I'm in the unit, and I'm already dressed. I sat on my small sofa to think of something to do. And then I remembered that I don't have anything to eat here.
So I took my wallet to go grocery shopping for the week. When I got down to the ground floor, I saw that Injang.
He was in the reception area. sitting while watching a TV series. When he felt me, he turned to me.
"Oh Iris, is it your morning?"
"Brother Mark sent me home early today." "You know, it's only once in a while to be serious and kind," I said, laughing.
"I really like that man. The next time I scold him, I tell him that he is married so that he doesn't always have a hot head. "
"Oh, I don't have any plans to get married. I'm too busy with work. Maybe I'll get married at that ramen house. "
which Injang laughed at again. "What a pity for his father if that's what he's planning."
"I'm sure." He's fine. I'll go first, "I said goodbye."
"Why, where are you going? You should just rest."
"Well, my fridge is empty. That's why I thought of going grocery shopping."
Aling Injang stood up from sitting.
"Why?" I will ask.
"No! It's good that you reminded me. Come here hija, I'll give you something."
I didn't come right away. He bent down and took something from the cabinets underneath.
He placed the three eco bags on the table. It's full of food and other stuff. Then he went to the small drawer and took out a white envelope.
I seem to know it. I stepped closer and sighed.
"Your mom came here a while ago." But I didn't let her go upstairs because I knew you were still at work. So I was told that you should just go to work. Maybe at the ramen house. That's it now and I saw you weren't there. "
"Aunt Injang. Didn't I say 'don't accept them or let them in here?"
"But son, your mother just wants to see you. It's been two years, Iris. Don't you miss your Mama? Talk to her, son."
I didn't answer. Because I know that the moment I open my mouth, no words will come out. But cry.
"And besides, your uncle Henry wasn't with me, so I let your mom go." I also let you go because it looks like your mom is sick. Poor thing. She'll be waiting for you outside. It's still hot today. Then I'll go see you at the ramen house. "
I'm still speechless. I was just looking at the eco bags in front of me.
"Oh, he's fine. I promise this is the last time I'll let your mom stay, okay? Just take these. "
Ever since I left home, I have never spoken to or faced Mama. A few weeks after I ran away they found me here. They try to take me but I don't agree. I can't even leave the apartment. because I don't know anything cheap to rent. The only money I have left is my allowance.
They also always bring food or money. Which I don't accept. Which Injang accepts no'n. And it was only from him that I found out that mom had bought my unit. Even though it was hard to accept, I just accepted it. I told myself that I would just pay what he paid for my unit. When I have a job.
Before I entered the ramen house, I first worked at Injang so that I could graduate from high school.
I told Mama not to let her see me if she still doesn't believe what I told her that day.
Because of my pity for aunt Injang, I will just accept those. I also thought that I could save money.
I saw Aunt Injang's face light up and she even helped me fix them.
"I'm sorry, hija. I really feel sorry for your mother and daughter. I don't even know the whole story between you and your mom. Remember that Wella and I are here for you, okay?"
I nodded and smiled lightly. "I'm sorry. And thank you for understanding," I said.
I only brought one eco bag up. Aling Injang said he would just send the rest of my unit up.
I opened the door and went straight to the table. I put the eco bag there and sat on the chair.
"You can do it, Lily. Just a little. Just be patient. Don't give up," I reminded myself.
I wiped the tears that appeared. Nope. You won't cry anymore.
Just a few seconds later, someone knocked on the door. I immediately went to it and opened it.
"Thank you," I said to brother Felipe. The one who collected Mama's gifts.
I put them inside one by one. That's when I noticed that there were two sacks of rice. Apart from the big eco bags.
I organized the canned goods, snacks, beverages, breads, and other stocks in my mini pantry and put the meat, chicken, fish, vegetables and fruits in the refrigerator.
When I finished I drank water and said goodbye. After eating, I went to the room to clean my body again.
Right after I finished in the room, the rice was cooked. I ate and had corn beef. After finishing, I went back to the room to sleep.
I am emotionally and physically drained today. I just want to rest even just for a couple of time. But before my eyes closed, I couldn't help but cry.
***
A knock from the door woke me up. I slowly opened my eyes and rubbed them. My eyes are still sore from crying earlier. I looked at the clock on my bedside table.
It's 7:47 in the evening. How many hours did I sleep?
I went out to see what was banging on my door.
"LILY IRIS OPEN THE DOOR! I KNOW YOU'RE STILL AWAKE!" Wella shouted outside.
"I brought some wine, Lily! Let's just shoot it! Let's not go to school and work! Let's get drunk now!" Cali shouted next as they continued to slam the door.
Which Injang must have told Wella what happened earlier. Then Wella turned to Cali.
I know the door should be open because we are bothering the neighbor. But I don't want them to see me like this. Again.
They will also stop later.
"Please Iris, open it," Wella cried.
"We are here. We are with you, always. We will not leave you," said Cali.
I just leaned against the door. I couldn't stop crying again because of what they were saying. I sat down because of my crying.
I covered my mouth so they couldn't hear me outside.
"Iris..."
We also cried for a few minutes in front and behind the door. Until I heard the voice of which Injang was sending them home.
I slowly entered the room and lay down on the bed. Still didn't stop crying.
And I can't stop thinking about what happened to Mama and me. Because until now, I'm still mad at him.
I can't accept that he trusted someone we don't know more. Than me who is his son. He supported and defended the person more... he shouldn't have
morning I didn't feel like leaving my bed. I lost the will to act. I'm too lazy to go to work. So I took out my cell phone to text brother Mark.
When I opened my cell phone, I had many notification texts from Wella. They also made 15 missed calls to me. I also had a missed call from an unregistered number.
I opened Wella's texts to me.
Wella:
Are you out 2 days early??
Samgyup is my 3rd treat because the feedback on our presentation is good, yay
Come here to PBC samgyupasalan haaa. Cali and I will wait for you if we go first. Or text me if it's
3:45 pm
??? Did you OT again????
It's ok that you're late, I'm used to it
4:56 pm Aunty
said you're home but you didn't show up, are you mad??
We've been here for a while, Iris. We are hungry huhu
5:43 pm
Cali and I are going home. We just took out to eat.
6:20pm
We're almost at the apartment
6:38 pm It
's the apartment. Get ready for me, lily iris, get ready with your excuse of 500 words.
6:49 pm
WE ARE RIGHT ACROSS FROM YOUR UNIT
OPEN THE DOOR
LILY
LILY IRIS WHAT?
7:28 pm
I read Cali's next.
Cali:
Oy, he said he's gay, hehe
, dinner is free again before duty
3:40pm
leaving the house, can I see you? What are you? lucky???? Bleh you're going to PBC alone
3:51 pm
gay, I'm hungry
go for free dinner
Lily???
5:50pm
Huhu my samgyupv ended up in jabe it's your fault!!!!
When I'm hung up on the jabe, I'll eat you. You exchanged the unli
pork, chicken, and beef with the bee in the village???
I don't want 2pc spicy chicken
6:17pm
Iris I brought wine. Your favorite, I still owe it to aunt Injs.
If you don't go out there, I'll make you pay for it
. And what I'll pay for the alcohol is for us to pay for the electricity!!!!
It has been three months since I received food and money from Mama. I used that to be able to study at this entrance.
I should be in my second year of college now. But due to the lack of money, I was not able to study.
I'm at the mall today shopping for school supplies. I was also enrolled last week with Wella. I also enrolled in his school so we could be together.
Wella is one year older than me. He is in his third year of the teacher training course. While I'm a first year BS Psychology student.
I have a big reason why I took that course. That's because of my dad.
Since I already have a job, I did online schooling. I will no longer need to attend school classes for lectures, exams, and quizzes. But I will need to attend other school events. Like intramurals, college fest, school foundation, and others.
Wella and I are fine. After that day, the next day I was surprised when I left the room, they were already in the living room. Then when they saw me they immediately ran to hug me.
After buying everything I needed, I went home to rest.
***
The speed of time.
Now it's the end of the semester. And in just a few weeks I will be in my second year.
I'm in my room now, doing my late school works. I was busy writing when someone knocked outside.
I stopped writing to open the door.
"Is it still possible?" Wella asked when I opened the door.
I didn't answer and just turned my back on him. I went to the fridge to get water and drink.
"Miss Fiel talked to me Lily. She said you missed a lot of exams and other activities. You also don't have grades in your two major subjects," she said.
I know that. Miss Fiel told me that last week.
"Miss Castilian, I am sorry to say but what's happening to you, hija? Most of your grades are failing. Especially your majors. Your subject teachers told me that you're not even passing any activities anymore," said miss Fiel.
He sent me here because he said he had something to say. This is it.
I am aware of that. That's why I can't do school activities anymore because I got into trouble at the ramen house. Then I don't have any money to buy school requirements.
"I'm sorry, Miss."
"You're one of the most brilliant students in your department. And I honestly have high expectations of you. But now what happened, Lily? And it makes me sad knowing that you're failing."
Failing. It must have been wrong for me to study right away even though I already had money. It's because I'm arrogant. I thought I could.
"I know and I'm doing what I lack," I replied to Wella.
"That's exactly what I told Miss Fiel. I told her that you can't even go to work anymore because you're doing what you lack. I also said to give you more time to finish everything. But..."
"But what?"
He sighed before answering. "They gave an extension, but they say it's only until tomorrow. You know they're tight on the deadline because the semester is about to end."
I took a deep breath.
Only until tomorrow.
And if I don't pass tomorrow I will stop again.
I just nodded to Wella.
"Lily... you want me to help you so you can finish right away? Shall we send Cali to help?"
I immediately shook my head at Wella. "No more. You still need to revise your thesis, don't you? And Cali still has that duty. So don't. But thank you."
"But your studies...how's that going?"
I tried to smile at Wella. "What are you doing, that's fine. I can still enroll next time. I just need to save. Then I won't work anymore and just focus on studying."
Wella convinced me several times that he would help me and I also refused several times. Even if the five of us work together, we won't be able to finish it right away.
After Wella left, I went to the kitchen sink to wash myself. Then I wiped my face.
I went to my room and put away what I was doing earlier. Wasteful.
Too bad again.
But I can't do anything. I'll just come back next time and make sure to improve.
Sometimes because of the hardships, I think of just going back home. But just thinking about doing that, I feel fear.
Is there a foot like that? You feel afraid of places, things, and people that you have been with, visited or experienced for a long time. Just see them or get close to them and hear their voice. You are immediately afraid. You are afraid that you will have trouble breathing and that you will close your eyes and cover your ears. Everything is difficult.
I created my email for the school and said I was going to drop out.
***
The next day, I acted as if nothing happened yesterday. I got up, cooked brunch, and cleaned my entire unit.
In the early morning I got myself ready to go to work. I need to go in to save. I also need extra income to accelerate my savings.
When I arrived at the ramen house, I went straight to boss M's office. I knocked three times before opening the door.
Boss M's eyes met mine and his eyebrows met.
"Good afternoon," I greeted.
"Uh, good afternoon too. May I ask who are you?"
"Wow ha. You're awesome brother. I'm your favorite employee," I answered before sitting in the chair in front of him.
"Axon is my favorite. Because when Axon is absent, he says goodbye in person. Unlike others, he only says goodbye via text," he said grumpily.
"I'm sorry. I don't know what to do first. Besides, I'll just waste the fare to get here and then you won't agree."
"So can you make your own decision? Hi Desisyon, I am Mark Andrew Salazar owner of this ramen house. How may I help you?" He said sarcastically.
"It's Boss M. Don't worry, I'll go OT to make up for my five days of absence," I said.
Boss M let out a breath.
"It stinks," I said and covered my nose.
"By the door, you can go out and find your replacement."
"This one! It's so hot-headed! Are you and your Boyfriendfighting?"
Boss M
"I don't have a Boyfriend! Go to work!" He will push me away.
"Lily, close after ten minutes," said boss M."Okay man," I answered.I laughed when I saw him wince. It's really stupid. So there is no joy.I continued to work until we closed. I went to the staff room to tidy up and get my things.When I left, I went to boss M's office again to say goodbye. I knocked three more times before opening the door.I didn't go in because I just wanted to say goodbye."I'm leaving," I said."Alright be careful," he answered while focusing on the computer screen. He was still looking down while scrolling the mouse."Hey, I don't love you, don't worry."Because of what I said, he immediately looked at me and glared at me."Go home.""Alright man. Just shoot it. When you wake up tomorrow it won't be there," I said laughing and closed the door.When I came out, I saw Cali waiting for me. We will go home together today because they want to sleep over. Then I also want to tell Cali what happened in my studies.We took a jeep and in a few hours we were at the opp
It's crazy."Okay sir, thanks for calling," I said and hung up on him.I know that's rude. But he's annoying. Repetitive and pointless talk.Or maybe it's just a joke. We have encountered such customers several times. You order a lot and it turns out to be a scam.Sometimes those 'vloggers' turn to prank fast foods into the content.Honestly, it's not funny at all. Poor people even if they say it's just a prank. Because, aside from pranking them, they are also used for money and fame.I just went back to the counter to take orders again. There are many customers because it's lunch break. They are poor Dayan if there are only two of them taking orders."Good afternoon, Sir. May I take your-"What I was going to say hung in the air because the telephone rang again.I smiled at the customer. "Just a minute, Sir.""Moshi-""Oh, why did you call me? I was still saying something, eh? That's rude. But anyway-"I cut him off as well."Hello again, sir. If you don't intend to order, then pleas
I saw he was on a voting website. Your StarLand voting site. Who will you vote for final 7.Twelve are your choices to vote for. And of those twelve, only seven can debut in the new HBLE boy group.To be honest, I don't know much about StarLand. Because it's not our prod that handles it. But those others know something, or maybe I'm just not really interested. Char.I still have a little idea of what will happen in StarLand. Each voter has 250 chances everyday to vote in their final seven.Anne quickly pressed the "vote" button. Then I looked at the name of the person he was voting for, Ethan Aczeqiel De Dios.Then he moved and I saw that he was voting for Jay Wakin Legazpi.I left behind him to move in front of him. I was about to pull the chair when he spoke."Sorry, someone will be sitting there later," he said while his cellphone was still ringing."I'm sorry too, but it's bad to use a cell phone in front of food," I said back and he looked up at me.He immediately hid his cellp
First I put Sir Ethan's things inside. Then I thanked my brother again."Sir-" I couldn't finish what I was going to say because of what I saw.Ethan unbuttons his polo shirt.I turned away from him and closed my eyes. Shame!"Here are the g-used ones," I stammered! Obviously affected by what was seen."Already used?""Use what my brother took. It's your stuff," I said and then slightly pushed the suitcase forward while still turning my back to him.I felt him step closer to me. I stuck my body to the door."Ah, thank you," he said behind me.I held my breath because I felt that he was very close to me. Even though I pushed the suitcase away from me. So that he won't get too close to me.But it sucks.Why do I feel like there are only 5 baby steps between us?!"S-alright, get ready. So we can leave for HBLE. You only have seven minutes to get ready.""I've been with you for a while but I don't know why I'm with you," he said behind me."Ah," I still laugh to reduce the nervousness I f
Then we laughed again. The other customers were already looking at our table because of our noise.Our departure arrived at six o'clock in the afternoon. I stood up and said goodbye and that I was just going to pee for a while. I also brought my bag to fix it.When I got to the restroom, I immediately did what I had to do. Then I washed my hands. I also retouched slightly. Because I will be home later.When I came out of the restroom, I was stunned by what I saw next to our table.Ethan with his back to me and Riki!Why are they here? Are they going to do something live? Why did they get out?I looked at the counter to see who was with them who might be HBLE staff. But I didn't see anything.They are both holding their phones. It looks like they are waiting for an order.How do I get there? They can't see me! But why can't they see me?I also do not know!"Lily!" Cali called me and sent me to our table.Even the one at the other table looked at me. I immediately entered the restroom a
"Let's start right now, guys. By 4 pm, the obtained measurements will be delivered."My colleagues took action. As for me, I looked around to find Ethan.I approached a staff member to ask."Uh, is it Ethan?"The staff looked at me."It hasn't come yet," he answered."Miss Iris is in the recording studio. Room 4 in the individual room," said Uno who was drinking water near us."Thank you."I went to Sir Markus to say goodbye that I was going to see Ethan. They agreed.This floor is big. Because their practice room is here. There were four and now there are seven individual rooms. Then the recording studio is also here. Three recordings for everyone. There are five individual rooms.The editing prod is also on this floor. So it's really big.When I saw the room Uno was talking about, I entered immediately."And it's fine if we're only pretendingThree months is all we gotTry not to fall in love..."That's what opened my eyes when I entered. He was inside the recording area itself. He
I was backstage with the other staff. I'm fixing Ethan's hair. And they will perform next.Then they made a circle of seven and prayed. We watched them like that."NO! NO! DIONYSUS!""Good luck boys!""Good luck!""Fighting!"Then they were called for. I followed their backs as they moved away.Until Ethan caught my eye, before he finally got on stage.Backstage there is a big TV so we can see what is happening outside.It got dark outside. And when the light came on, the center of the camera was on Ethan.* * *Their performance is over. Next up is Ethan's solo.It was just the two of us in the dressing room. I was waiting for her to finish dressing.I'm just sitting on the couch and looking at tweets. Performance feedbacks earlier.I smiled when I read that Ethan's outfit was beautiful. Of course! I stayed up for that award show.I refreshed to read more feedbacks.But instead of tweets from fans, it was Sekyel's tweet that opened my eyes. That tweet was 45 seconds ago and has five
Since the award show is still tomorrow, I thought of doing a half day at work today. I'm going to a ramen house.I miss Wella and Cali again. As well as the cute, cute Phoebe. I have fixed what needs to be fixed for tomorrow.So now, I'm going to say goodbye to Miss Stacey that I'll only be there for half a day.As usual, I knocked first before entering. Miss Stacey immediately greeted me with a smile.She was wearing her eyeglasses and her hair was in a high ponytail.I walked closer to his table."Good afternoon," I greeted."Oh Iris, why?""Uh, I'm just going to say goodbye for half a day today.""Okay sure. I already checked your outputs. And you need, we all need beauty rest! Because we will be busy tomorrow morning! So yeah, you can all go home," then he smiled at her."Alright, thank you and take a beauty rest."In the taxi to the ramen house, I texted Wella.Me:well bc kb?He immediately replied.Wella:Nde poMe:ramen house tauWella:Are you free?Me:free by CaliWella:G