"Glad that you made it here, Hijo"
Santina's mom greeted Mikael as soon as he arrived. Then she handed him a plate right away.
"Go grab yourself something to eat. Serve yourself, don't be shy."
She urged him before leaving him by himself to choose the food he desired. Amy also took her leave to attend to the task she left.
There was a lot of food served on the long table that night. In fact, the entire dining room was laden with chafing dishes which were all full of foods.
Stir-fried vegetables, steamed seafood, beef broccoli, and butterflied prawns were just some of the foods served at Santina's birthday. Rather than a birthday celebration, the kind of foods served in the table was more like meant for a fiest instead.
However, what caught Mikael's eyes more than anything else, was the meal that was placed in the middle of the table. The dish seemed to be the table's centerpiece and it seemed to be waving at him.
It was a dish made from tender pork sparerib and was stewed in black bean sauce, the Amorcelli's signature.
However, for some reason, despite how hungry he was before coming over, Mikael did not feel like eating yet so as soon as Mrs. Amorcelli left, he immediately put his plate down at the corner.
"All these foods and nobody to keep it company."
He said to himself as he eyed the foods.
"This is not right."
He added while shaking his head.
Among the sumptuous meal prepared before him, the other party only took notice of the shanghai rolls which was probably prepared by Santina's as it was her favorite dish. It was her specialty as well as the same dish that Mikael would probably never get tired of trying.
He took one and bit a large mouthful of it right away. Then he headed towards the living room to go and meet Santina. He did not feel like eating alone so he went off to look for her and the rest of the family.
Despite the passing of years, the structure as well as the interior within the Amorcelli's residence remained the same, and thanks to that, Mikael was able to navigate the house all by himself.
He could do it alone just fine because he was already quite familiar with the house's set up.
Thinking about it, when Mikael entered Santina's home the first time, he was a reserved and awkward teenager. It was actually way back during his first year in college.
When his best friend, Sebastian, was still courting Santina the other party asked him a favor to come with him so he won't get nervous meeting Santina's family and as a supportive friend as he was then, he agreed to Sebastian's request right away.
Mikael could still recall how he felt when he met Santina's family that night.
As he tried to reminisce his first night at Amorcelli's residence, Mikael realized that his memory for that particular night was still fresh on him as though it only happened yesterday.
He clearly remembered how his ears buzzed with their multiple conversations, as well as their easy, often raucous laughter.
He remembered how he felt almost giddy with inexplicable happiness and bewilderment at the same time. He remembered how his breathing became quick at that time and then turned and shallow a second later as though he was discovering something new. Something he had only heard or read about in books before.
'Of course, happy families exist. Of course.'
That was exactly the thought that ran in his mind at that time. Likewise, it was also at that time that the young Mikael saw the huge gap between him and Santina, in terms of the environment. It was like they were living in a completely different world
Because whilst the other party used to have a bright and merry place to live in, and not to mention that she was also surrounded by warm people, he was the opposite.
Mikael's parents rarely spoke to each other and even more rarely to him; at the same time, he was an only child. So after years of living on a very quiet home as though he was on his own, Mikael became quite socially awkward.
His temperament had grown quite abrasive that he found it hard to adjust his mood in a group setting. He rarely made friends not because he did not want to, rather, it was because he did know how to do it right in the first place.
Maybe that was actually one of the underlying reasons why Mikael eventually chose to be a priest. Perhaps the other party wanted to be surrounded by people who would look after him the same way as to how he would look after them.
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