Barachita, Vanya Danyella V.

11-Darwin
21st Century Literature from the Philippines and the World

Miguel: It’s all her fault! Why Itay left. She’s always “Roberto, you have to do this.
Roberto, why don’t you do that?” She’s the same way with me, and she drives me nuts! Miguel,
study hard. Do the dishes. Just eat your tuna salad and stop complaining.
This is why I decided to go back to the Philippines. What’s the point of staying with
Isabel, I mean, Inay, here in Canada if all she talks about is her sacrifices she did for us? She
brought me here just so that she can boast all the good works she has done. She brought me here
to guilt trip me. I don’t know how I’ll be able to afford buying a plane ticket for now, but I’ll
find a way. I want to surprise Lola and bring back Itay. As long as she doesn’t find out about it, I
don’t care.

Two years later…

Miguel: It was bound to happen anyway. I will leave Inay in the future, so why not do so
now? She doesn’t know that I’m here in the airport for my flight back to the Philippines. Now
she can’t tell me that she sacrificed her life for this plane ticket which I BOUGHT WITH MY
OWN MONEY. For the first 15 hours, she might be clueless where I’m at. But she can’t file a
police report that I’m missing because it has to be 24 hours. After I land, I immediately go to our
place and see Lola’s surprised face. Then, she’ll call Inay, and this whole thing won’t be a big
deal. It’s just a flight anyway.

Isabel: I know where he is. I know that he’s going back to the Philippines. I didn’t stop
him. What’s the point? I’ve done everything I can do to give him a good life. But if that’s what
he wants, then I should just continue sacrificing for him even if it means that I don’t get to see
him just for his happiness. I will wait for the day that we can look back at this and laugh. You’ll
wait for me, right? Kasi ako, I will. I love you, Anak. Kita kits na lang.