Scars

Hardship to Courtship

Since Robert lost his job, he has been very quiet. Sometimes he is in the garden and planting vegetables that he feeds for his family. Even though Sharon, his mother, earns from the rent, it is still not enough for them. " Vegetable soup again.." Carmela whined. "Isn't there anything else we can eat aside from this" added Robert's wife. When Carmela gets angry, Robert doesn't even say a word. She is fed up with his wife's moans and complaints. He glanced at his children, they were eating well. Robert was very grateful because his children were not picky about food unlike their mother.

"I'm going to look for a job" Robert said goodbye to Carmela while he was getting dressed. "Where are you going?" said Carmela , he answered. "Anywhere!". Robert said indifferently. He is tired of arguing with his wife. He needs to do something because his children are growing up. School expenses are also increasing. He even feels sorry for them sometimes because they only eat twice a day to save money.

Robert worked to a construction site owned by Carmela's relative. He earns just enough for their children's daily food. " Your daughter Romela is about to enroll in high school, she said she has to pay for the entrance exam" said Carmela. "I'll find a way, I'll talk to our boss later" answered Robert. A day passed and Robert's boss didn't come to work. When Robert got home, his wife immediately asked him if he was able to ask for money to his boss. Robert just shook his head and said, "I'll just borrow from Mom". "You're borrowing again!, we just borrowed from her last week!" Carmela said angrily. "What kind of life is this, maybe if my parents were still alive I wouldn't be living like this!".

Because Romela grew up smart, she was always noticed in class. She walks more than 2 kilometers to school every day. Because her classmates see that Romela sometimes doesn't have a money for food, they give her some snacks. She was friendly and reliable. Romela had a sudden exam that day. They had to buy a booklet to answer, because it was so expensive Romela couldn't take the exam. Conversation in the class was forbidden during exams so Romela could not borrow money from her friends. Romela just left the classroom and went to a corner of the school where she cried. "It's very difficult to be poor" she said. While she was going home, her tears continued to fall. Her friends immediately comforted her and told her to that there will be other exams so she better stop crying. When she arrived at their house, Robert immediately noticed his daughter's swollen eyes. " What happened to you and why do you seem to be crying ?" Romela immediately replied, "I didn't take the exam earlier because I didn't have a booklet to use for the exam." This was followed by repeated sobs.

"Do you want to stop studying? Are you giving up?" asked Robert. "Just stop studying and work as a dishwasher at your aunt's restaurant!" Carmela interrupted. "No, I will not give up.. I will finish my studies, that's a promise!" Romela said firmly. Romela was enthusiastic about studying. She was strategic. She works for her aunt as a dishwasher every weekend. Sometimes she helps their neighbor to sell vegetables in exchange for a small amount that she can use in school. Romela did not give up despite of all the challenges in life.

A few years later Robert decided to go abroad. He will work for a Petroleum Corporation in Saudi Arabia. Since then, little by little, Romela's family has been able to get out of poverty. They were able to pay their debts. Because of that they decided to move to a separate house. Even though their grandmother was sad when they left, she still let them go. They were told to visit their grandmother often.

Romela's family moved to a duplex house in a nice subdivision. Their house has two rooms. In one room she and her sister were together, in another room was her mother's . Romela had to transferred to a school near the house they moved to. Their new neighbors were kind and immediately became friends with her mother, Carmela. They always talks outside with other neighbors. On the first day of Romela's new school,she then needs to adjust when it comes to teachers and schoolmates. When she entered the classroom, her classmates immediately looked at each other. They said "She looks like a transferee..". Since it was the first day of Romela, her teacher ordered her to introduce herself to the class. She introduced herself very well and there was someone who couldn't take his eyes off of her, it was James. James is a known heartthrob in their school because of his good looks. His girlfriend who is also their classmate is also known for her not so good attitude. When Romela sat down, the person next to her, Bea, immediately spoke to her. “Hi! My name is Bea, nice to meet you! You know we can be friends because we were both beautiful!” she said jokingly.

She immediately got along with Bea because she was kind to her. Some students also approach Romela to make friends, one of them is James' best friend, Wendell. Coincidentally, they always end up seating next to each other in the seating arrangements for each subject because their names are next to each other in the alphabetical record. Wendell became close to Romela, so Wendell introduced her to his friends, including James. Romela knows that James has a girlfriend so she rarely talks to him even though he shows interest in her. Wendell and Romela's friendship deepened, for Romela she just had a close male friend. But for Wendell, he likes Romela and he has plan to say that he wants to court her.

It was Valentine's Day, they were assigned to make a Valentines Card for their loved ones. Romela and Wendell were making cards when Romela thought of putting glue on her hand while saying “ Hi! Wendell, nice to meet you!” reaching out to Wendell to shake his hand. Wendell immediately gave his hand and their palms touched. Romela held him tightly and laughed "Let's see if our hands will stick together" she said laughing. For Romela it was just fun but for Wendell it seemed like a thrilling moment of his life because he held the hand of his crush. The two held hands for five minutes. In a corner James can be seen looking at Romela and his best friend Wendell.