Not like Us

Chapter 13

It was already Saturday. Four days after Bella was fetched by her father in the province. She had now recovered from her fever. The people around the house did not find out about her sneaking out. She also ate the spare shawarma because she was not able to give it to Dustin because they would know that she went out.

She looked at the side table. She saw the canvas drew by Dustin. She sighed and grabbed her phone. She visited her social media but it was very quiet. None of her friends leave any messages. It had been quiet ever since she opened her phone. She could not believe her friends would do this to her. She smiled bitterly. Of course, they would not involved themselves to her. After what she did, Bella chuckled. She was the reason why they were brought to the station. She was the one who started the fight.

She averted her attention to the side table and took a picture of it. She edited the picture to make it look aesthetic. She posted the picture to let them know that she was still alive and mind if they could leave her a message.

' A sweet comfort from little Dustin that relieved my fever. ' She captioned. She posted the canvas Dustin painted. She immediately received hearts and comments that wished her to take care of herself. She chuckled. She wondered if all those comments were sincere. She continued scrolling the comments and she noticed a particular comment that says, ' Come back '.

She read the username, it was just ' justLucas '. She tried to remember where did she heard the name ' Lucas ' but she could not remember. She visited the profile and a familiar face showed up. It was him. It was him that his mother introduced to her after the mass. Bella accidentally pressed the back button and it led her to her post's comments. His comment was not there anymore. He deleted it. Luckily, Bella could still remember his username. She sent him a message.

' Why should I come back? ' she asked.

' Is it about my grandmother? ' she sent another message.

' Did something happen to her? ' she sent another additional question.

She waited for a few minutes before she could see that he had seen her messages.

' I am sorry. If you saw the comment. It was just nothing, ' he replied.

' What do you mean? So my grandmother is just alright? ' Bella asked.

' Yeah, I saw your grandmother visit the church yesterday. She might be doing the Visita Iglesia, ' he replied.

' And it was my mother who commented. She borrowed my phone, ' he added.

Bella sighed a relief. She was glad that her grandmother was alright and it seemed like she was still the old religious her. She smiled. If her father did not fetch her she might be doing what her grandmother was doing as well. Visiting seven churches snd other activities being done during the holy week.

' Okay, your mother is so cute, ' she replied. It seemed like his mother misses her to look her up on social media and commented on one of her post.

' Thank you for updating me about my grandmother, too, ' Bella added to her response.

' No problem, ' he replied.

Bella did not know what should she answer to that so she put down her phone and got up from her bed.

She went out of her room. What was everybody doing? The house was so quiet. She went down to the living room. No one was around. She went to the kitchen and it was quiet as well. Where were they? I heard them earlier doing hustling and bustling and stuff from my room. Did they leave without telling her? Did they went somewhere?

Bella just shook her head to stop talking to herself. She just decided to went up to her room but the lights suddenly turned off. Brownout? She asked to herself. It was already dark and only the light that illuminated the room was the full moon outside.

" Happy Birthday to you. "

A soft voices sang from the first floor. She was still on the stairs. She saw a small candle light emerged from the dark.The light from the bulb slowly went back to its original blinding light.

" Happy Birthday to you. Happy Birthday. Happy Birthday. Happy Birthday to you, " they continued.

The cake was held by her dad and she saw Dustin bringing a wrapped present that seemed to be heavy because he kept adjusting himself. Rebecca was with them as well. She was not smiling but she was not grumping, either. There were maids behind them as well. It looked like they were the ones who made the song lively because as what she had observe her dad and Rebecca were singing awkwardly. A very rare occasion for the both of them and to Bella, too

She went down to the stairs and walked near them.

" Is it my birthday? " She asked. The only words that came out from her mouth. She had not remember it at all. She had never celebrated her birthday since ten years.

Her father had thought about it for a minute. " Of course, it is! " He reacted. He totally made sure that he check the date before executing his surprise. " Your birthday is April 16 and today is April 16, " her father added. Bella looked at her watch. It was already April 16.

" Thank you? " she questionably shoved her gratitude. This set up was really awkward for her. Both she and Rebecca was not on their good terms so it was weird to have her standing around near her and singing ' Happy Birthday ' to her.

" Make a wish a ma'am Bella and blow the candle, " Lyn suggested.

Did she really have to do that?

" Go on, " her father seconded the notion.

She closed her eyes and made a wish. ' I wish I could meet him again in his form or in any other form, ' Bella wished and blew the candle.

All of the house helper clapped and popped a party popper above them.

" We have prepared food for you ma'am Bella. Please eat a lot, " Lyn proudly said.

They brought her on the once empty table when she took a peek on the kitchen. They were so fast in preparation. It has now a five to six dishes.

" I made sure to cook all of your favorite dishes, " her father said.

They let her sat on her father's usual position.

" Ate Bella, " her little brother handed her the gift.It seemed like he was struggling to carry it alone. He was beside her and Bella's father was on the other side. Rebecca was beside her son. " It was from Dad, " he added.

" What is this? " she asked while looking at his father.

" Just open it, " he smiley said.

They were now sitting. The cake was in the center of the table and the helpers kept adding and adding food on the table.

" Right now? "

Her father nodded.

As she tore the wrapper open, a box emerged.

" A graphic tablet? "

" Yes, I know how you love drawing so much. "

She looked at the specifications but unfortunately it did not support a mobile operating system. However, Bella just smiled. She was grateful for the gift. It had been so long since she received one. She thought her father had forgotten her birthday long ago.

" I will make use of this once I get to be back on mom's house. Thank you, " she said in gratitude.

Rebecca and her father looked at each other and went back to Bella.

" You want to be back to your mother's house? " Bella's father asked.

" Oh, " Bella uttered in response.

Bella's father held her hand. " You can stay here as long as you wish, Bella. You are very welcomed here. You do not need to go back to your mom. I would not allow her to do what she did to you. How could she isolate you to the province? " her father said in an irritating tone and he clenched his other hand to fist.

" All of my belongings are in mom's. All I have are my clothes and my phone. "

" I can buy you whatever. Just stay here. I will take care of you not like how your mother neglected you. "

Bella did not react but in her mind, she knew her father neglected her, too.

Rebecca cleared her throat to divert their attention to her. She looked at Bella and smiled. " I bought you a gift, too. We were together with your father when he bought his gift to you, " she grabbed something under her and handed it towards Bella. It was not wrapped in a wrapper but it was in a bag. " I do not know if you already have one on you or not but I guess this would be a nice upgrade. The staff told me it is a good laptop for programming. I heard you are a computer engineering student. " Rebecca said with a smile. She was not really that bad. Bella noticed she was a good person everytime she took care of her son. She always had that big smile on her face like Dustin was a precious jewel she could own and since Dustin was very fond of Bella, Rebecca wanted to try and reach out to Bella to see if their relationship could be a lot better than before.

Bella admitted that it was always her fault why she could not be in good terms with her parents new partner. She did not want to be left out and alone.

Bella accepted the gift. It was a laptop. She needed this to get access to the graphic tablet.

" Thank you, " she said. Rebecca just nodded.

" I am hungry. "

The three of them looked at Lucas.

" Let us eat, " Bella's father announced.

They all started eating. Bella admitted that her father was a great cook. Aside from being an architect in a firm, they own a restaurant that was manage by Rebecca.

As they finished eating, Bella immediately went to her room. She set up her new laptop and graphic tablet.

It never crossed her mind to buy one. She indeed loved to draw but she never thought to invest on it. As soon as she was done setting it up, she tried to draw. She started drawing a face. It was not as good as how she drew it traditionally but it was justifiable to look at. She did not know that she unconsciously drew Lamang. The distinct features that she could remember. His eye, his nose, his lips, his ears, and his hair.

" It seems you are making use of your gifts now, " her father asked smiling.

She did not noticed him entered her room.

" Yeah, thanks to Rebecca, I could now use your gift and would not wait until I could be able get back to mother's house. "

Her father sat on her bed. " You could always ask me for anything, okay? Everything that you need. "

Bella nodded.

Her father looked at her drawing. " It is a handsome elf that you drew. "

" It is an engkanto, dad, " Bella clarified.

" You already saw one? " her father seriously asked.

Bella did not know what to answer. She looked at the closed window since raindrops were hitting it.

Her father chuckled." It still looks like an elf to me. "

He leaned on Bella and kissed her forehead. " Good night, princess. Once again, happy birthday. "

" Good night, " she said as her father went out of her room.

She heard a ping sound coming from her phone. Was it her friends? Was one of them woke up and realized she did nothing wrong? She checked her notification but it was just a comment from her post. It was a bunch of comments she did not expected that she would received. She read it one by one and all of it had a ' Lucas ' name on it.

' Had anyone saw Lucas commented here? ' one of the comments asked.

' Yeah! It says, come back, ' one of the comments replied.

' Is she and Lucas a thing? '

' Are they dating? '

' No, that cannot be happened. I saw them on the same corridor once but it seems they do not know each other! '

Oh, great. Bella thought. Who was this Lucas anyway? All she knew that he was a province boy. Was he famous?

Her phone produced another ping. This time, it was a message.

' A message received from justLucas: My mother told me to greet you a happy 20th birthday. Hope you had a good day. '