Grandma asked me to check on how Chuna is in school too, because when she asked her teachers, they just said that Chuna is an intelligent and caring little girl. No news that needs to be worried about or looked after.
"That's what worries us, Grandma…" Chuna is too normal for her young age. Imagine that she's just starting to explore out of the house, and she's so perfect for it. I'm just afraid that she's quiet out there too and missing out on making friends. She does talk about how her day went over dinner, but she never talks much more about it because of just minimal events that happened.
"…but not so much about herself, like how she feels. Did she talk about something fun to somebody, how she feels when a classmate shows tantrums in school, how she got that scratch, and she patched it up herself." Nothing more about that.
So, I went to her school one afternoon to pick her up. I saw them playing outside on the field while waiting for their guardians.
"Good, she's not alone…" kids running around, but she stays in one place and not playing much with the other kids,
"Maybe she's just resting from playing…" it made me a little sad. I frowned a little.
But I saw her laugh. I smiled too, but then I saw why she was laughing. A boy is showing some dance moves.
"I should ask the teacher for that kid's name when I come over. I should look out for boys that Chuna involves herself with… If he's special, Chuna should have already mentioned him. If not, he may be just a pest getting Chuna's attention." I got curious, and I raised one of my eyebrows unnoticed.
Then I saw somebody tripping on the kids running around. Some kids got startled too. I saw Chuna run towards her and the girl was about to cry. She helped her get up, then Chuna squatted to check on the girl's knees if scratched. The girl started to cry loudly and Chuna held her hand and patted her back.
"Aww…" This time, I can't imagine how I felt, I felt so touched and feels that I wanted to cry.
"I'm so proud of my little girl" When we went home, I told Grandma everything about it, and she moved as well. We talked about it at the dinner table and I saw Chuna blushing. We asked her why she's keeping important stuff like that to us. She just said,
"I didn't think it was important…" Chuna said with her head down.
"I always knew Chuna was a great girl. I'm just so happy to see her. In action" We continued eating dinner that night.
"Grandma, good morning! It's a beautiful day, let's eat something for breakfast… before we do our morning walk", I said to Grandma, trying to wake her up at 7 in the morning. Today is our birthday, which means, today is Grandpa's anniversary of death too.
This has been going on for months now. I only realized it when Chuna asked me to talk to Grandma since she was starting to get worried for her. At first, it was just whims when grandma asks to stay at home when it was time to pick her up from school.
Then, next. Grandma has been staying in bed a lot more, than talking to her and making dinner. She's not eating well either unless Chuna checks up on her.
"When I look at grandma, she's getting thinner and weaker by the day. She's extra down today due to Grandpa's death anniversary but… she's been unusually sad for a few months now. Although, in the earlier years, she's trying her best to stay positive for Chuna's and my birthday too… but as the day goes by, she can't help about showing her true emotions. Now, she breaks down and cries even though we're just on our way to the columbarium." We see to it that we visit Grandpa every March 14th, after that we celebrate our birthday on the same day.
Chuna learned how to prepare by going to school every morning a long time ago. Today she has classes. Sometimes she makes breakfast for us too. She's just 10 years old but sometimes it feels that she's older than me, especially the way she talks when I mess up something or feel down. I depend on her on so many levels.
She started going to school alone too. Our usual thing is that I would take her there, then grandma would take her back. But grandma started to stay home, which left Chuna coming home alone, and I started to take care of grandma this semester and took a gap from school. At first, I still volunteered to take Chuna to school, but she refused.
It didn't worry us so much; her school is a 10 to 15 minutes' walk. But still, one time, I hid and followed her from school to home when she insisted on going home alone.
"As expected, she really does go home after school" She has friends. on the side. That time they asked her to play in the arcade, clinging to her like puppies, but she still insisted on going home.
"She's still a puppy too, but she acts older than most of her age. I thought she was socially awkward but I can see she has friends, and she cares about me and grandma so much. I guess she's just really stern"
"Kuya, Jun…" Chuna came to me and kissed my cheeks and hug for goodbyes. Naturally, I take it and hug her back. Then she kissed Grandma on the forehead.
"Grandma, I'll be back as soon as possible, Okay? Play with me when I get back" Grandma didn't respond, she was still half asleep.
"Be careful out there…" I said it, out of habit.
Chuna started calling me Kuya when Mom and Chuna got back from the Philippines. She had a lot of stories after that 2 weeks trip and told me we'd definitely go back there. Apparently, Chuna stayed there after she was born. That's where mom was assigned for some project or research if I remember correctly. Chuna stayed there until she turned 2.
Recently, Mom asked Chuna to take her whenever she has to go back in the Philippines. At first, she acts like, she's just going to get along with Mom, but I can see that she does like it there. Now, she calls me Kuya, because it translates to older brother.
It's been 4 years since Grandpa died, and we have been living a peaceful life.
"Mom will be here in the afternoon, just in time for Chuna to come home from school."
Mom shows up about 6–10 times a year, and she never missed our birthdays again ever since grandpa's death. Then, sometimes she invites us to visit overseas when she has to fly for work.
When it regards Dad, we haven't seen him since Grandpa's death. It was brief, he just dropped condolence flowers and greeted me and grandma, then he went his way.
He didn't see Chuna that day too, since she was still in school. I heard that mom and dad are in the process of getting a divorce. Mom never brought it up and Grandma and I didn't pry