After falling on his mom's neck, who walked him up towards the front porch, Ajie took a last look around their place. The vast stretch of farmlands sprawling on the slopes and valleys, the thick foliage of towering trees marking up the horizon, the peeping golden sun on the grey skies and the fruit and vegetable garden on one side of their house were things that he would miss once he would be in the city.
Without turning back to his mom, who was holding back her urge to cry, he walked ahead of his father with a heavy heart towards the waiting horse his father had saddled ahead. Soon, they disappeared into the path beneath the thick rows of trees heading downwards to the highway. From there, they would wait for a bus that would take them to the port. And from the port, they would take a ferry boat to take them to the Northern part of Cebu. Then, from there, they would take another bus ride towards the city and then a taxi or a PUJ to the place of Issa's siblings.
Their relative's place was in a remote district of the city near the shore where they could still take a walk in the morning or at twilight to enjoy the beauty of nature. There were only a few houses in their area, and one of them was owned by Issa's brother and another one by her sister Elsa. One of their neighbors was a close family friend of Elsa. They had an only daughter, about Ajie's age, and her name was Allie.
Upon the arrival of Leo and Ajie, Elsa held a welcome dinner for them. They had also invited some of Elsa's relatives who lived in the next district. To grace the event, there were singing and dancing while the men were indulging in alcoholic drinks. Tonight, these drunkards could drink all they want, knowing that Leo, who sponsored the night's drinking spree, owned vast farmland in a faraway place.
It was a moonlit night, and the moon's silver light illuminated the whole place. The distant water on the sea, which spread beyond these few houses were glittering in silver hues as the golden lamp in the sky cast its silver light towards the mangrove-lined area.
During these nights, Allie would always take a stroll along the shoreline, far beyond their place, and into the quiet and unpopulated area. She would sit by a rock to watch the sparkling waves as it slapped into the edges of the shore, allowing herself to get lost into her thoughts while basking herself in the moonlight. Allie always did this, especially when she had to do brainstorming for a piece of an article she would write in school or when she had to prepare for a speaking engagement.
As she went out of their house, she could see their merrymaking, something which didn't surprise her anymore. Almost every weekend, they were always holding a lawn party, which would still result in commotion or fighting.
She watched them for a while before she went ahead, but suddenly, she seemed to be dragged backward when he heard a deep, baritone voice breaking up into a beautiful song. She turned towards the owner of the voice, and her eyes were drawn to him as if it were caught with an adhesive, she just couldn't easily pull away.
She had not seen him yet before as Ate Elsa's guest. For the many years they had been close neighbors, she was already familiar with all her relative's faces. Some of them even became her friends. And some became her suitors.
He was tall and lean, and his features were delicate. His skin was fair, and his eyes were soft and gentle. As he closed his eyes and drew his hand, which was holding the microphone away from his mouth, Allie's heart seemed to skip a beat. And his beautiful voice wrapped up her heart into a beautiful feeling she couldn't explain perhaps because a mellow love song would always find her carried away.
"Allie! "
Her reverie ended when someone called her name. She got awkward. She knew that they caught her looking at then.
"Alie, come and meet my guest!"
Ate Elsa came sprinting towards her. She was perhaps ten years younger than her mother and ten years older than her, but she was their closest neighbor who was also friendly towards her family. Thus, Elsa also became her close friend and her constant companion every moonlit night when she went out into the shore.
"No, te. You have too many guests tonight," resisted Allie when Ate Elsa pulled her towards her house.
"It's just my brother and my nephew.
You already know the rest of them," insisted Elsa, being a little drunk already.
"I'll meet your guest next time."
Perhaps, Elsa remembered that Alie never liked to mingle in a gathering like that, so she no longer insisted.
"See you later," said as she dismissed her.
Alie proceeded to her favorite spot on the shore. Tonight, the moon seemed brighter as it slowly sailed into the sky, concealing the presence of various stars with its brightness. She thought about that young man who was Ate Elsa's guest and wondered who he was, but then she forgot all about him when she started singing the song he just sang.
Meanwhile, at the dinner party...
A man in his fifties stood up and slammed his fist into the table, overturning it afterward and sending the empty bottles of alcoholic drinks into the ground. He glared at Leo angrily, who was staring back at him, wondering what flared him up.
"Do you think I have forgotten what you did? Are you happy now that you have won my Issa back then? And are you here to boast for your son? "
Ramil, Elsa's husband, came over to coax him up, feeling ashamed of his behavior towards his innocent brother-in-law. But as soon as he approached the man who was the husband of one of her wife's relatives, his face instantly met a strong first. Outraged by his sudden assault when he did him no fault, Ramil rose to retaliate and send back a fist into the man's face causing trickles of blood dripping down his face and nose.
The man's son, who was playing cards with his cousins at another table, stood up without asking who was at fault. He threw a punch directly into his uncle Ramil's face.
Rod, the first son of Elsa and Ramil, saw this. He just couldn't watch his uncle mauling his faultless father. He also stood up to defend his father and gave them powerful kicks.
The commotion got worse as the cousins were fighting against themselves for defending one of their elderlies. Their sympathies were divided even without knowing the root cause of the trouble. The scene had already become bloody before someone called the barangay police to stop them.
Ashamed of what had happened, Elsa hurriedly pulled Leo and Ajie into the back of the house and let Leo get inside through the back door.
"Leo, get inside your room and lock it! I will take Ajie out, " demanded Elsa nervously as she held the trembling Ajie towards the shore.
"Hurry up! Let's get out of here," said Elsa as she ran fast, holding Ajie, who was also running nervously behind her.
...