Chapter XXVIII: Care
The days at Bayubay Sur go on with a quiet rhythm, though not without change. Meric and Mark always keep to their usual routines, but time feels more limited now. Ben is no longer here. His absence lingers in the air like a missing chair at the table, a pair of slippers not by the door, a silence in the mornings when he used to prepare the motorbike to take Mark to school.
Mark is now in third grade at Hermosa Central School, still enrolled there despite the distance. Before, it was always his father, Ben, who would bring him there each morning—half awake, his school bag bouncing on his back, and Ben humming an old tune on the ride. Now, with Ben working abroad, mornings are different.
Meric must hail a tricycle, calling out, "Ay, Manong, Central po!" and the tricyc
