I am TWO

Eighteen

It's been a month since Tito Victor — the lawyer who likes to wear khaki shorts — last visited the house. It’s also been a month since we discussed the last will and testament and the titles, and I’m accepting their offer out of selflessness.

If I was only interested in things related to paranormal activities, I might have thought that Grandpa's evil spirit possessed me just to be allowed to do this by his father. Who is a sensible man who is willing to face the test and is knowledgeable in the law but has not even found a way to make an escape plan for this mania of theirs?

Do I need to have a child in order for my child to inherit all the property that will be named after me? I can't even take on that responsibility because I don't want to hurt my future child? No way! I don't even want to suffer myself and then pass on the commitment I'm running to my future child?

Then I became a mother who is so selfish, then? And then if I don't like their plan and I have no choice but to make a child for her to pass it all on… where can I get a man who can get me pregnant?

I don't want to look for dirty men that they just picked up everywhere. I also don't want to grow up with an irresponsible man who will be the father of my child, no. You might even think that he was accidentally shot there and not on the blanket. I'm afraid all the things I used to do to Anabelle will come back to haunt me.

Yes, and I believe in karma, so even before that thing came, I had a good plan. To save my mother from running… edi, I took responsibility for it. I don’t know if I have enough skills to lead that kind of work.

I don’t even know anything about business management. Even our small business in town, my brothers and sisters were the ones working on it, and I am not, so I am not sure that everything will be fine, especially when I arrive.

"Take care yourself there, Alexa," my mother instructed me before kissing my forehead.

I will admit I hid some resentment from mom because she made a run on the responsibility she should have done, and I didn’t. I knew she was doing this because she was afraid to leave my siblings and even her business. And she knew I had never been competent in handling the business, so she was scared to let me run the grocery store she had worked so hard for.

You would think that she was too scared to leave me to manage that tiny store. She wasn’t even afraid to let me handle the multi-billion dollar business.

Sometimes I even wonder what kind of thinking mom has. I just nodded at my mother's instructions and turned to my siblings, and smiled sadly. Calzin and Sarina sympathized while Savannah stared at me enviously. I tried to include Savannah, and even if she wanted to come, her parents would not allow her because they were afraid for the sake of their child.

It's not a joke that the business is waiting for me and I will handle billions of money, so they expect that everything will be dangerous, especially since I am the only one who will go to the city to work and train there.

"Good luck, Ate!" Sarina and Calzin said at the same time before approaching me and hugging me that I also reciprocated.

“Are you going to be nice here? You already have a young man and a young woman,” I complained angrily, and they laughed before turning to Calzin, and he was the one who finally kicked her, and they laughed.

"You! Stop flirting with Leila— ”

"I'm not dating her, and I am not dating anyone, Ate!" he interrupted, which made me laugh before they hugged me at the same time.

I soon let them know, and instead of joking with them, I turned to Savannah, who was waiting for me after chatting with my siblings, before turning to her to say goodbye.

"My life has been unfair," she said before smiling sweetly at me. "I guess I'm the only one left in time with our own batch."

"Not, because you know I'm jealous of you myself?" I just said so that somehow she would feel better about herself. “You will always remember that something will come to you, not now but in due time. You wait and always trust God.”

“Tsh. When?" she sighed as I stared.

"Are you listening? I said in due course! ” she laughed at what I said, so instead of arguing with me before I left, she quickly hugged me to say goodbye to him.

Our trip will be a bit long because our town is located in a remote part of San Vicente and communication was rare in this area so I know it will be difficult for me to contact all the people I will leave in this place.

It took me almost three weeks to sort out the dropping papers on campus because there were always without the registrar or even our lecturers. I don't know if they were teasing me, or maybe they were just afraid to let me go because the student in that course would reduce them again.

I will admit that very few students took that course, so I can be sure that they don’t want to let me go. The only case is that they have no choice because if Tito Amer had not told me that he sent a lawyer to campus, my lecturers would not have signed my dropping papers. Oh, right? That's how they hate to let me go. I still need a lawyer to get me off that course.

"When we have time, we will visit you at your mansion," Dame smiled before I he moved closer to me and kissed my forehead.

With my cousin, only Dame does that thing to me. Samiel doesn't kiss me because he's disgusted with me, and he's, even more, the type of man who, if he can get up, seems to be disgusted with the things around him. With a bit of trepidation, I would ask if we had done anything wrong that he would hate.

Just give him some food, and he will ask if the thing was clean. He was the only one in their family because Dame and Tita Santhina appreciated the things they received, and even more so, their daddy's attitude was the same. It seems that Samiel was the only adopted one who got lost in his own family.

I smiled at what he did before turning to Samiel, who was now staring hard at me.

"Oh, your problem?" my arrogant question with his mock by puckering his lips

“Will you be nice there, ah? I am no longer there to defend you— ”

"It's like you're defending me, have you?" I complained that he laughed before hugging me.

"I will miss you, two brothers!"

"We too. Be kind there, huh? I'm serious!" he threatened to make me laugh, and I nodded.

A few deep breaths I took as I watched the towering trees we passed on the trip. It’s been about five minutes since we left San Vicente. We were about to leave the boundary of San Vicente and Balaybay, so I couldn't help but feel homesick even though this was the first time I had left our town.

Tito Victor was consistent in his stories of how Gregory, who was just another general who fought in the war back then, started the business. Tito Victor said Gregory had won many awards and medals from the former presidents to the point of being elected as the government official, which he quickly rejected. Because of his refusal, it was at that time he was recognized by the whole government.

Many admired him because he rejected the president's offer and chose to live in peace. With Tito Victor’s stories today about my great grandfather, I also can’t help but admire him. After all, what he did was really impressive because people rarely accept positions.

In today’s era, many run in politics without even having enough running ability. They don’t even know and remember the laws of the Philippines but the thickness of the face to run. And worse of all, they don’t go through the needle hole starting in the minor position before seeking to step on the top rung of the ladder.

Sometimes I laugh at officers who respond to television statements. Instead of pretending to have a good life for Filipinos, they reason with their husbands that they will run for the presidency for their husbands—how funny.

"That's the history of your great grandfather," he said to me even though I wasn't interested in his story.

Honestly, I didn't get along well with Tito Victor when I first saw him. Sometimes I called him hurtful words, but it didn't take long to say that I was conscious of my twisted thinking.

I proved to myself that even though it was against Tito Victor's will to make me feel this great responsibility, he could not do anything because it was stated in my grandfather's last will, so even if it was against his will, he could do nothing either.

What can the law do if the owner himself insists on the matter? All right! During Tito Victor's stay in San Vicente for almost a month, I could not deny that my heart became close to him, especially since my mother also became close to him.

He entrusts me with everything, and Tito Victor almost promises that he will do everything even though we haven't been that close in the past. In fact, it was with Tito Victor that I felt like having a second father again because he was the one I used to spend time with on-campus with the lawyer that Tito Amer sent just for my dropping papers.

Tito Victor was also the one who always suggests ideas about mom’s business which I will admit has also been a big help for her.

The car stopped in front of a large house — it must have been a large mansion. I dropped my jaw and watched it until I just felt that Tito Victor's staff opened the car door on my side so that I could get out as well. I rarely praise this kind of thing, and I can say… wow. Speechless, super lovely.

The idea and landscape of this house seem to be inspired by ancient architecture. On the side there, I saw the fountain with two stone angels in the middle holding a jar. Scattered in front of the house were two lines of housekeepers who I am sure were all forty.

How am I supposed to memorize their names with so many of them?! Many trees surrounded the big house. I also don’t know if there is an acre of ​​this land because otherwise, the car was not entered and just kept outside; I am sure it will take us ten minutes to walk from the gate to the house's patio due to the extra extent of its garden.

"Welcome from the house of Perez," said Tito Victor, causing a big smile to carve my lips.

Does that mean I already own it all? That I am the only one entitled to this paradise?