes, she immediately shook her head and held my hands.

“Oh my, you should thank my son --- if that's not the case, you might be forced to hire someone else and even farther away,”

I immediately nodded and thanked his son for immediately putting my lunch on my table today. As well as saving me from roaming around the city again.