Estaciones Series: When Floréa Blooms

Chapter 6 – The Architect

“¡Papá despierta! ¡Despierta! ¡Ya es de mañana! ¡Despierta papa!”

Ughhh there goes my alarm clock. Jumping and jumping and jumping. Then a soft body landed to my ribcage, like a tiny very overexcited meteor.

I grunted, half-asleep. My voice came out rough. “Sophie… it’s too early, anak.”

She didn’t care. Of course she didn’t. My daughter wakes up every day like she’s powered by the sun itself.

“No papa, it’s late. Come on. ¡Despierta!”

I reached out blindly and caught her before she jumped on me again. I hooked her by the waist and pulled her in, her curls falling all over my face. I hugged her tight on instinct. She squealed. Napangiti na lang ako. Ang taas talaga ng energy ng anak ko.

Overly energetic kid. Very hectic schedule. Good combination.

“You’re too energetic, cielo,” I murmured against her hair.

“You’re going to finish all of papa’s energy before breakfast.”

She giggled — that light, high-pitched giggle that hits a man straight in the chest.

“I know, papa. Pero you pwomised. We go to school today. Di ba? May school po ako.”

Sophie’s just 3, but I have her go to school already. That’s one way for her to explore and be social. Wala rin kasing masyadong bata dito sa village.

I forced my eyes open. Yung tipong bigat na bigat pa, pero sige. Para kay Sophie.

“Yes,” I said softly. “I remember. Papa doesn’t break promises.”

“Except nap time,” she huffed.

“I don’t break nap time either.” I kissed her forehead. “Mandatory yan.”

She gasped, eyes wide. “Papa… no nap.”

“Yes nap,” I said, tone firm. “Bawi tayo sa tantrum mo kahapon.”

“… Fine,” she said in the smallest voice possible.

I smirked. My kid. Negotiator. Fighter. Exactly why I’m tired 80% of the time. Para kong kalaban ang sarili ko sa bawat araw.

She crawled up my shoulder like a koala.

“Papa.”

“Hm?”

“I think we have a new neighbor.”

I paused. “Oh yeah?”

She pointed toward the window with her tiny finger.

“I saw twuck yesterday. Big twuck. Dun oh, acwoss our house. Pwede kaya playmate papa?”

The way she looked at me — hopeful, excited — tumama sa’kin. Kids like her… they know lonely before they can even spell it.

I ruffled her curls. “Maybe, mi cielo. We’ll find out.”

“Promise?” she whispered.

I looked out the window. May sasakyan nga sa tapat.

And for reasons I couldn’t explain, my chest tightened a bit.

“We’ll see,” I said, voice low. “Pero for now… breakfast.”

She brightened instantly.

“Yey! Pancakes?”

“You always want pancakes.”

“Yum yum!”

“Fine,” I sighed, standing up with her still clinging like a monkey.

“Pancakes it is.”

She squeezed my neck tighter. “Love you papa.”

I kissed her temple. “Love you more, Sophie.”

And as we walked out of the room, her head was still resting on my shoulder, her tiny hand playing with my shirt collar…

…I couldn’t help but glance again at the house across from ours.

New neighbor, huh.

Let’s see.

I’m now in our kitchen making pancakes as my cielo requested. Andun lang sya sa highchair nya, drinking her milk.

“Papa, I saw a lady acwoss the stweet yesterday. Yung new neighbor natin. She’s very pwetty papa…”

Napataas ako ng kilay nun. Nangingilatis ata anak ko. I turned around and looked at her.

“How can you say that she’s pretty mi cielo?”

“Coz she smiled at me and said hi. She’s vewy pwetty. She got showt hair po. Tapos she’s very nice po.”

“Is that why you came back squealing yesterday?”

“Yes papa. Ella es muy bonita papa. Very bonita po.”

Puring-puri. Now I’m curious. I haven’t seen our neighbor yet. Or anyone yet in that house for that matter. I turned back again and continued to cook pancakes. This is my day every morning on weekdays. Having a very energetic alarm clock, cooking breakfast, then off to work. In between, I would pick up Sophie from school then continue my work at home.

I’m managing my business at home whenever I can and give my full attention to my daughter. She has her yaya, but still, I want to be hands-on with her. Siya lang ang meron ako at ako lang din ang meron siya. My family, my parents to be exact are in Spain. They retired and went back to my mother’s home country. While my sister, I don’t know where exactly she is. She’s probably off anywhere in Europe.

“Papa, I saw her again yestewday but in the park too. Diba I told you to look. But you didn’t look. Di mo tuloy kita.”

My daughter seems to be very interested in the woman she’s talking about.

“Mi cielo. You seem to be very much interested in our neighbor. Can you tell papa why?”

“Just because.”

“Just because?”

“Yes papa. Just because.” Where did she get that? Probably from me. I exhaled. It’s hard to talk to my exact replica.

We continued to get ready for Sophie’s school and for my work. As I arrived in my firm and reached my office, my assistant Tina briefed me with today’s schedule and documents I need to review. Tambak na naman trabaho ko.

Hours passed and it’s afternoon already. Time seems to fly so fast. I stood up and walked to the glass pane of my office. It’s good that I have mi cielo in my everyday life. She was left behind by her mother who wanted nothing to do with her. It pained me, but I can’t do anything about it. It’s that or I might see my daughter hurting in the future. Okay na to. Mas okay to. For Sophie.

The day ended for office work. It’s time for me to go home. It’s a good thing that Sophie has a yaya. Malaki rin pasalamat ko kay Nay Lita for staying with us. So that on days such as this, di ako kinakabahan kung okay si Sophie or hindi.

As I enter my house, I can already see Sophie running down the stairs.

“Papaaaaa!”

“Careful baby!”

Naglakad na rin ako pabalik, pero halos malaglag puso ko nung biglang tumalon sya from the 7th step. Buti na lang nasalo ko. Pagkasalo ko tawa ng tawa, di ko na nagawang magalit. Natunaw na yung kaba, takot at pikon ko. Talo na naman ako ni Sophie. I just hugged her tightly. My life and my love. My Sophie.