Lyrica sat down along with Nela and the others in front of the dining table. And as she wordlessly listens to Rona and Nilo talking to each other about playing a game, the old lady comes in and placed a basket full of bread.
"Today's breakfast is everyone's favorite, pandesal."
Nela and her younger siblings exclaim at the sight of the pandesal.
"Pandesal..."
Right as she uttered the word "pandesal," the warm smell like that of powdered milk enters her nostrils, sending a signal that makes her almost drool uncontrollably. Luckily, her instinct not to do anything embarrassing nor troublesome in front of people she doesn't know prevented her from doing such an act.
"It sounds like you know about them. Does pandesal also exist in your world?" The old lady asks Lyrica.
"Y-Yeah, I used to eat them with my family..."
"I see. Then I'm sure you'll find the taste familiarly delicious."
Lyrica proceeds to take the bread in the old lady's hand. In that instant, she was reminded of what she had decided to do last night.
"Or maybe it's because they have no choice but to accept it whether they like it or not?"
'I need to talk to her.' She mumbled to herself. 'I need to find a chance to talk to her alone. I need to know what she's trying to say.'
With that in Lyrica's mind, she and Riko's family begin to feast on the basket of pandesal.
Meanwhile, Riko in his casual attire, with a small basket in his hand that almost look like a knapbasket or pasiking in the Philippines, tries to enter the house in front of him.
Inside is a quiet living room with almost the same interior as the one in his own house, albeit the couch and sofa where Mila is sitting while staring blankly into nothingness make the room quite distinct.
"Mila, I've brought pandesal."
He looks at Mila, waiting to hear an answer from her. But no words would come out of her zipped-tight mouth.
With a melancholic expression on his face, Riko gently puts the basket on the table before he went and approaches Mila.
"Mila..."
He sits right beside her, trying to think about what to do next. Riko extends his left hand as he tries to grab her hand, but Mila bolted and shoved him away as soon as she felt the tip of Riko's fingers touching her.
"I'm sorry..." Mila spoke as a flood of tears runs down on her swollen red face. "I can't... I can't hold it in."
Riko pressed his lips tight as he tries to keep his emotions from leaking out while watching Mila who continues to cry uncontrollably.
He once again tries to approach her by going in for a hug. Slowly but surely, he wraps his arms around Mila. This time, the girl willingly accepts his embrace, realizing that his warm touch is the one she needed the most right at the moment.
"I'm sorry. I know it's hard to lose the only family you got left." He said to Mila in a whispering voice as he begins to caress the top of her brown long hair. "But, we have to stay strong, and not let our emotions get the better of us. Because it's the only way we can retaliate against HIM..."
Back into Riko's residence, Lyrica, Nela, and the others have finished their breakfast. Not a single piece of pandesal was left on the basket.
Nela went to do the chores Riko left in her care. From dusting the walls and ceiling to sweeping the floor, as well as their whole yard. Meanwhile, Lyrica watches over Rona as she fervently begs Nilo and Robert who keeps stealing glances at Lyrica to let her play sungka with them.
But to Rona's dismay, Robert refused to let her play as she's still too young and cannot understand the rules of the game. Eventually, Rona, as childish as she is, throws a tantrum as she claims to know how to play sungka. She even declares that she would win against any of them.
Still, Robert wouldn't allow her to play sungka with him and Nilo. He tries to act deaf at Rona's cry as he continues playing with Nilo.
'Is this some kind of hierarchy between siblings? Hell if I know.' Said Lyrica in her thoughts. 'More importantly, I need to go and...'
As she continued to speak inside her thoughts, Lyrica reflexively turns to her right. That's where she sees the old lady beckoning to her.
'Looks like I don't need to wait for that long.'
Lyrica nonchalantly approaches the old lady who then turns around to get something from behind her.
"What is it?"
Lyrica asked as naturally as she breathed, trying to act as if she doesn't have anything to ask the old lady. The old lady turns back to face Lyrica, revealing the folded school uniform in her hands.
"My clothes...!"
Lyrica took her black blazers and let it unfold by itself. And while she's holding it by the top collar with her right hand, she uses her other hand to check up on the sleeve that was torn off from dealing with slimes, as well as the Guardian Snake.
"It's fixed." She said as she puts the blazer hanging on her left arm before taking the white button-down shirt and looks at its right sleeve. "And this one, too."
"I found some fabric that matches the color of your clothes, so I went and fixed them for you." Said the old lady with her ever-so calming voice. "Speaking of which, I have yet to express my utmost gratitude for helping my grandson and the others get out of the forest."
The old lady proceeded to hand over the skirt and everything else to Lyrica.
"Please consider me fixing and washing your clothes as payment for your good deed."
"Well, thank you very much for tending to my clothes," Lyrica replied with a hint of awkwardness in her voice and face. "But you don't have to do anything to repay me. If anything, I should be giving something back for letting me stay in your house."
"Oh, you don't have to worry about that." The old lady followed. "You can stay here for as long as you want. If Riko comes back home, we can make him sleep in the living room."
Lyrica lets out a burst of awkward laughter in front of the old lady. After that, the silence envelopes the two as they wordlessly stare at each other. It's as if they are waiting for someone to speak to one another.
In this case, Lyrica has a thing to ask the old lady.
"Lola..."