Chapter 2

Ciara's pov

I spent most of the afternoon cleaning the house despite my physical body being in pain, baka kasi magalit na naman si Tyron kapag naabutan niyang marumi ang bahay.

Paano ko ba naman kasi magagawa ang mga inuutos niya kung palagi na lang kapag uuwi siya, lasing. Tapos paulit-ulit na naman akong sisihin, sasaktan at ikukulong.

Nothing new, paulit-ulit ang takbo ng buhay ko. Masasaktan, iiyak, pero patatawarin siya, dahil hindi ko naman talaga kayang magalit sa manya kahit ano pang sama ng trato niya. Paulit-ulit na rin akong nagpapaka-martyr at nasanay na lang ako na hayaan siyang gawin ang gusto niya, basta makasama ko lang siya ay ayos na ako, well not totally.

After I cleaned the whole house I sat down on the sofa to rest. Waiting for Tyron to return as time goes on, but every time I think of him with his so-called wife, I can’t help but get hurt. I don’t know who was he referring to, but it’s so painful, it hurts me a lot. I stayed by his side because I knew he still cared about me, pero ngayong nalaman ko na may asawa siya bukod sa akin ay nadudurog ang puso ko at hindi ko na alam kung saan ko pa ilulugar ang sarili ko, my heart is breaking.

"Maganda kaya siya? Mahal ba siya ng asawa niya?" I couldn’t help but burst into tears as I thought of what Tyron was referring to as his wife. If he is married to someone, then, what am I? Who am I in his life? I wiped the tears from my eyes as I watched my own wounds and bruises that instead of healing, were just getting worse and more numerous.

How can he do this to me? I couldn't really understand him, I couldn't imagine what I had done wrong, for him to treat me like this.

I stopped staring at my bruises and was immediately grabbed by my chest when I felt my heart suddenly stop for a moment. My lips parted as I felt the pain even more.

"Ah!" Hindi ko na napigilan pang mapahiyaw nang tumundi ang sakit, tila ba'y may pumipigil sa pagtibok ng puso ko, making it harder for me to breathe.

I can't take this, why do I have to feel and suffer from this.

"A-aray! Ah!! Ang sakit!" Nagsimulang mangilid ang mga luha ko dahil pilit akong naghahanap ng hangin sa ere para makahinga.

Tyron .. Where are you ..

I glanced slowly at the door, hoping he would come, but my shoulders immediately fell when I remembered that he was not coming home. I started to calm myself and inhale a few times and let out heavy sighs to ease my feeling. I breathed a sigh of relief as I felt the pain in my chest gradually subside.

"Hindi na nga ako magkanda-ugagang asikasuhin ang mga pasa at sakit ng katawan ko, bakit naman kailangan mo pang sumabay sa sakit, puso ko? You're the only one who's making me strong, bakit pati ikaw ay nasasaktan na.." I said weakly to my heart.

I thought of leaving for a while to get a check-up from the nearby hospital. I might not live much longer in the world if I just ignore this pain.

"Ayos lang po kayo, Mam?" Napalingon ako sa taxi driver nang tanungin ako nito.

"Ayos lang po, manong." Nakangiting tugon ko pero inilingan lang ako nito.

"You're not in a good condition, you shouldn't just endure it if it's only giving you pain." Mapait ang ngiting kumurba sa labi ni manong driver nang mapansin niya ang mangilan-ngilang pasa sa mukha at katawan ko.

"Ayos lang po, mahal ko eh." Nakangiting tugon ko pero muli lang ako nitong inilingan at hindi na tinugunan pa.

In the middle of the trip, the Manong driver stopped driving.

"Mukhang traffic pa ata ngayon," Manong said worriedly when we stopped at edsa. I looked at the stop light and it turned red. I was about to turn my gaze back to the driver, but before that happened, something caught my eye not far away from where I. I don't know if I'm just hallucinating, but, "Tyron?" I was stunned for a moment and stared at it carefully.

It's really him!

I smiled and was about to call him, but I noticed that there was a woman in the car with him. They were holding each other's hands that made my heart clenched. I even saw how a smile flashed on Tyron's lips when the woman kissed him on the cheek.

"T-tyron ..." I stuttered, but I suddenly screamed because of pain when I felt my chest tighten again. I tried to open the car window to call him out even though I was having a hard time breathing.

"Tyron!" I shouted in a very weak voice but enough for him to hear. I even saw him look into my direction, but I knew he hadn't seen me yet because I had completely fallen.

"Miss!"

Tyron's pov

Napakunot ang noo ko dahil parang may narinig akong boses sa hindi kalayuan na tinawag ang pangalan ko.

"Who was that?" I whispered confusedly to myself. I'm sure someone called me, but who was it?

"Hey, are you okay? What's bothering you?" I looked in Hannah's direction when I heard her voice.

"Huh?"

"You alright?" A worried emotion planted on her face as she clings to my arm. I smiled slightly at her.

"I'm okay, don't mind me. Just thinking about something." I replied, smiling. "Are you sure?" She asked, but she didn't seem to believe my answer, so I just smiled at it before stopping the car in the carpark near the entrance of the mall.

"We're here." I cut off our conversation and quickly got out of the car to open the door for her.

"Thank you, hon." She said, smiling.

"Welcome, hon." I almost whispered to her ear that made her tickle and hit me on the chest again.

Come on.. why is she always hitting me? Is she a retired psycho?

When we got inside the mall, Hannah immediately ran somewhere.

"Hon, look! It's so cute! Omg!" I went to where she was and looked at what she said was cute. I'm sure it's not cute because she's the only one who's cute in my eyes.

Psh, you're corny, Ty.

I looked at the puppy that Hannah was referring to that she was now playing with.

"It's like I just want to be a puppy," I whispered as he lifted the puppy and went nose to nose.

Psh, that should be me.

"What? Were you saying something?" I looked at her when she asked that.

"Ha? No, nothing. Ah, you want that?" I cleared my throat as I said those averting her attention, and as expected, her eyes immediately lit up when I asked that.

"Can I?" She asked with a smile on her face while doing a puppy eyes that made me scoff. I pinched her cheeks for a second.

Cute.

"Of course, why not? Kung para naman sa magiging nanay ng mga anak ko," saad ko kasabay ng pagkindat. Ngunit agad ko ding pinagsisihan dahil nakatikim na naman ako ng hampas mula sa kanya.

"Stop it!"

"You're really sadistic." I frowned habang iniinda ang hampas niya sa braso ko. Tss! Ang bigat bigat ng kamay niya.

"Nevermind, I won't buy you that anymore." I protested and crossed my arms. Sulking.

"Come on, I'm just fooling around. Don't be kj!" She giggled pero sinamaan ko lang siya ng tingin.

"I'm just kidding!" She chuckled and then approached me, but I turned my back.

“Baby, I’m sorry.” she whispered, which made me stop for a while.

W-what?

I immediately faced her, looking so shocked.

"W-what did you say?" I asked, smiling like a stupid dog.

"Sorry?" She guessed.

"No, that's not it. The word before that." I pointed to her.

She just called me that thing earlier, right?!

"The word before dot?" She confusedly asked, which made me nod for a response.

"Mmm ..." she frowned and looked at where she seemed to be thinking deeply.

"Aha. Ink!" She answered, smiling so widely that my two eyebrows met.

Huh? What? Ink? Wth?

A few seconds my brain was loading as I thought about what she just said, but I never really got it.

Where the heck did she get her answer?

"What?" I asked, confused.

"Isn't it the one you're talking about? You said the word before 'dot', right? Then, it's an ink. Like when you make a dot using a pen, of course an ink will come out before you make a dot from a pen?" She explained that it made my brows furrowed even more.

Wth is she talking about?

"Damn it," I just rubbed my forehead because of what she was saying. What is the hell, is she really out of her mind?

"What's going on with your mind? Nevermind, let's just go." Because of embarrassment, I pulled her because the sales lady was already laughing at us.

"But the dog.."

"I'll buy you that next time." I don't know why that weird thing entered in this woman's brain. Damn it, it seemed like my brain was going to explode. I don't understand her.