Forces of Love

It takes a button to abide one’s schedule

Today is Monday, nothing really special just the first day of our class in my new school. I woke up 5:40 in the morning and the class starts at seven. I only have an hour to prepare that is why I only washed my body; besides I only wash my hair every other day. My name is Giselle Ellis, daughter of Earl Ellis and today is another day to catch up with my schedule.

Written in my schedule is that at 5:40 in the morning I would wake up and wash for 15 minutes. After that I’ll wear my uniform for five minutes. The next 20 minutes will be allotted for cooking breakfast. At 6:20, I will eat the breakfast and wash the dishes for another 10 minutes. Finally, at 6:40, I will take a 15-minute walk to our school and arrive there with five minutes allowance for our first period.

Following my schedule, I took a bath for 15 minutes. When I entered the bathroom, I set up our shower with warm heat because it was so early in the morning and I can’t stand having a cold bath. Before I opened the shower, I tied my hair in a messy bun because that is only what I can afford to do, after all it still works just fine; it does not let my hair get wet. As I opened the faucet, I felt the warm water flow into my soft and smooth skin. Then came after was a steam that clouded the enclosed shower.

“Ah~ this feeling is really great, waking up in the morning and warming myself up to start the day.”

I dried myself up and proceeded to wear my uniform that I ironed and prepared last night. While wearing it, I didn’t notice that one button wasn’t properly fastened. I then proceeded to wear my shoes and get my things that I packed yesterday. I looked upon the mirror and noticed that my hair was still messy as what it looks like earlier. That is why I decided to touch it up again, while going down the stairs, just to look more presentable. To no avail, it still ended up looking messy.

It is now 6:00 in the morning and I’ve got plenty of time left before I got to school. That is why I decided to go into our kitchen to whip some nice breakfast. “Hey, father what do you want for breakfast?”

Upon saying that, I noticed that there is a smoke crawling its way up from our kitchen. At first, I thought that our house is burning but thankfully it is just my father trying to cook for me. As I got nearer, I could smell this wonderful aroma coming from the food he was cooking. “Uhm, I thought you can’t cook?” I uttered as I move closer to my father.

It turns out that just after I woke up, my father has gone straight into the kitchen to cook for something. I actually noticed that yesterday, he bought so much groceries and when I asked him, he just only said that it was for today. It seems to me that he is gunning for a surprise but little did I know that this is what he meant. The thing is, I didn’t really expect that he will cook for me because when I am at about the right age, I started to cook food for the both of us up until now.

“No dear, I can, but it is only this recipe a certain friend told me.” Father calmly replied.

“Is that so? That explains why I am always cooking for us. But what are you cooking right now?”

From what he is holding, I can see that the food he is gonna cook is a pasta. It is either carbonara or spaghetti. But after asking him, he turned his back and poured the sauce into the dried pasta. I saw the color and it was red. The reason I asked him what he is cooking is because, I could smell its sweet aroma, and based on its color, it is a spaghetti. The thing is, I haven’t actually heard of a spaghetti that is sweet.

“It is done! This is a spaghetti, something my old friend taught me. However, this is not the typical one, they call this the Filipino-style spaghetti and the difference is we make the sauce sweeter and we add sausage called hotdog in it.”

“Is that so, father?” I replied excitedly.

“Now eat it while it is warm.”

“This is delicious!” I haven’t eaten spaghetti like this and I did not expect it to be this delicious, not including the fact that it was my father who cooked this. After this mini commotion, I was now 15 minutes ahead of time.

I still got plenty of time but I decided to go straight into the school after washing the dishes. Because sometimes, unpleasant things happen unexpectedly and I don’t want it to ruin my schedule for the day. “I got to go now father, thanks for the breakfast. I promise to learn that recipe and cook it every time you want.”

“Are you sure? You should have done your make up or at least tied your hair neatly.” My father chided.

“It is okay, father. I’ll manage just with this. Just this much is presentable enough for everyone to see. See you later, I love you!”

…

I arrived at our school at 6:40, 15 minutes ahead of what I planned. Our classroom looks normal and for a girl like me and that back seat beside the window caught my attention the most. While walking, I can see that our classroom looks empty. If not for the chairs and lockers, this would look kind of gloomy. Also, the thing that got me shocked was the clock with only dots that replaced the numbers while its hands were so thin that it can be barely seen if you don’t focus your eyes in it. How are we supposed to know what time is it if that is the clock?

I buried the thought at the back of my mind and decided to just bring myself my own watch. As I was taking a seat, I put my bag in my chair and suddenly my button was torn from my uniform. See? This is exactly why having an ample time once in a while is the best. I left my belongings in there and proceeded to the school clinic to knit my button again.

A few moments later, I was able to fix the button that was torn earlier and it was now 6:55. I noticed that our professor is now walking just behind me, meaning I am not late in the first day of our class. I began walking towards our classroom when this running man, bumped me.

I think he isn’t that late but I guess, he just wants to follow his schedule like me. Not to mention that he didn't even apologize after he bumped into me. What a weird man. But since I am a kind woman, I'll let it slide.