Chapter 26
"Bruno, wake up!" Alegria said as she wore her clothes. "Wha.. What? What is it?" Bruno said, rubbing his eyes. "Get dressed. Grandpa might wake up in a few minutes." Alegria said as she went outside Bruno's room. Bruno got dressed immediately and went out of the room. He saw Alegria's grandfather walking towards him. "Good morning, child. Did you have a good sleep?" He smiled. 'Oh, yes I did..' Bruno said to himself, smiling. "Yes, grandpa." "Oh hi, grandpa. Good morning!" Alegria said as she went out of her room. She pretended that she just woke up. "Good morning. Child, please cook omelets for breakfast. Your grandma is still sleeping, so you're in charge of the breakfast." Alegria's grandfather said. "Yes, grandpa. Do you want me to prepare coffee for you?" "Yes please." Alegria went straight to the kitchen and started cooking breakfast. After a few minutes, her grandmother woke up and helped in preparing the table. "Breakfast is ready." Alegria said as she put the omelets on the table. "Itadakimasu!" They ate the omelets. They talked about the marriage, and babies, and a lot more. Then they finished eating and Alegria's grandmother cleaned the table. Alegria brushed her teeth and Bruno followed. Alegria went to her room and changed her clothes. She wore the same dress that she wore last night. Bruno did the same.
While Alegria was changing her clothes, her grandmother came to her room. "Alegria, dear.."
"Yes, oba-chan?" Alegria asked.
"I have something to give you, child." Alegria's grandmother smiled at her.
Alegria's grandmother sat on the bed. "Come sit beside me." She said, smiling.
"What is it, oba-chan?" Alegria said. She was excited to know what her grandmother would give her.
Alegria's grandmother opened her palm. On her palm was two silver necklaces. One had a moon pendant on it and the other one was a sun. "Child, Bruno and you, you will serve as the sun and the moon in your family. Bruno, as the sun, he will give light and clear up the darkness in the family. You, as the moon, you will protect and give light that will guide the stars as they grow up. The moon and the sun, although different from each other, should work together to guide people from darkness. Alegria, these necklaces has been passed on to generation after generation, and now, I am giving these necklaces to you and Bruno." Alegria's grandmother took Alegria's hand and put the necklaces in her palm.
"Oba-chan.. Wow.. The necklaces are beautiful.. Thank you so much, Oba-chan!" Alegria said as she hugged her grandmother.
"You are always welcome, dear. Remember, you two should help each other on guiding the stars. Make good decisions and think about what's best for you and Bruno, and also for your children." Alegria's grandmother said.
"Aww.. Oba-chan.. You make me cry.." Alegria said as her eyes started to turn red.
"Ahh.. Yesterday, you were just an obedient and sweet little girl, playing and singing and dancing like there was no tomorrow. But look at you now.. All grown up as a pretty woman and about to marry a good man." Alegria's grandmother said as she stroked Alegria's hair.
"I promise oba-chan, when we get married, I'll visit you and oji-chan more often." Alegria said as she smiled.
"You know you don't have to. You just have to think that we're always here for you, no matter what." Alegria's grandmother said.
Her grandfather suddenly entered Alegria's room. "Did you already give her the necklaces?" He asked.
"Yes, I did." Alegria's grandmother answered.
"You give the other one to Bruno later."
"Yes, oji-chan."
"Alegria, you ready?" Bruno said as he peeked at the door.
"Yeah. Oba-chan, Oji-chan, we'll be going now." Alegria spoke in nihongo. "Aren't you two going to take a bath?" Alegria's grandmother asked. "No, we're good. We can take a bath when we get home." Alegria said. "Be safe, you two." Alegria's grandfather said. "Yes, grandpa." Bruno answered as he bowed with Alegria. Bruno wore his shades and walked outside with Alegria. He opened the car door for Alegria and went inside the car and drove it. "Alegria, your grandfather told me that you were obedient. Well, based on what you did last night, I guess he's wrong." Bruno grinned.
Alegria laughed. "I guess I'm one naughty grand-daughter."
"I heard your grandfather say that you have to give me something. What was that?" Bruno asked.
"Grandma and grandpa gave us necklaces. Well... I'll show them to you later." Alegria grinned.
"Naww, show them to me now." Bruno said, he was curious. Bruno suddenly felt his cellphone vibrate. Someone was calling. "Hello?"
Alegria just looked at Bruno as he spoke. She was guessing something important came, looking at Bruno's facial expression.
"Okay, bye." Bruno said as he hung up. "Alex.. Uhm... Derek just called and he told me that I had to go to the studio.. Now. Will it be okay if I just drop you on a nearby bus stop?" Bruno asked.
"Yeah, of course. Oh, there's one. You can drop me there." Alegria pointed to the bus stop.
"I'm really sorry, but it's important.. I promise I'll come back later at night." Bruno said as he stopped the car.
"No, I understand. I have to. If I'm going to marry Bruno Mars, I should be an understanding wife." Alegria said as she took her bag. "See you later then." Alegria kissed Bruno's cheeks and went out of the car.
"Take care, Alex." Bruno said, smiling.
"You too. Bye." Alegria closed the door and walked towards the bus stop. She waved goodbye as Bruno drove the car away.
A bus came and she boarded. She sat down and looked at the window. She sighed. 'I have to understand him.' She realized the sad part of marrying Bruno. She would be left alone most of the times. She kept thinking about it, that she didn't notice she was already home. She looked around. Calyx wasn't home yet. She smiled. 'Something happened..' She took her towel and went straight to the bathroom. She brushed her teeth, took a shower and went upstairs to get changed. She took a white shirt and a jean shorts. She wore her green espadrilles. She dried her hair and tied the half of it to a high side ponytail and she curled the ends of her hair. She put light make up and saw the necklaces and smiled. She wore the moon necklace and went downstairs.
"Ca--" She forgot. Calyx wasn't still home. She sighed. She felt empty and lonely. She sat on the couch and watched TV. Then she looked at the clock. It was already 11:46am. She didn't notice. She felt hungry, so she went to the kitchen and opened the fridge. Cookies. She took the bowl of cookies and ate it while she watched TV. She watch movies, then she watched Animal Planet, MTV, Bio, Discovery Channel, Nat Geo. She looked at the time. 05:51pm. 'Ughh.. I'm bored.' She decided to go to the coffee shop to kill time. She ordered a cup of coffee and drank it. Suddenly, a man came to her.
"Uhm.. Hi.. Can I sit with you?" He asked. He looked nice, so Alegria said yes.
"The coffee here is nice.." The man said as he looked at Alegria.
Alegria smiled. "Yeah.."
A moment of silence.
Then the man asked her again. "Uhm, have we met before? Your face looks familiar."
Alegria looked at the man's face. 'Wait a second..' She thought hard. "Gabby?!" Alegria shouted. Her voice was so loud that the other customers looked at her and laughed. "I guess I said that too loud.." Alegria chuckled.
"I thought you would never recognize me." Gabby grinned at Alegria.
"Wow, you haven't changed a bit! Why are you here?! Do you live near here?? Oh, Gabby, I missed you!"
"It's been.. wait.. almost twenty years, right?"
"Oh gosh, I haven't seen you ever since we left! So, what brings you here?" Alegria asked, her eyes sparkling. She haven't seen her childhood friend since they left Philippines. She missed him so much.
"Uhm.. I'm here to find someone."
"Oh.. Well, I live here and I can help you find him. Who is he?"
"Well.. It's okay. He uh.. gave me his address."
"Ohh, okay. So, how are you? Uncle Sam and Aunt Kelly, how are they? I missed Aunt kelly's choco chip cookies!" Alegria giggled.
"I'm good, mom and dad are still in the Philippines. They're doing great. How about you and Calyx, and your grandparents too? How are they?" Gabby stared at Alegria as she talked. He can't believe he saw his childhood friend after so many years. And Alegria was even more beautiful now. He wasn't listening to Alegria, he was too distracted by her beauty.
"So, do you have a girlfriend, kids, or a wife?" Alegria asked.
"Well.. I don't.. I think it's still not the right time to get married." Gabby said.
"Ohh.. So you don't like having commitments?" Alegria asked.
"No, no.. I just feel that I haven't accomplished all of my goals yet, so I shouldn't be committed yet.. How about you, do you have a boyfriend?" Gabby asked.
"Well.. Yeah.. And we're getting married." Alegria grinned as she showed her engagement ring.
"Wow, that's cool! So, when's the wedding day?" Gabby asked.
"Well, we still haven't decided about that yet. But don't worry, I'll inform you once it's decided. And you're invited! Ohhh, I can't wait to tell Calyx about you!" Alegria said.
Gabby smiled back. His long-lost friend is getting married. He can't believe it. "So, who's the lucky guy?"
Alegria froze. 'Oh shit.' Alegria said to herself. "Uhm.. You know.. It's hard to explain, but you'll get to meet him one day. That's for sure." Alegria said as she smiled at Gabby."You know, you should get married now, too. You're not that young anymore, you know." Alegria said.
"Well.. Marriage can wait. And besides, I'm not yet ready. So, yeah. It's okay. I'm good." Gabby said.
Alegria smiled at Gabby as she drank her coffee. She looked at the clock on the coffee shop. It was already 8:39. 'Wow, time flew fast.' Alegria said to herself. Then she saw a red car outside the coffee shop. 'Bruno?' She looked at gabby. "Uhm, Gabby, I really wanna talk to you about a lot more stuffs, but I have to go." Alegria said as she stood up.
Gabby looked at the red car. "Oh.. I see." Then he turned to face Alegria. "Bye Alex. See you soon." Gabby smiled at Alegria.
Alegria waved good bye as she walked out of the coffee shop. Then she went straight to the red car. The car window opened. It was really Bruno.
"Get in." Bruno said. He looked angry. Alegria followed and went inside. Bruno closed the car window. "Who was that?" Bruno said as he drove his car towards Alegria's house.
"Ohh.. That? That was my childhood friend, Gabby. I haven't seen him for years, and we had a little bit of chat while we drank coffee." Alegria explained.
Bruno's ears rang like a bell when he heard the words 'childhood friend.' He was jealous. "I've been gone for just a few hours and now you're happily flirting with some stranger?!" Bruno said, almost shouting.
"He's not a stranger. He's my friend. I didn't meet him intentionally! I was alone at the house and I got bored so I went to the coffee shop and he recognized me and we talked, that's it. What do you expect me to do while you're gone?! Sit idly, and wait for nothing?!" Alegria shouted. Now she was angry.
Bruno stopped the car in front of Alegria's house. "Yes, you should have just waited for me at the house! And what's up with you wearing that jean shorts? You wanna look sexy in front of your 'CHILDHOOD FRIEND'?!" Bruno shouted.
"Bruno, I told you, I didn't meet him intentionally! I just felt like wearing this today! What are you so angry about?!" Alegria yelled at Bruno. Bruno just kept silent. He didn't wanna answer Alegria. Alegria then calmed down. "Ohh.. I get it, you're jealous." Alegria smiled.
"No I'm not!" Bruno denied.
"You're jealous, jealous jealous." Alegria said as she tickled Bruno.
"Stop it." Bruno said. He started to calm down.
Alegria stopped tickling him and sighed. "Bruno, don't you get it? You're the superstar here, and I'm the one who should get jealous whenever there's a female singer that you have to work with or whenever a beautiful fan flirts with you. He was just a friend, Bruno. Don't worry." Alegria explained.
"But he's your first kiss." Bruno said as he looked into Alegria's eyes.
Alegria's jaws dropped, her eyes widened. Then she laughed. "So this is what it is all about? My first kiss?" Alegria said, still laughing.
Bruno got embarrassed. He realized he got jealous over such a small thing.
"Grandpa told you that, right?" Alegria said, smiling.
Bruno just nodded. He didn't wanna talk anymore. He felt... immature.
"Bruno, we were still young back then, still innocent. You shouldn't be jealous about that. It was just a peck on the lips. A good bye kiss, nothing more." Alegria explained.
"A good bye kiss? Why should it be on the lips? It should be on the cheeks or forehead.. Not on the lips! He just likes you, that's why he did that!" Bruno said.
Alegria tried to stop her laugh. Then she breathed in, and breathed out. "Bruno, he doesn't like me. And neither do I. We're just friends." Alegria said as she caressed Bruno's cheeks.
"But.. The way he looks at you.. It's.. Weird." Bruno said. He knows how a man looks at the woman she loves.
Alegria shook her head and giggled. "Bruno, we haven't seen each other for years! Of course he would look at me in a weird manner. I've changed, so he must have been just curious about me." Alegria said. He looked straight into Bruno's eyes kissed his cheek. "You shouldn't worry about him. He's just a friend. A friend. No need to worry about." Alegria stroked Bruno's curly hair.
Bruno smiled and kissed Alegria's lips. "I love you."
"I know." Alegria smiled as she opened the car door. "Let's get in. I have something to show you."
Bruno followed and walked inside Alegria's house.
"You know, it's a good thing that my neighbors doesn't recognize you. Well.. maybe it's because they're not really that mindful about others. We rarely talk to each other." Alegria said as she walked upstairs. Bruno followed.
"Yeah, I've noticed that too. They don't usually check out on us. They haven't found out about me yet." Bruno said, smiling. He sat down on Alegria's bed. "So, what is it that you wanna show me?"
Alegria took the necklace that her grandparents gave her and sat beside Bruno. "This." She said as she showed the necklace to Bruno.
"This looks great.. Where'd you get this?" Bruno said as he took the necklace and wore it.
"Grandma and grandpa gave it to me. And look, I have one too." Alegria said as she held the pendant of her necklace.
"Yours is moon. Mine is sun. Nice..." Bruno said.
"Grandma said that this was passed on from generation to generation. So you should take good care of it." Alegria said as she pinched Bruno's nose.
"Of course I will." Bruno pinched Alegria's cheeks.
"You should be the sun that gives light and clears the darkness in our family. And I, the moon, should give light as guidance to our children, the stars. That's what grandma said." Alegria said as she stroked Bruno's curls. Bruno smiled at Alegria. "The sun and the moon. They're different from each other.. But they have one thing in common. They give light and guides us through the dark. I hope we could be like that to our kids." Alegria said as she looked into Bruno's eyes.
Bruno became serious and looked into Alegria's eyes. He caressed her cheek and kissed her on the lips. Alegria wrapped her arms around Bruno and kissed him back. Bruno laid Alegria on the bed and he started to take of his shirt, but Alegria stopped him.
"No, no. Not here.." Alegria said as she stood up and fixed her hair.
"What? Why not?" Bruno asked as she grabbed Alegria closer to him and kissed her neck.
Alegria chuckled. "We just did it last night. And now you wanna do it again?" Alegria said as she turned to face Bruno.
"I can make love to you over and over again, and I won't get tired." Bruno said as he slid his hand into Alegria's shirt. But Alegria took Bruno's hands off and stood up.
"You know, I'm hungry. Let's eat." Alegria said as she walked towards the door.
Bruno pulled Alegria and spun her around. Then he laid Alegria on the bed. "I'm hungry too. And I wanna eat you." Bruno said as he took his clothes shirt.
"Bruno.." Alegria said as she shook her head and sat down. She sighed and smiled. "Okay, give me three reasons why you wanna have sex with me right now." Alegria said as she crossed her arms and raised her eyebrow.
"Well, the first reason would be because I love you." Bruno said as he crawled towards Alegria. "The second reason is I am going to marry you and the third reason is.. I want to make lots of kids." Bruno smiled as he kissed Alegria's neck.
"Oh you horny little brat." Alegria said as she pushed Bruno and smiled. "I'm gonna cook something, and I'm hungry. I wanna eat." Alegria said as she got up and went outside her room.
Bruno scratched his head as he smiled. He took his shirt and wore it again. 'She's playing hard to get..' Bruno followed downstairs and went to the kitchen. "So, what are you gonna cook for me, Mrs. Hernandez?"
"Hmmm.. I don't know. Maybe adobo." Alegria said, smiling.
"But you're allergic to chicken, right?" Bruno said as she grabbed Alegria's waist.
"Well, yeah. But I want you to taste my special chicken adobo. I'll just cook an omelet or miso soup for me." Alegria said.
"But I don't wanna eat adobo.. I wanna eat you.." Bruno said as he kissed Alegria's neck.
The door suddenly opened. And it was Calyx. Alegria pushed Bruno away and coughed. "Uhm.. Calyx.. How was your date with Danielle?" Alegria smiled at Calyx.
Calyx grinned. "It was.. Great." Calyx went to his room. "Alex, I'm not gonna eat dinner. I'll just.. Sleep. Night guys." Calyx said as he went to his room.
"I bet he really had a good time." Bruno said as he smiled at Alegria. Bruno's phone vibrated again, and it was another call.
"Hello?" Bruno went silent for a while. He sighed. "Alright, I'll be there. Bye." Bruno hung up. He faced Alegria. "Alex, I have to go. Something came up again.."
"It's okay. You can go." Alegria smiled.
"You're not angry?"
"Of course not. Why would I be angry?"
"'Cause I'm gonna leave you again.." Bruno pulled Alegria closer.
"It's okay. I understand. You should go now." Alegria said as she caressed Bruno's cheek.
Bruno sighed. "I love you." He kissed Alegria's lips and walked out of the door.
"I love you too. Drive safe." Alegria said as she watched Bruno from the window. She has now accepted everything. That everyday has to be like this, her being left alone in the house and Bruno being busy and all that stuff. She's worried about their future. 'What if their marriage didn't work out? What will happen if we had kids? What would I do if he cheats on me again? It's.. hard..' She said to herself. She sighed and continued cooking. This wasn't going to be easy for her and Bruno. But she has to accept everything, she has to be strong.
-----------------------------------------
"You came." Chanel said as she smiled at Bruno.
"What is it this time? I've already given you all the time today." Bruno said, he looked serious. He had to lie to Alegria to meet Chanel.
"Bruno, listen. I don't want to terrorize you or something. I was just here to tell you that a friend of mine called. He said he had already met his long-lost childhood friend. And guess who his friend was? It's Alegria." Chanel smiled sarcastically.
Bruno's jaws dropped. He didn't think it would be such a small world for all of them.
"Surprised? Well, I am too. He said he's been trying to find her for years. And yeah, he found her today. He was planning to say that he loves her, but then she told him she was going to get married."
"H-how'd you know about him?"
"Well, he's my Greg's co-worker and friend. We stayed in touch with each other even after I broke up with Greg because of you. And you dumped me after using me." Chanel said as she raised her voice. "Well, he said he's planning to steal your fiance, so you just better guard your girl if you don't want to lose her.
Bruno got infuriated that he left Chanel and drove home. Chanel tried to call him, but he didn't pick up. He didn't wanna think about it anymore. He got lots of things to worry about. The wedding, his job, and Alegria. He was worried that Alegria might find out that he left her to meet Chanel. He shook his head. 'Why did I even agree to meet Chanel?' Bruno smacked his head. 'I hate myself.'