By Eddlynn Jennifer Mangaoang
Please do not repost or copy to another site. Thank you. Enjoy reading.
Sonia swung the door of her door room widely and hurriedly went inside the comfort room, twisted the shower knob, and let the cold sprinkle wash her sorrows. Meeting Ken again gripped her heart with so much pain she thought she already chucked away when she was having her world tour the year after their high school graduation, but one look at him and she crumbled again like the too-dry cookies Dana baked two weeks ago. Still wet. Still cold. Still in misery. Sonia flopped herself on the tiled floor and wept - silently. She's been weeping silently during her trip and the duality of her smile while the camera flashed and her frown when it did not show that she only had half-fun during those trips, especially during the first six months.
"Ma, Pa," she took each of their hands, "I know I've mentioned before that I don't need a graduation gift, but may I ask of it now?" Her parents probably noticed the trembled in her voice and her red eyes that her mom gathers her in her arms and smoothed her hair.
She did not see the silent communication between her parents, but she heard her dad, "What is it that you wish for, princess?" Sonia felt his own bigger hand caressed her head.
"Around-the-world trip," she mumbled. Sonia felt the hesitation in her parents' tensed bodies, "Please, ma, pa. I... I need to go. I lost a piece of my soul two weeks ago and I need to find it within myself again. Please."
"Then you better plan where you'll go, sweetie, before you pack. We almost have relatives all around the world. We can get you to stay with them."
"But --" Sonia lifted her head to look at her mom.
"No buts, sweetie. You know we worry about you," mom, although her eyes were kind, still managed to look at Sonia with the strictness she grew up with.
Dad added, "It's the only way we'll let you go, princess. You said around the world, but the world is very much dangerous, and we don't want anything to happen to you."
"Okay," Sonia conceded. "However, I don't want a chaperone or bodyguards, or any tails, ma, pa. Please. I want to do things for myself. I want to find myself. I cannot do it if there are other people around."
"We'll talk about it once you have a list of your destinations."
Well, at least they've allowed her to go, she thought.
And Sonia did go. She arrived in Vancouver in the summer and stayed there for three weeks before she moved on to Toronto. She lived with Aunt Maryjane's family in Vancouver and with Uncle George's family in Toronto. Both are her mom's younger siblings. They were very hospitable, and she grew up knowing them when Sonia's family visits Canada during the holidays. She's not as close to her cousins the same way they were close to each other, but it helped Sonia with her solo soul-searching mission. Yet, she couldn't find herself there. She flew to London just two weeks after Toronto.
Cousin Jessica let her stay in her apartment. Jessica is Uncle Mark's only daughter who was older than Sonia by a decade. She's been living in London for five years and worked as a nurse when Sonia intruded in her small apartment, slept in her living room at night, and walked around the tourist spots in the morning. It was actually the nicest time she had because Jessica just let Sonia be at peace with herself. Sonia really thought she found a place where she could stay, but she knew she has to move on. So she did. She went around Europe and Asia, avoiding the Philippines where, she's sure, Ken now lived, and traversed South and Central America.
The last four months of her self-imposed year-long travel had her thinking about what she wanted to do next. She felt she healed most of the tears in her heart her breakup with Ken created, and she realized that although she did find peace traveling around the world, that she never moved on because she never faced the problem. Thus, she decided to apply to a university in the Philippines.
She thought she was ready. I think I'm ready until I saw his face again. Sonia turned off the shower, shed her sunflower mid-thigh dress, and got out of the comfort room with just a towel covering her body. Her wet hair dripped behind her back leaving a trail of tears she decided to lock once more.
The dorm room's door then opened.
No comments:
Post a Comment