“THAT’S it?” Hyacinth asked Caroline after they bid goodbye to Benjamin. “You’ll just say okay and wave goodbye to him?”
Caroline turned to her friend. “What else can I say to him? He’s married.”
Hyacinth laughed. “What makes you think that he’s single in the first place?”
“He drove our car last night to take us home safely. No married man will do that,” she said and sighed. “And, he flirts with me.”
Hyacinth snorted. “You just assumed that he’s flirting. He’s just nice to you because you revealed your secret to him when you were drunk.”
Caroline cupped her face. She can remember it clearly now. On their way home, she kept telling Benjamin that she has a crush on someone that he looks like. But she can’t remember that she also told him the name of that someone.
“Fourteen years… it’s been fourteen years, and then here he is. Married with twins.” Caroline leaned back on the stone bench they were sitting that was several meters away from Benjamin. “I wished I was ten years earlier.”
“You still like him?” Hyacinth looked at Benjamin and his daughter’s direction. “He kinda look-like a tired daddy.”
“But, he’s still handsome,” she murmured. “But married.”
“And, his daughter has an attitude of a brat.” Hyacinth rolled her eyes. “Did you see how that Anastacia or Antonette looked at you? It’s as if she’s criticizing every curve of your body.”
“She’s just a kid, Hyacinth.” Caroline watched Benjamin took out the Tupperware of food from a thermal bag. “Where’s the lucky wife?”
“That’s the question. I thought that woman with the fake face was her wife,” Hyacinth said. “They’re not gonna start with their food if the mother is with them.”
Caroline knotted her forehead. “So, where’s the mother?”
As if on cue, Benjamin’s daughter in pink tee-shirt turned in their direction. She stood up and ran towards their direction. Her big warm smile is comforting Caroline’s thoughts.
“Tita Caroline, Tita Hyacinth, can you please join us on our food?” her beautiful eyes were persuading them.
Caroline felt something warm touched her heart. “Oh, how sweet of you, baby.”
Hyacinth nudged Caroline on the waist. “That sounds great, and we really like to join you, but is it okay with your Mom?”
Hyacinth’s question vanished the broad smile from the girl’s angelic face. And when she speaks, her voice broke. “Mom… left us.”
Caroline was speechless, and so Hyacinth. They didn’t expect it. Hyacinth was the first to speak, “I’m sorry… where did she go?”
It was Caroline’s turn to nudge her friend in the waist. To clear the lousy atmosphere, Caroline changed the topic. “I can see from here that you have a lot of food,” she said and smiled. “Ah, I’m starving.”
The girl’s smiling face was back again, she pulled Caroline’s hand. “Come on. Daddy cooked it all, you must try it.”
Before she stood up, Caroline gave Hyacinth a warning look and gestured to zip her mouth. Her friend just rolled her eyes. Caroline doesn’t like the feeling that she’s getting about Benjamin’s wife, but somehow, it gives her a tiny glint of hope.
*
“Do you wanna ride the balloon?” Caroline asked Anastacia while they’re preparing their spot for the balloon watching.
The festival was about to start, and people were gathering on the barricade surrounding the ten hot air balloons represented by different big trading companies in the Philippines. The balloons have different shapes, sizes, and colors. Still, all were amazingly designed and definitely an eye-catcher in the sky.
“Will you ride with me, Tita Caroline?” Anastacia asked her with a smile.
Caroline doesn’t understand why Anastacia’s smile brought warmth inside her chest. “Well—”
“You have a fear of heights, Anastacia,” Benjamin’s daughter Antonette said. “And, you have asthma. They won’t let you ride the balloon.”
Anastacia’s smile fades off. “But, I wanted to experience riding a big balloon.”
“Anastacia, we can try it some other time. But, first, we have to ask for your doctor’s advice,” Caroline told Anastacia and brushed her natural brown hair. “I like the color of your hair.”
“This is Mom’s hair color,” she said and smiled again. “Mom has long and curly hair. Like of Belle in Beauty and the Beast.”
“And, I’m the Beast,” Benjamin said that made Anastacia laugh. “I know you would say it, cupcake.” He reached Anastacia’s cheek and gave it a gentle pinch.
“Looks like a picture of a sweet family,” Hyacinth whispered to her. “Unfortunately, you’re not the beloved Mother of twins.”
“Shut up,” she muttered. “You’re spoiling the moment.”
“Oh, yeah? But aren’t you curious about it? If Benjamin’s married, and these twins were his daughters, then where’s the mother?” Hyacinth asked her, they’re both watching Benjamin and his daughter Anastacia taking selfies with the Balloon’s operators.
Caroline’s knotted her forehead. “Where’s Antonette?” She turned around and found the brat at their back, looking at them with a pair of piercing deep brown eyes. “T-there you are…”
“Why do you want to know where’s our Mom?” Antonette asked with an arched brow. “What do you care?”
“We’re just curious because you, sister, and Daddy are here, but your Mommy wasn’t. Watching this kind of event was supposed to be a family bonding—”
“Hyacinth, please…” Caroline interrupted her friend’s talkativeness. “You shouldn’t be talking like that to her.”
“Mom left us, and she’ll never come back,” Antonette said, her voice was unsteady. “And it’s none of your business.”
When the girl turned her back to them, Hyacinth cupped her forehead. “Did you see that? `My goodness! Is that what their mother teaching them?”
“Hyacinth, it’s because you provoked her,” Caroline frowned at her friend. “Don’t talk to her like that again. She’s just a kid.”
Hyacinth raised both hands in surrender. “Okay, I’ll just pretend that I don’t know them.”
“Caroline!” Benjamin waved his hand at her. “Anastacia wanted to take selfies with you.”
“OMG,” Hyacinth nudged her. “Benjamin looking tired, with dark circles under the eyes, daughter number one got an attitude, and daughter number two seems excited for a mother figure. You know what, I think… the mother is dead.”
***