Stolen

Chapter 14: Lighters & A Sketchbook

Chapter 14: Lighters & A Sketchbook

~Alli~

Frustrated, tired and worried; that’s how I feel while I was going on my way home. It’s already past my curfew and I’m not home yet, I’m so worried and scared that Papa might get mad and ground me for the whole summer. It’s quite hard for being the daughter of a chief police, you know. But once I reached our front gate and went inside the house, I found my dad and auntie playing poker.

“Kumain ka na?” Dad says, starring onto his cards not bothering to look at me.

“Uhm, hindi pa po.” I mumbled.

“Nakapili na si Derek ng headlight niya?”

“Uhm, opo.”

“Okay, mabuti naman.”

“Nag-luto ako ng palabok.” Auntie Eugene says, doing the same thing with dad. “Nandoon sa lamesa, kumain ka na.”

“Oh, okay.” I said, a smile was tugging at the corner of my lips. Amazed and quite relieved dad isn’t mad at me at all.

So I went into the dining table and eat Palabok for dinner. Soon as I was about to be finished, Kuya Angelo came home from work as he joined me and we ate dinner together, we had tons of laughs  when kuya brags about his rude and mean boss who keeps on nagging about everything the employees would do. Right after washing the dishes, I went upstairs and took a shower and went to sleep. And somehow, I forgot about how frustrated I am with Derek that night.

He’s a player and he’ll always be like that.

In fact, I don’t care anymore.

~Derek~

“Great, omelette for breakfast. Again.” I said, in a very dead tone.

“Derek, stop complaining.” Mom demands at me, “Si yaya ang nagluto niyan para sa atin and maraming nagugutom sa mundo kaya eat your food.”

I roll my eyes and continued eating my lame omelette. I’m having breakfast with mom and my little sister, Olivia at the dining table. Mom just told us that dad’s going to be home from abroad after six months of not seeing him. He works as an architect and he travels a lot, he’s been to a lot of countries. Like one day he’s at L.A., the next day he’s at Chicago and then he’s headed off to Singapore. My dad is a very hard working father to us but he never really watched me and Olivia grew, I just wish he had more time with his family than work so that he could eat this stupid omelette with us.

And another thing, mom is having this home-coming party for dad tomorrow at dinner with some of our relatives and friends from Parent’s Bible (a religious group for parents). I’m not actually looking forward to it as much as Olivia and mom, I just wanted to see my dad and spend time with him and I’ll be absolutely happy with that. But I guess mom really wanted this party to happen so I guess I have got to go with that.

“Mommy, ayoko po ng omelette.” My six year-old little sister, Olivia says to mom whose busy making her shopping list for tomorrow. “Can I please have cereal instead?”

“Sweetheart, it’s bad whenever you don’t finish your plate.” Mom says, “You can have cereal tomorrow, okay?”

“See? Ayaw rin ni Olivia ng omelette!” I demanded.

“Oh stop it, Derek.” Mom says, then she gave me a death stare.

~Alli~

Since dad’s car just broke down, Auntie Eugene, Kuya Angelo, Papa and I took a taxi cab on our way to the Santiago’s place. Papa has been onto a lot of parties or gatherings like these but I don’t always come with him because I’d rather stay at home and watch TV. But once I found out were heading to Derek’s house, I’m a little excited to come because I get to finally know him a little better. And I think there’s nothing wrong with that naman diba?