"Stacia.... stacia.... stacia." Aling Rosa keep calling me.
Since this morning, I've been in the living room watching a variety of shows. I frowned because Aling Rosa seemed to call me from the kitchen, I didn't even know why.
I got up to go there because she has been calling my name a couple of times. I just let the TV on, and then I went to the kitchen where she was. I saw her cooking in, and I founded her mixing the broth with what she was making.
I smelled the aroma instantly. Moments later, my tummy signaled I was hungry, it was almost lunch time, but Aling Rosa was still cooking.
"Why Aling Rosa?" my eyes darted to the food she cooks.
"I just want you to taste the Kare-kare." she lifted the ladle she was holding with a little broth in there, and then she gave me a taste of it.
My first taste was kind of salty. "Kind of salty, Aling Rosa." I honestly said.
I don't want to offend her, but I don't want to lie either. And I don't have a choice to tell her the truth.
She even smiled on me. "That's the normal taste of it, but once you've partnered it with anchovies, the taste will blend into something that you could describe, delicious." she laughed a bit.
"Really?" I was suddenly excited.
It's new to my taste, so I'm even more excited about what it really tastes like. I've never tasted it before, that's why.
"Uhm." she nodded.
"By the way, what is Kare-kare?" I think my last word sounds like, slang?
"Kare-kare is a filipino dish. They usually prepare it when they have occasion like fiesta..." she explained everything to me and I was just listening to her, it's interesting though.
I've never tasted it before, and this is my first time to taste it. The smell is good, but the taste, it's salty—Aling Rosa said earlier that I need to pair it with anchovies in addition to have a taste of it.
'I can't wait to taste it,' my mind said and also me.
After a couple of minutes or so she had already prepared the meal at the dining table, she placed it in front of me. I checked it first like I'm observing the whole of it. The color of the broth is yellow, it's very different from the broth that I've always seen, as it's white unlike this, yellow. There's a few vegetables, too, and the—what did this thing call? I, then suddenly skipped it because I didn't know what kind of what so ever it was like. It smells good and I also feel starving by looking at it.
In a small saucer there is the partner of this Kare-kare. I scooped up some rice and placing some on my plate, then I scooped up the dish. I tried to eat it without the anchovies until I tasted the salty one again, the second time I decided to put anchovies on the top of it, and it was as if it was taking me to the cloud because of the deliciousness it brought.
"It tastes better when there is something like this." referring to that anchovies.
I ate it again and suddenly closed my eyes because it was so delicious. I realized I had supposed to taste this before, it looks like I've got a new favorite now. It tastes better than the Chinese Porridge, it tastes pretty good, that's why it changed.
Sorry Chinese Porridge, Kare-kare is my new favorite now.
I enjoyed eating my Kare-kare, I could eat this alone, since my sister and Momma haven't yet been here so maybe I should consume all of this.
I consumed it all, I didn't left some because I know that they're going to go home at night. It's been months since they're like that, well, I'm just training myself, because nothing seems to change in the trend of my life.
Alone and hopeless.
That's the meaning of my whole life. Ever since, I feel like the've been around for me sometimes—especially when they're not here, a person who I needed to talk to... but only the maidens and Aling Rosa are here at home.
Not any of them nor the both of them.
Hope it was always Sunday for me to be with them. If I had a friend, I might not have felt this way, but there was none.
How could I find a friend if I'm stuck here in the house? How could I find a friend if the other people I knew was already my sister's friend? And how could I find a friend if I can't socialize or be with them?
Now all I can say is that my life is so boring. All the things that I couldn't do. Do you know the thing you love that can't be given to you? I understand everything really, but in what way?
"Can I ask a question?" I entered her room.
It's late, it's time for us to go to sleep, but I can't get to sleep. Maybe a lot of it bothers me because it doesn't let me fall asleep.
"Yes? What?" she answered.
I sat on the swivel chair near the table then leaned my back and looke up.
"What's the feeling of having friends?" I curiously asked.
I wanted to know because I'd never experience it.
"Uhmm.... well, it's fun because we've been starting to experience a lot of things and then we can bond like swimming throughout the river—why did you ask all of a sudden?" she looked at me with wonder.
I shrugged. "Nothing... I'm just curious,"
"Why is there anything that bothers you?"
"Nothing,"
"Really, huh?" she smirked.
I stood up and give her a small smile. "I'm going to sleep, sorry for the inconvenience." I went to the door. "Goodnight." then I closed it.
I knew she was going to ask again, but I preceded her. I don't want to continue to it anyway, because envy has revived once again.
There's a part of me that wants to experience it, but there's also a part of me that makes me jealous of it. She had a lot of friends, and I've seen it.
When I went downstairs in the morning, I saw her few friends in the living room watching Netflix—I'm not sure I hadn't seen it fully.
They're so focused about what they're doing, reason, that they don't acknowledge my presence. I just bowed my head a bit as I wanted them to greet me with "Good morning" or "Hi/Hello", but even one of those are none.
"Tsk." I murmur.
"Good morning, Stacia." Aling Rosa greeted me.
I opened the refrigerator and get some yakult. I also greeted Aling Rosa back because I would sound rude if I hadn't greeted her nor ignored her.
"Don't you want to join them?"
"I'm fine,"
I left the kitchen immediately, then, and went to my room. I passed them talking about things, I just ignored them as they did to me.
I sighed loosely. "No one really noticed me,"
I was about to enter my room when suddenly I spotted a puppy lying on the floor.
"Oh my god!" then, I hold unto my chest, as if I am going to have a heart attack.
She was lying on the floor beside of my room door, I almost stepped on it, luckily I saw it instantly. I bent down to see it, squatting a little and putting my yakult down on the floor, then looking carefully at it.
"Why is there a stray puppy here anyway?" my brows met because of astonishment.
Her hair is long, but she's very small. Her hair is light brown with a slight whiteness, especially on her tail. I tapped her head, and then I caressed it, it looked like she was sleeping because she wasn't moving—I know she's not dead yet, because I can feel her breath. I giggled because this was the first time I ever saw a puppy, and it was now. I don't know who the owner is, and whoever she or he is—yet she's not supposed and let this puppy go anywhere.
I describe this puppy as she because I know to myself that this puppy is a girl.
"You're so cute." I widely smiled.