Trust
THE DAY AT the farm ended with me having done only a little. My fellow farmers were good enough not to rebuke me for the minimal works I have made. The sun was already setting down when Valentina and I began walking our way home in silence.
“I’m sorry…” I began.
She threw me a sideway glance, but she did not stop walking.
“What are you apologizing for?”
“The works I have done were terrible, and they were much lesser than the other farmers. I’m really sorry…” I sincerely apologized again and lowered my head in shame.
It was really a shame because it seemed to appear that I was just all talk and never had proven my claims and promises through my actions. That was the very goal of why I was here and why I stayed here. I have to be worthy of what I will be having. I wanted it to become one of my hard-earned triumphs.
<197xTHE DAWN WAS just breaking but Valentina was already all set for the day. She will be joining her Uncle Juan in bringing the vegetables, pineapples, and flowers they harvested to the public market down the town. She was already inside their pickup truck when she spotted Nenita half-walking and half-running towards her and her father Fernando. Her Uncle Juan was not with Nenita when she neared them.“Uncle, tatay cannot come today. His back was still hurting so bad he couldn’t get up,” Nenita informed her Uncle Fernando about her father’s condition.Valen immediately got out of the shotgun seat of the pickup truck because she knew that there was no one else who knew how to drive the vehicle except her Uncle Juan. They have no substitute for him or had not yet found the right one to proxy him for this job. Frida, Fernando’s wife, and Valentina’s mother smiled and caressed the worri
I KNOW WHAT I did to Basha was not a big deal, but it was not exactly good as well. That was the very reason why I was still standing outside their sari-sari store this late in the evening. I figured that I really owe her an apology for my words earlier this morning.“What are you doing here?” she sourly asked me right away.“I haven’t said anything yet,” I complained. “But why are so mad already?”She just rolled her eyes and began ignoring me. She pretended to arrange the items into their respective shelves just to completely ignore me.“Okay, I’ve said something you didn’t like earlier, so… I’m sorry.”She did not answer me and just proceeded to what she was doing. She was obviously mad and did not want to listen to me. I honestly do not like feeling stupid while asking forgiveness in front of others. I stopped immediately when I observed that my apol
Something Only We KnowSebastian ‘Baste’ Paner was a jock of hotel services and master of client pampering, especially for rich old women. When his best friend who was running a dating agency enlisted his help to fulfill a dying woman's wish, the greedy Baste accepted the offer right away. Who wouldn't be anyway if you're bound to inherit a massive land in the province after her death? However, it wasn't as easy as Baste had initially thought.“When I called and told your orphanage that I want a family, I didn't mean I need a husband. I need a child,” clarified 61-year-old Valentina Geronimo who mistakenly dialed the agency instead of the orphanage.By the way, it's not a love story. It's something more profound than that. It's... something only we know._______________________________________I will be writing this story in honor of my late grandmother, Valentina. The setti
“I-I'm scared of dying...” Ms. Young's voice cracked upon her confession, her eyes glistening with unshed tears.The seventy-year-old matriarch of the Young Family from the real-estate business had once again visited our hotel to avail my service. It's not a secret that I'm quite a star among widowed, old maiden, and all sorts of female guests who were senior citizens. I'm in charge of them in terms of pampering, listening, and comforting.Let's be frank, I'm no saint. I also do stuff most people would find odd and erroneous. I don't care as long as these females give me all that I deserve for rendering them my service.I placed the cup of chamomile tea, one of my absolute favorites because it's good for soothing stress, atop the small round table wherein Mrs. Young and I was sitting face to face. She was a heavy smoker and thus was diagnosed with stage 4 lung cancer. The illness was starting to take its
MY ENTIRE RIDE going to the client's province was smooth. I can really say that the place was mesmerizing. The road I was driving was nestled in between two wide pineapple plantations and afoot the mountain. I even stopped in the middle to enjoy the scenic view and breathe the fresh air it offered.It was very different from the city. In here, there's no traffic under the scorching heat of the sun. The air was cold and refreshing, and you can feel like you're the king of the world by just driving all alone on the empty road of this beautiful place.The route was taking me uphill wherein the weather got even gloomier. It was near afternoon but I can still notice some fogs. I pulled over at the side when my phone's battery went empty. I was just using an app to take me to my destination, the Pitong Gatang. Now that my phone was down, I have to ask those residents I spotted at the nearby flower farm. I rolled down my window a
MAY 04, 197x“We should go to the plaza later tonight to join the baile. I've heard there will be a lot of city boys coming since it's already summer vacation!” Nenita, Valentina's cousin, told her excitedly.The teenage Valen sat beside her as they both sought rest inside a small nipa hut after harvesting unhusked rice under the drastic heat of the sun for the whole day. She removed her straw hat and used that to fan herself.“As if they would notice us.”Nenita teasingly elbowed her. “Come on, Valen. We're not going to find boyfriends. We're just making friends.” She then chuckled.“But I don't want to make friends with them. Tatay told me they're very lazy. They don't even know how to plow the rice fields,” she argued and Nenita laughed heartily.“You'll not be able t
VALENTINA LET ME stay in the attic of her bungalow house. Apart from the fact that it was getting late and the drive back to the city will be surely exhausting, she had no choice but to accept me since she cannot pay for the breach of contract. Her farms were struggling at the moment, and she had to save everything she can to bring their production back to normal.I was really expecting that her attic would look messy and dusty, but I was completely wrong. It was well-maintained with proper lighting and a normal-sized bed that honestly looked comfortable beside a big trunk that served as its bedside table. The weary I didn’t know I have been keeping the whole day emanated the moment my back made contact with the bedsheets.“God, I am so tired…” I whispered then proceeded to cover my eyes with my right forearm.Just when I was about to doze off, I heard a knock on the door.“Have you eaten, young man?”
197xVALENTINA WAS BUSY feeding their pigs and piglets in their den when her cousin Nenita arrived that day.“Psst…” Nenita called, attracting her attention.Valen paid no heed to her cousin. She just continued feeding their farm animals. She knew very well what her cousin was up to. She did not come with her yesternight at the baile. She did not like being surrounded by city people, especially that Johnny Geronimo. After their introduction the other night, she would only nod or simply answer ‘yes’ or ‘no’ to their conversation.“Johnny was looking for you last night,” Nenita continued, teasing her.“So?”“My God, Valen! He obviously likes you!”Valen stopped whatever she was doing to look at her cousin. Nenita was shrieking in romantic excitement while she just stared at her unimpressed.&