CHAPTER 4: FAMILY DINNER

I immediately leaned against the wall of my future bedroom, sweat dripping down my forehead.

I had already taken out many things and I had also removed a mountain of dust from the entire room.

I had also cleaned the bathroom here and had also changed the beddings on my future bed.

This place is perfect. The road to school is just a few steps away, this place made me feel I am belong and free.

I also think that what I liked was the family itself. They welcomed me here wholeheartedly and they were all very kind. I met Aunt Iya's husband awhile ago and he's so energetic and funny at the same time, her full name was really is Thaleah but she insisted that I should call her Tita Iya.

“To cool you down!” exclaimed Aunt Iya's son, who was carrying a pitcher of orange juice, a bread, and a glass.

“Thank you!” I thanked him and smiled at him. He immediately placed his things next to me and sat down next to where I was sitting.

"Woah! This is so clean! When are you going to tidy up your things?" He asked. “Oh! By the way, I haven't formally introduced myself to you yet. I'm Raphael Consolasion, we're the same age," he introduced himself and held out his hand to shake hands.

I took a sip of the drink he brought before answering his question. There aren't many things here yet. There's only a bed in the room so the whole room is very spacious.

“Maybe tomorrow! Hahahaha it’s already late and I’m a little tired too! And I am Seahna Althea Salvadela, nice to meet you Raphael.” I said and smiled as I reached out to her hand, but I immediately let go of it and looked around the entire place.

“Sorry about that, I didn’t know you were getting dressed.”

I immediately winced when I remembered her falling down the stairs earlier. I immediately shook my head and smiled sheepishly.

“Oh, that’s my fault too, I thought no one would come up earlier.” Everything immediately became awkward, making both of us fall silent.

He immediately broke it as he stood up and took off his clothes.

“By the way, dinner is ready downstairs. Just follow me if you're okay!” He said, which made me immediately nod my head.

I'll just clean myself up before I go downstairs to eat. I immediately put aside the drink he brought and immediately rinsed my body.

The cold water felt delicious, instantly removing the heat and dirt from my entire body. Even though I was in a bucket and just running around rinsing, I still felt relaxed by the coolness of the water.

It's already 7:30pm and after rinsing and getting dressed I immediately went downstairs to share their dinner. This is the first time that more than one person is with me at the dinner table. Ever since my dad died I have been the only one eating alone and to be honest, that moment me being all alone felt like I was living in hell.

When even when you chew and swallow, tears stream down your throat along with the pain.

“So! You think your happy now?” I immediately looked at the boy leaning against the side of my bedroom door. “Don’t start with me now, I’m in a good mood.” I contradicted myself.

He just shrugged and after a while it disappeared again.

I wouldn't be surprised if it keeps coming back. It's always been like that, coming back or disappearing. You might think I'm crazy, apparently I'm really close to going crazy. We tried psycho therapy but, due to lack of money

I stopped getting treatment. And I let him be, I just accepted that I was seeing something.

But strangely that image doesn't bother me if it is. I'm used to it because I was around 7 years old and he was always with me.

I never named him or that thing, dad also said to avoid naming it. When I got down, I saw that the whole area was bright.

There were small lights where I was stepping and they were of different colors. There were also hanging around and I saw large circles that were also illuminated, designed in the area where they were grilling.

I saw in the middle a lot of laughing people and it was nice to see them smiling in front of the food.

“Oh hey! come on now you, you're the one were waiting for!” I immediately smiled and joined their little afternoon tea.

The night was filled with laughter's and I felt like I am not alone anymore. When the afternoon tea and our little fun were over, I immediately went up to my room and immediately took my guitar.

I immediately turned off the light in my room and sat on the floor in the middle of it. Using the flashlight of my cellphone, I placed it in front of me and it seemed like I was alone with the light.

As I strum on my guitar, I close my eyes and starts to remember him again. A warm drop of my tears are flowing as I imagine how he smiles and his laughter sounds like.

This night for me is somehow happy and sad at the same time. This night was my realization that I'm on my own now. I'm still 21 and I needed someone to lean on, I can't fight without a single reason or person to be my inspiration or motivation.

I can't do this on my own! I needed someone.

“Hello? Are you asleep?”

Raphael's point of view

I think our new tenant is very sad. When he arrived earlier, she was the only one who came here alone, it seems like she lives alone.

“Mom!” I called mom's attention while she was marinating the food we will sell tomorrow.

“Hmmm?” was her only answer because she was still busy mixing the meat.

I immediately approached her and bowed down while the one facing her frowned.

“Did you put away the lights we had last Christmas?” she suddenly looked at me and stopped what she was currently doing skewering meat.

“Where are you going to put them? I was going to use them for the first arrival of our new tenant,” I said and smiled.

***

I was frowning searching the whole of Google for a design that could decorate our grill.

I found some but they were ugly because the only ones available to me were lights, there were so many designs on the web.

I immediately put down my phone and stared at the lights in front of me. I can’t come up with a great design so, I just followed whatever came to my mind.

“That’s it!”

I said while sweating profusely from designing and repeatedly designing the whole place. This is my first time designing and making an effort for one person, and it’s worth it wasting energy and effort for someone.

I immediately smiled at my masterpiece and was excited to see its reaction to our little bit of fun. The place is all aligned and later on our little party will begin.