Chapter 1
“Coldi, ano bang problema? Hindi mo na kami kinakausap.” The lady asked.
Coldi hesitated for a moment. When she find the courage to speak up, “Because—“
“She’s always like that, what do you expect her to say or to reason out?” Her Dad.
And again, she felt petty.
“See? She’s out of words. Simply, we’re not included to her life so, stop wasting your time in trying to communicate with her.” A sharp thing stroke her heart because of those words.
“Hindi po sa gan—“ she tried to explain herself but simply cut off by her Dad, again.
“Diyan ka magaling, magkakaron ka lang ng boses kapag sasagutin mo na kami.” Her Dad raise his Voice at her.
She sighs as she remembered the encounter earlier.
“Coldi, okay ka lang? Hello? You still there?” Said by someone who’s in the other line.
“Uh, yeah. Oo. I’m fine, just tired.” She lied. She wasn’t just tired. She was drained.
“You sure? Okay, I’ll hang it up na. Just get some rest, let’s just go to the bar on weekend to ease your mind!” The latter said and quickly ended the call.
She’s not fond of crowded places, not even in those bars. If she needed a place to ease her mind; she want somewhere quiet, somewhere peaceful, a place where she can freely breathe. She didn’t know where to place herself. She just wanted to be noticed, to be seen, to be heard, to be understood.
She used to be the loud one of their group before, the one who has full energy over a week of hell in their class, the one who brought shine to their family. Not until her mother left them for another man. Everything changed in just a snap. She became the grumpy one, someone you cannot easily befriend, someone you can’t tell a joke and just laugh her ass out.
People around her think she’s mad to her mother; she is, but not exactly to her mother. She was mad of the fact that there’s still someone who can easily left their family just to build another family with another man. She’s mad of cheating. She’s mad of the way they dumped her children just to be with other man.
She’s not mad to her mother, she’s never been mad at her. After all, she’s still her mother. She used to be the mother who lull her to sleep, she used to be the mother who sang a song for her whenever she’s anxious, she used to be her protector when someone’s bullying her at school, to be the number one fan of her, to be her listener. She used to be the mother that many children dream to have. So no, she can never be mad at her. But she’s hurt of what her mother did to them.
After her mother left, it feels like a part of her died. She never respond to her messages when her mother tries to check in on her. She’s not ready to talk to her mother. After all, she’s still hurt, she’s broken.
She snap to her thoughts when a lady knocked on her room.
“Coldi? Are you still up?” It’s her Dad’s new partner.
They never became close even if it has already 7 years since they’ve been together and her Dad decided to finally bring her to their house and introduced as their new mom. She can never replace her Mom, not even trying to.
Coldi stand up and walked to her door, she opened it and saw the latter holding 2 packs of oreo and a milk. She gestured the lady to come in.
“Here, I brought you your comfort snack.” The lady offered. She could only smile and nod to the latter’s kindness towards her.
“Thank you.” She mumbled as she accept the snack and placed it on her bedside table.
“Hey, I know you still think of what had happened earlier.” The lady starts. “I’m sorry if your dad said that, I hope you understand that it is because he’s just tired and stressed.”He’s always been like that to me, what’s new?
“Yeah. Nothing’s new with it. Thanks for bringing me this, I just wanted to rest by now.” She didn’t mean to be rude, she just can’t stand up with this prolong conversing.
“Oh. Okay. But, hey. I know we haven’t been that close ever since, but, let me tell you one thing: I’m also here, I have ears. You can use them.” The lady said before leaving her room.
She noted to herself that starting this time, she will never want anyone to in her. She won’t try to explain herself and beg them to just listen and understand her. She’s tired of trying to be vocal and ending up being blamed and invalidated.
She stared at the snack on her bedside table, she started drinking the milk, and tried to sleep. The sleep betrayed her, she can’t even catch a glance of sleepiness in her. So, she stood up.
She wear her favorite and comfortable sweater and cap, she decided to have a walk. She bring the oreo with her and left her room.
When she’s walking in the quite road with a warm light from its street lights, she spots a silhoute figure— leaning against the pole of the streetlight.
Her eyes are sparkling, those eyes that are thinking of something happy, her curled lips are also glowing, if it’s a paper she’s sure it is teared up already, she’s full of joy, to conclude; a goddess.
She startled when the latter’s eyes locked onto her. She quickly gained her composure and flashed a poker face just as usual as she does. She quickly walked past the girl and didn’t mind looking back.
As she continue walking, she feels off. She feels like someone’s looking after her, she look at her back. She was taken aback when she spotted the girl earlier tailing her. The girl smiled at her and ran towards her, she immediately stomps her feet and ran away. That was creepy though!
She stops as she feel herself losing oxygen. She’s panting because she was nervous. Her nervous was still there. She stops at a lake, it’s quite peaceful, it’s inviting. As she walk towards the bench that is placed infront of the lake, she sits and look up to see the stars shining brightly. The moon’s reflection can see through the water.
She’s calmed. She closed her eyes and breathe for a moment, and then look up to the sky again. The moon is peacefully there, the stars are sparkling. She then remember the girl earlier. Oh, those eyes. Ang ganda.
“Hey” She jumps up out of her seat and look at the person behind. She was about to run again as she realized that it was the girl who chased her.
“Don’t you dare run again from me! Nirarayuma na ‘yong tao, paawat ka naman. Para kang nakakita ng multo sa bilis ng takbo mo.” The girl said with a playful grin on her face.
“Sino ka? Anong kailangan mo? Wala kang makukuha sa akin, hindi ko dala ang wallet at phone ko, oreo lang ang dala ko rito.” Coldi said in one breath.
The girl infront of her chuckled. “Loko! Sa ganda kong ito, mukha ba akong holdaper? At tyaka, ikaw kaya ang dapat kong tanungin kung anong kailangan mo sa akin.”
“Huh? Ako? May kailangan sa’yo? Wala! Umalis ka na nga.” Coldi said in a grumpy tone.
“Madaling sabihin gamit ang bibig na wala, pero ang mga mata mo— sila ang kumakausap sa akin.” The girl said. It made Coldi hitched.
“Molly Yve Ricale, Molly for strangers, but Yve for you.” the girl extended her arms.
Coldi looked at it for a moment and flicked her eyes to the latter’s face and to her arms extended.
Few seconds or a minute later she reach for the latter’s hand, “Coldiherl Vergo, they usually call me Coldi or Herl, whatever you prefer.”
“Nice meeting you, Coldi. Your name suits your attitude for someone who instantly met a goddess.” Yve said, almost chuckling.
“You wouldn’t want to hear the story of it.” Coldi scoffs, shaking her head.
“Bold of you to assume that I’m not interested of knowing it.” Yve shot back.