"I know, I am very thankful for you to take care of my children. I think I could get one of them out of your shoulders now." I turned to Grandma and Grandpa that moment, I saw them looking at each other, giving glances of worries then they looked at me. My mom continued.
"I can take Chuna with me since she's going to start grade school the next school year and Jun can stay to finish his senior high school. I'll come back again for him to continue his years with his friends in this place" Grandma started to reach out to me,
"…Jun…" My mind was a mess from that bomb
"HOW? WHY? WHY COULD SHE JUST DECIDE THAT, I'VE BEEN LIVING WITH CHUNA FROM THE DAY SHE STARTED LEARNING THINGS, AND IT HASN'T BEEN LONG YET WHEN SHE STARTED TO SPEAK" Grandma got up from her seat, and she walked near me, she has a very worried look and she started hugging me and wiping tears from my cheeks. I haven't realized that I'm crying, I'm just so mad. Grandma spoke to Mom.
"Are you sure about this Stella? Can you consider it? Jun has been very great in taking care of Chuna, he never leaves her side except school and we already started planning her start of school at the same school where Jun is attending, he could take care of her just fine. Plus…" Grandma hasn't finished her sentence yet when Mom counter
"I know, I know, I can see she's been healthy and all but I just wanted to take off some burden from both of you. I'm very grateful but taking care of two kids at your age is not advisable" I can't take it anymore! I never ever talked back to elders; I never ever intently disobeyed my parents but this is too much.
"Why take Chuna? You can't take care of her either. You'll just leave her alone to other people to take care of her, and when she actually starts trusting people, you'll fire them for being too familiar with her" The bomb in my mind exploded into words.
My tears are still rolling down my cheeks, grandma is still holding me in her arms but I push her slightly to face Mom properly.
"I will not accept your decision, Chuna and I will stay together and she will live with me, wherever I am. I will take care of her with all my heart and I am a better parent than the two of you" My eyes are getting dimmer; I was about to continue but Grandpa started to call my name in a stern voice.
"Jun…" I was startled, it was the first time I heard Grandpa talk to me that way. I also saw Mom jumped a little from her seat. And then Grandpa sighed deeply.
"Stop it, Stella, we can take care of them both. For all I know, we are healthier with you and your husband combined. Jun is a very responsible kid; we are not taking your kids away from you, it's just that I can see that they are better here with me. Also, you are not planning to get both of them, you are just taking one. Jun has been caring for Chuna ever since you left her with him and he has been doing a very good job" Grandpa, lifted her cup and drank his coffee to continue.
"Honestly, it's not us that are taking care of them. It's Jun who's taking care of us. A lot of chores have been lifted from us just because Jun says so. We are trying to stop him all the time for him to give more time in his studies but I can't counter because he's been topping all his classes" Mom started to speak.
"Then I will take both of them…" I blurted an answer to a sentence that was not even a question. I said,
"NO" Grandpa held my hand and Grandma squeezed me even more tightly.
"Enough, Stella. They wanted to be here. We love them and I can actually see that they both love us, me and your mom. If you really want to be with them, you are very welcome to come by and stay when you have the time" I started sobbing again and I just can't help it. I turned to Grandma, hugged her, and started gripping her dress behind her.
"NO! She can't do this to us, Chuna is my family and we are now settled with grandpa and grandma. Please! PLEASE! DON'T TAKE ANY OF THEM FROM ME"
Then I feel and hear a seat moving, then footsteps away from us, then the front door opening and closing. I didn't see her out. I just know that that was Mom who left. I felt Grandpa stand from his seat too and he walked near me and Grandma, he hugged Grandma with me in between them and he started tapping my head and caressing my back, then a light hand was put on my gripping hands behind Grandma.
Months have passed and we haven't heard from Mom again. Well, not me but maybe Grandpa and Grandma are still getting calls from my parents because sometimes Grandpa's words feel that it has meaning in them,
"If you're ready to talk to your mom Jun, we could contact her, one call away" Chuna and I have been living with our grandparents for almost 5 years now, it's not a matter of if I'm ready or not to talk to them, it's just always that they're not the one who's available to talk to us.
"I'm already used to it" All I care about now is how to take care of Chuna and not be a burden to Grandma and Grandpa. How to grow up fast, so that I could take care of them better.
I started senior high, and tasks are getting more important and harder, they are given with less time. The same type of problem but a little more extreme. The teachers are getting more complicated but more mature, with a different type of vibe, students adapt to it, and the students are half adults already.
I ran as a student council for the merits and credits that I could build for myself to put glow in my profile in the future. I work perfunctory on most of the days, I learned to prioritize the important stuff and breeze away to activities that just needed to be completed.
I need to manage my time; I still work for 20 hours a month. This time I had a spot in a video store. Sometimes, I get to choose what to play on the TV we have there. It's different from the experiences I get from the books. It takes me a month to finish a novel or two before. Now, I just have to watch a movie for two hours to finish a love story with a complete plot, from ordinary life to character development, then here comes the problem that needs to be solved and conquered, the main character will go through turmoil or squeeze through the eye of a needle then just survive and inspire people.
Even though the curriculum has months that are tougher or busier, we still have time to plan for festivals and quiz bee events, and since I have a reputation to uphold. I sign up for some competitions, once in a while.