While I Was Sleeping

Chapter 1

* Ring *

* Riiiing*

* Ring*

*Riiiing*

I looked at my purple telephone which stands atop my ivory chest of drawers where I mostly just place different stuff upon, like a handful of Polaroid photographs, fancy jewelries, a few clothes, some books, a stuffed animal or two and a bunch of other assorted knickknacks. 

I quickly grabbed the cordless purple handset and answered the call. "Hello?" Then I heard a thin squeal on the other end of the line. 

"Bobby Kate!" A teenage girl's voice greeted me. "It's Alona!"

A surprised smile spread my mouth wide. "Alona! How are you, cuz?" Alona is my closest maternal relative, although she isn't a first degree cousin of mine. When I was little and used to visit the Philippines a lot, my mom's home country, Alona became my constant playmate even with our three year age gap. She is younger than me. We get along pretty well and ever since, she became my best friend.

"I miss you so much!" Alona gushed.

"Me, too", a smile still played on my lips as I suddenly recall the good times we've shared together. "So, how are you, then?"

"I'm doing fine, what about you? I heard you're coming down here for your eighteenth birthday and so I pestered Lola Helena to let me use the telephone in the mansion to be able to call you up! God, I'm excited to see you once again, cuz! I can hardly wait!" The mansion she's referring to was the ancestral house of my mom's late great grandparents which gets to be passed on to the eldest child of each generation. Right now, Uncle Samuel, my mother's eldest brother is the one residing in there with his family of three children with his wife, Aunt Josephine. The old house is huge with a vast land that turned into a Mango farm, in a province in the Philippines called Pangasinan.

Lola Helena is Mom's aunt and she's very old. She was the one who took care of Mom and her siblings ever since their own parents passed away. Alona is Lola Helena's companion. We call her "Lola" which means "Grandma" in their language, Tagalog.

I chuckled at her babbling. She has always been a chatterbox and it was one of the many things that I miss about her! "Yeah", I answered, "I'll be celebrating my debut party in your country."

"Oh, I'm so excited! I wish it will be one grand evening!"

I shook my head, still smiling. "Well, you and Mom both! Hahaha! She wanted to throw a great bash for my debut at the Mango farm."

"That's great! I'm really excited, cuz!"

"Yeah, yeah... hahaha!"

"Imagine wearing beautiful ball gowns, the eighteen handsome young men who'll dance with you on your eighteen roses, the eighteen candles which of course, I will be included on, the enormous layered birthday cake you'll blow candles on, delicious food, great band to play for the party and of course, the booze by midnight! I can't wait!"

"Silly, you're just fifteen, Alona!"

She huffed. "They wouldn't know, you know. Unless you tell them! Which you wouldn't, right?"

"Hahaha! Okay, okay! I wouldn't!"

"Promise? Swear?"

"Yeah, cross my heart!"

"Good! Now, back on the topic! What kind of hairdo do you plan to wear? And have you thought about what kind of gown you'll be having? What about the theme of your party? I can suggest a few, if you'd like! Tell Aunt Marie I'll be happy to help her out with the preparations!"

I shook my head as if to clear my mind of the many things that suddenly all got jumbled up and made me feel dizzy. All that talk with Alona just got me so worked up in a not - so - good way.

I knocked on my parents' door. "Mom? Dad? Any of you still up?" I heard a few muffled sounds of voices and then footsteps came closer to the door.

"Hey, kiddo", Dad opened the door, "why you still up this late?" My father, Kevin Wakefield, is a businessman and is very wealthy. He's an American. We live in this huge house in California which he himself designed. He met my mom in the Philippines during the days when he used to visit a lot in that country because of his many investments to different companies.

"Um, I hope I haven't disturbed you", I apologized.

Dad shook his head almost immediately. "No, no, of course not, honey. Come on in. What do you need?"

I followed his burly figure in their bedroom which got a large window that overlooked the distant buzzing city. All those city lights were very pretty to look at.

"Honey, what's wrong?" Mom asked, her brows knitting together. "Anything the matter?"

"Well, not really." I climbed in the middle of their big, soft bed. "It's just that, well..."

Mom placed her arms around me and I burrowed my head on her shoulder. I inhaled her scent. She smelled of fresh roses and old wine. Marie Ana dela Torre, my mom, also work in the same field as my dad. They currently owned one of the most well - known furniture stores in the country.  Mom's a Filipino and she had Dad convinced to get married traditionally in her country, the Philippines, just like how she had the both of us convinced now, to celebrate my eighteenth birthday there, as well.

"What is it? What's the matter?" She stroked my hair. "Come on, you know you can tell us about anything."

I felt the other side of the bed dipped because of Dad's weight and I turned to look over at him. "It's just", I sighed, "I'm turning eighteen soon, and well, all these preparation for my birthday is really making me dizzy and well, I'm just starting to feel so old."

Dad's booming voice echoed through out the four corners of the bedroom as he guffawed in laughter. "You silly, silly kid!" I felt him kiss the top of my head. "Don'cha worry, even if you get to be a bride soon, you'll still have the privilege to come and cuddle in the middle of our bed whenever you feel too tired to deal with the world on you own, okay?"

Mom laughed but somehow, even if it made me smile, I suddenly wanted to cry after Dad said that.

We were hurrying up to pack our last luggage by the end of that week, because the three of us have woken up late that morning and we needed to really make a dash to the airport if we didn't want to miss our flight to the Philippines.

"Honey, please hurry up", Mom called form the kitchen, as I frantically squeezed in a few, last items of clothing in my luggage, "you still have to eat you breakfast of peanut butter and jelly and milk!"

"Ugh!" I groaned. "I'll be there in minute, Mom!" 

Struggling with my luggage, I dragged it down the stairs as fast as I could until I reached the bottom which faces the front door and I could see my dad putting the luggage in the van. I was about to go to him to add mine, when Mom came running in the hall and stopped me in my tracks. She held out her hands holding a plate of sandwich in one and a glass of milk in the other.

"Come on, take these as quickly as you can", she urged.

I rolled my eyes. "Mom, we need to get going soon, I won't have time to finish those, even if I eat them very quickly. Besides, even if could finish 'em quick, I might barf in the car or get my tummy upset along the way."

"Okay", she nodded, "but at least drink your milk."

"Oh, alright." I took the glass and drank the milk in one gulp, wiping my mouth at the back of hand.

Mom beamed and made a dash back to kitchen. I hurriedly came over to Dad and helped him with all our luggage. In a few seconds, mom came running out to us as soon as she locked the front door of our house.

"Alright! Are we all set, now?" She placed her hands on her hips as she looked over at Dad and I.

"Yeah", Dad replied as he shoved the last luggage in the van and dusted his hands together. "Get in now, both of you. I'll come around the driver's seat, myself."

"Okay." 

It was a good thing that we were just in time for our flight. And after just a couple of stop overs, we found ourselves landing in my mom's homeland.

It was hot. The weather was almost unbearable and I quickly took off my black cardigan, brushing my light pink shirt with my hands and smoothing over my ripped jeans, which I wore over white sneakers. I placed a white ball cap over my blonde ponytail and looked over at my parents. Both of them were busy with our stuff and talking to some staff at the Philippine airport, when I spotted some of our relatives.

I got excited and waved at them frantically. I saw Alona with Uncle Samuel, Aunt Cecilia and Uncle Ronaldo, my mom's siblings. I ran over to them and I knew my parents were behind me.

"Bobby Kate! Oh my God!" I ran straight into my cousin's arms as she dashed over to me, almost toppling the both of us over. "I missed you so much!" Her straight ebony hair bouncing behind her. I looked her over. Her rosy cheeks complimented her brown skin. Her smile was infectious and her eyes glowed. 

"Likewise, Alona! Likewise!" I beamed at her.

Pretty soon, the rest of moms' siblings came over. I got squeezed by uncle Ronaldo, the youngest and closest to me. I kissed Aunt Cecilia's cheek and hugged Uncle Samuel. All of them greeted my parents, too.

"Where's Aunt Josephine, Uncle Samuel?" I asked.

"She's taking care of the kids. you'll see them once we get home."

"Hey, where's your boyfriend?" Alona asked me, suddenly.

I felt my cheeks reddened at her mention of Ian. We are in a relationship for almost three years, now. Before I could respond though, Mom beat me to it.

"He'll follow", she grinned at Alona. I heard the rest of my family chuckled.

"Oh, wow! I could hardly wait to meet him, cuz!" Alona exclaimed. And everyone laughed even harder, when I noticed a young man behind Uncle Samuel. He looked to be the same age as me. He's tall, with what seemed to be a well - built figure, bronzed skinned and with dark hair and dark eyes. 

The young man was staring at me and he was the only one among us who's quiet. I had assumed that he must have been a companion to my relatives since he was just standing behind my uncle and was looking me over. 

I must admit though, I haven't seen him before. With his thick dark hair falling over his equally dark and thick brows, a strong, thin nose, squared jaws and kissable lips. 

Kissable lips? Where did that come from?

I mentally shook myself as I suddenly realized that Aunt Cecilia was talking to me. "You okay, my child?" She gently patted my shoulder. "You seemed to have spaced out for a minute, there."

"She maybe tired, Ate", Mom said. Ate is their way of calling an older sister. 

"Yeah, jet-lag, maybe", Dad seconded and everyone chuckled once again. 

"Well, again my dear", Aunt Cecilia said, "I want to introduce here, Marco Antonio Pascual." She then motioned for the young man to come closer to us. 

He walked over to us but he still didn't break our eye contact until I blinked and looked at my parents. They were smiling and nodding their heads.

"He is a hired help at the farm", Uncle Samuel was saying, "we call him Mak-Mak."

Aunt Cecilia introduced him to my parents and Mak-Mak bowed his head a little at them. Then they turned to me. "This is their only child, Bobby Katherine."

"Just call her Bobby Kate", Alona quipped. I felt my face turn red as Mak-Mak held out his hand to me and I stared at it quite a little bit longer than I should have. I felt Alona nudged me by the elbow and I suddenly found my right hand engulfed by his large one. The contrast of our skin looked striking. And quite magnificent.

Magnificent? What came over me?

"Hello", Mak-Mak greeted me in a deep voice and I suddenly couldn't reply fast enough.

"H - Hi."

"Okay, let's get you guys going", Uncle Ronaldo said, "you know how frustrating traffic can be in our country."

Mak-Mak let go of my hand and went to help with the luggage. I stared at my hand that he held moments ago. It was tingling all over and I still could feel how warm his hand was. I looked up to see Alona's amused expression. She had her arms crossed over her chest and was shaking her head.

"Ahem", she coughed on her fist, "I know Kuya Mak-Mak's handsome, cuz, but have you suddenly forgotten Ian, hmm?" I could hear the teasing note in her tone. Kuya is their way of calling an older guy.

I rolled my eyes at her. "Oh, stop it, will you? That was nothing."

"Oh, yeah? I don't think so, though."

I was about to argue some more when Mom told us to hurry up as we got a very long way to drive. Everyone agreed as we set off to get our luggage and hopped in my relatives' vehicles.

Mak-Mak rode with Uncle Samuel at the front of the red van as my parents and I squeezed in at the back. I was awfully aware of this stranger's presence which I don't get why.

I looked out the window as I fished out my mobile phone. I stared at my wallpaper. It was of me and Ian, my boyfriend. We were hugging each other in the picture and smiling at the camera. We looked really happy. And I kind of missed those times when we used to not mind so much about some things that really shouldn't matter to our relationship. But things have changed, lately. I sighed.

I suddenly have a nagging feeling at the back of my nape that made me look up. My blue eyes collided with the dark pools of Mak-Mak over at the mirror. He was staring at me. And staring back at him felt like drowning in the deep waters of the ocean. I found myself spiraling into the swirling web of his eyes, and to my surprise, I couldn't care less. Yes, a part of me is frightened just a bit, but then it also felt very natural. Like it was okay to be consumed by such a force so strong and not fight it.

Until his eyes seemed to have swallowed the whole of me and everything was all dark. I felt panic rose to my throat, blocking the air and I gasped to breathe freely.

I sat up in bed, drenched in cold, sticky sweat. My heart was beating frantically, as if wanting to escape my chest. I balled my fists 'till I felt my knuckles whitened. Still gasping for air, I wiped my forehead and tried to breathe through my nose and exhale through my mouth, until I calmed down.

It was just a dream. Just a dream.

A dream of how it all began, six months ago. And it began when I met Mak-Mak.