The summer that I was thirteen, I didn't go home to the province. I remained in Las Pinas so I could hang out with my friends. Anyway, I met this guy Ian who started coming over a lot. I guess he liked me or something. We hung out quite a bit. Then one day, he brought his brother over-- which was probably a big mistake on his part-- cos then I ditched him for his brother who we (Jen and I) fondly called Kuya Jommel.
Kuya Jommel started coming over to hang out at our house. It was all good cos we didn't have a maid that summer and Mom was at work all day-- so Jen and I had the run of the house. Kuya Jommel was like eighteen or nineteen or something and was attending DLSU taking up computer science at the time. We had quite a bit in common. I enjoyed his company.
But then I found out about his lies.. Like he said he was dying of a malignant brain tumor and only had so many months to live (probably to get sympathy or what not-- I don't know what motivates people to lie). Naïve as we both were, Jen and I bought it all-- all of his stories. And then months passed and he still hadn't died. While Jen and I were really happy for him, we began to wonder.. Was he really dying? Well, guess what. He's still alive to this very day. Quite healthy, I might add.
And the neighbors started talking, like they usually do. There was chismis about us going around-- which he just fueled with all of his other lies. I didn't like him much after that. He was very nice to me, though-- and very generous, too. He gave me a Swatch watch, which has long since run out of battery (but I still have it somewhere). He gave me two giant two-foot Toblerone bars-- my favorite chocolate candy bar-- along with other miscellaneous artifacts to win my favor back. He gave my sister all sorts
of stuff, too. And the month that the whole subdivision ran out of water, he even fetched us barrels of it. Mom was quite impressed. However nothing he did could bring things back to the way they were. We still called him "kuya," but only out of habit. Neither Jen or I felt the way that we used to about him.
The following year, Jen and I were shipped to the province (Negros Oriental) to live with Mama Iyay for the summer. I guess to prevent any more chismis or what not. I didn't mind. I had friends over there also. It was fun. We went to bailes in the barrios and there were fiestas almost every other week.
I also met my biological father's family. I went to visit his sister, who is said to look exactly like me (in some of my old pictures, our resemblace is uncanny), in Bais. She (Manang Francing), her kids and her husband all live there. They still do, actually. I went to see them again just this past summer when I went home to the Philippines for the first time after having moved away.
That summer (1992), I stayed with Manang Francing's family for three days. Jen wanted to come along, but we found out a way to leave her with Mama Iyay. I guess everyone feared that she would find out something that she shouldn't know. Jen knows everything now, though-- but before she always wondered why I had more relatives than her.
I guess during those three days that I stayed in Bais I "bonded" with some guy called Butchikoy cos when I returned Jenny Honey (Manang Francing's youngest daughter) kept mentioning him. I have no recollection of him whatsoever. But I'm known to have a terrible memory so..
What I do remember, though, is getting Manang Francing pissed off. Every night, at their house, they all have dinner together. But then one night Nikki, my friend from Tabuc (where Mama Iyay lives), came over to see me and we just took off-- I don't even remember if I asked permission to leave or not. I probably didn't. I had a penchant for just disappearing. She wasn't my mom or anything, so I didn't think I had to check
in with her. I guess we stayed out pretty late and I missed dinner or something. I don't know. She was mad.
I think they sent Tata (another one of Manang Francing's daughters-- my favorite among all of them cos we are about the same age-- and she was soo much fun-- she is a year older, though) and Manang Bing-Bing (another daughter, even older) to find me. Or was it Manang Bing-Bing and Inday Baby (Manang Francing's sister)? I forget. All I can remember is that they made such a big deal about it-- how they were directly responsible to Mama Iyay and Mom for my safety. They said some schpiel about bringing me back in one piece and all that. It sucked-- I felt like a piece of property on loan. Although, it's all been forgotten now and we are all getting along fine. Except, of course, Dad-- he still isn't aware that I already know of my history.
The following year-- on March 15, 1993-- Mom, Jen and I all packed our bags and moved to Colorado Springs to live with Dad who had left for the States (to further his career) only three years prior. A lot of things happened before I moved away-- there was Romeo, the whole Benjie fiasco, Ryan and the bracelet, and my stupid attempt at running away (believe it or not, I didn't want to leave Las Pinas-- mostly just because of my friends, though-- now I am soo glad I'm out of there)-- but I shan't go into detail about that cos I've written so much already.