Beginning

Beginning

Selena Cortez

"I'm excited for Señorito's arrival!" Clara told me. I smiled at her and continued preparing the ingredients needed for Aling Sanya's dishes.

"It's been a long time since I last saw him," she added. Well, how about me? I haven't even seen him yet. I wanted to respond to her, but I didn't want to ruin her imagination about Señorito, so I just let it be.

"You know, he's not just incredibly handsome! He's also very kind!" she said, blushing, while chopping onions. I couldn't help but worry that she might accidentally cut herself.

"Lena! Clara! Where are the ingredients I asked you to chop? You two are still gossiping, that's why the work is taking so long!" Aling Sanya grumbled. Sigh.

"Here they are!" I replied, placing the onions I had chopped on a plate to bring to her.

"I'll start with this, and I'll come back for the rest later," I told her, and she nodded in response.

"Aling Sanya, here you go." I set down two plates filled with chopped onions and peeled garlic.

"Lena, remember, you still have a lot to do on the ranch, so don't spend too much time gossiping with Clara!"

"Yes, ma'am," I simply replied to her to avoid prolonging the conversation.

"I'll just go back for the other ones that are already chopped." I'm not really assigned to the kitchen in the mansion; my work is primarily at the ranch with the horses in the stables. It just so happened that Celestine and Samantha weren't here today.

They had work, and it seemed like it would be a long day for their exams. Even though they wanted to help, their studies were still important, especially now that they were in college.

And since there wasn't much to do at the ranch today, instead of having Mom come here to help with the food preparation, since both Mom and Dad are getting older, I volunteered instead.

I also wanted to see Clara, one of my classmates. We're both in Grade 10, but we rarely see each other here in the Saavedra mansion.

This place is big, and there's still a lot of work even when the owners aren't around. There's no time to slack off because the mansion, where Clara works, and the ranch, where I work, are quite far apart.

"LENA!" I turned to Marco when he suddenly called my name. He's one of my co-workers here on the hacienda and also my schoolmate, but he's three years older than me.

"What's up?" I asked him curiously. He was catching his breath and seemed to have run from the ranch to the mansion. Okay, so what's going on? Is it urgent?

"Julia is about to give birth!" he exclaimed, gasping for air. My eyes widened, and I immediately untied the apron behind me.

Julia is my favorite horse because I practically took care of her since she was a baby. Her mother died during childbirth.

Then, after a few years, she learned how to flirt, and she ended up getting pregnant, and now she's about to give birth!

"OMG!" I shouted, not realizing that we had caught the attention of the people in the kitchen. I quickly handed my apron to Clara and looked at Aling Sanya.

She scowled at me, but I knew she had no choice but to let me go. Although Julia grew up around people, she's still elusive to those around her, and she's usually only gentle with me.

"Sorry, but I need to go!" I told them and followed Marco to the stables.

"Did you run all the way here?" I asked Marco as we were walking out of the kitchen. He made a series of gestures that puzzled me, and I looked at him from head to toe. His clothes were dirty, and he was covered in sweat!

"Why do you look like that?" It was only when we reached the back part of the dirty kitchen that I saw his horse. Before I could ask, he answered.

"We've been trying to get Julia to calm down since earlier, but she's very elusive. When you left, she suddenly couldn't sit still, and that's when we noticed she's about to give birth. I almost got kicked three times, luckily I managed to stay away from her. She doesn't want to be approached by Mang Simon either."

"Are you okay?" I asked him with concern. He nodded, and he helped me get on his horse.

Before long, we arrived at the ranch, and even from a distance, I could see a few people gathered there, making quite a noise.

"Mom! Dad!" I called out to my parents when I saw them outside the stable. Like Marco, my dad was also dirty.

"Child, it's good that you're here. We sent for you because we were getting worried about Julia. It seems like she's been struggling with the delivery since earlier," Mom said, and I nodded, telling her that I would check on Julia first.

As I approached her stall, she was there, lying down and seemingly in distress based on the sounds she was making. I cautiously moved closer to her, but my companions held me back, as she was acting quite aggressively today. However, I trust her since I've taken care of Julia, so I wasn't worried.

She calmed down, and we all let out a sigh of relief. We waited for a few minutes, and then I assisted Dad in delivering Julia's foal.

It's not new to me to assist with the birth of horses or any other animals here on the ranch because it's the work I've grown up with alongside Mom and Dad.

Since I was a child, I've been here on the ranch, although we often stayed in the stables rather than here because this is where they're stationed. If our employers visit, we either see them when they arrive or when we return home.