Post by Lluvia/Zara/Jamie/Others on Sept 7, 2022 11:50:14 GMT -8
Saturday, September 3rd, 2022
The pair got out of the car, seeing pretty much all of the family hanging about in the front yard. Marley took Samuel’s hand in hers, her nerves from earlier in the day subsiding some. She hadn’t introduced someone to her family in years, and with the way her father was being about their relationship, her mind hadn’t been very friendly to her. Of course, just as he said he would, Samuel had gotten her calmed down and had eased her nerves knowing how she could get. Of course, the way things had gone the last time he met someone in her family, not counting Zinna, her nerves and concern were somewhat warranted. She gently shook her head, trying not to think about that day, before the two made their way towards the yard.
It didn’t take long for all of her cousins to realize that the pair had arrived, and the result of their arrival was almost instantaneous. Marley ended up getting swarmed by Zara and Zinna’s brothers, Isandro being the first one to engulf her in a hug. Of course, one hug led to hugs from Zoren, Jake, Bayani, and Araw. “It’s so good to see you again, Marley!” “You too, Jake!” “We miss you at the gym, kid!” “Yeah, you need to come and kick some ass again!” Marley laughed at Zoren and Bayani, shaking them all off in order to take Samuel’s hand in hers again. While her other cousins were there as well, the green-haired woman didn’t expect much of a greeting from them…she had always been closer to Zinna, Zara, and their brothers versus the rest of them.
She glanced around for a second before she spotted Zara and Marcus with hers’ and Zara’s Aunt Diwa and Uncle Carlo, the group catching up. Her lolo (grandfather) was with some of the other cousins, talking to them about something. She spotted her parents with Zara’s parents, Zinnia with them as well. While she wanted to, she couldn’t bring herself to go over to them quite yet, so she turned to Araw with a questioning look on her face. “Do you know where lola (grandmother) is, Araw?” “I think she’s in the kitchen…you know how she is, even on her birthday.” Marley giggled and nodded before she looked up at Samuel and began leading him to the front door, heading inside when they reached it.
It barely took any time to reach the large kitchen of the house where Mutya Divata was working on food for her family. “Lola! It’s your party, we should be cooking for you!” “Didn’t want anyone in my kitchen…you’re the only grandchild welcome in it, and you know it.” Marley smiled as she slid an apron on in order to help her get things finished up so the older woman could enjoy her own celebration. Not sure if Samuel wanted to sit down or not, she pointed out some stools that were pushed in against the island that was in the room, a small smile on her face as she fell into a comfortable silence next to her grandmother. But the older woman didn’t let that silence last long.
“Ipapakilala mo ba kami, o kailanganko bang ako mismo ang gagawa? (Are you ever going to introduce us, or do I need to do it myself?)” Marley blushed at her grandmother’s words. It wasn’t that she was trying to be rude or anything…she had just fallen back into the comfortable habit of helping her lola. “Paumanhin, lola…mga dating gawi. (Sorry, grandma…old habits.)” She smiled apologetically to her grandmother before looking over at Samuel, the smile turning to a loving one rather than an apologetic one. “Samuel, this is my grandmother, Mutya Divata. Lola, this is Samuel Lopez…my boyfriend.” The matriarch of the Divata family wiped her hands on her apron and made her way over to Samuel. After wiping her own hands off, Marley joined them in order to translate, but one could call her quite surprised when her grandmother began to sign. “It’s a pleasure to finally get to meet you, Samuel. I would like to apologize for my son’s behavior a few weeks ago. Unfortunately, Danilo is not known for always having the best temper. Zara called me and told me what happened after she spoke with Marley about it.”
Marley began biting her bottom lip when the blow-up was brought up. She had been trying not to think about what had happened, in general, and with being in close proximity to her father for the first time since that day. “Uh…lola, maybe that’s not th-” When she felt Samuel squeeze her upper arm gently, she stopped and looked up at him, seeing the smile that she felt was only ever for her. The green-haired woman stepped back towards the food that had been left alone, content to watch them converse while she worked. “It is an honor to meet you, Mrs. Divata.” Samuel paused his signing to glance at her, knowing she was paying attention despite working on putting together some spring rolls. He turned his attention back to the older woman and began to sign again. “The apology is unnecessary, Mrs. Divata; I’ve forgiven him. With Marley’s help and my own research into your family’s culture, I understand why he reacted the way he did…he was looking out for his daughter. All I would like is the chance to prove to him how much I love Marley. To show him that I will do everything in my power to protect and love her.”
Marley found herself blushing deeply as she watched the conversation between the duo. She glanced down at the spring rolls that she was working on and bit her bottom lip until she heard her grandmother speak to her. “Marley, halika dito anak. (Marley, come here child.)” Wiping her hands on the apron yet again, the young woman walked away from the rolls and back to the duo of people that she deeply loved and cared about. “Oo, lola? (Yes, grandma?)” Mutya took her granddaughter’s hand in her own, smiling gently when she noticed Marley almost instantly take Samuel’s hand in her free one. “Maliit, masaya ka ba? (Little one, are you happy?)” “Oo…sobrang ganun, lola. (Yes, very much so, grandma.)” She smiled at Samuel before looking back at her grandmother. “Nararamdamanmo bang ligtas ka? (Do you feel safe?)” The green-haired woman simply nodded in response. “Mahal mo ba siya? (Do you love him?)” She nodded again as she squeezed Samuel’s hand, a smile on her face. “Higit sa anuman. Mahal ko siya sa lahat ng nasa pagkatao ko. (More than anything. I love him with everything in my being.)” Marley gently slid her hand from her grandmother’s and moved to lean against Samuel a little, her arm now wrapping around his.
“Then don’t worry about what the rest of us think. When I was raising your aunt, uncle, and father, I didn’t think about taking America’s customs into mind. That was my mistake when they were young but thankfully your aunt and your uncle didn’t become stuck in our ways and adjusted as they grew and had your cousins. Your lolo and I love that you and your cousins want to honor our traditions the way that you do, but our ways of life are not the way of now nor the way of where we live.” Her grandmother paused to look at the young couple, sending a gentle smile their way. Marley had never heard her grandmother speak that way, and she felt it tugging at her heart. “Lola…” Mutya held her hand up to stop the young woman before she really got going. “I’m not saying completely abandon what you’ve been taught while growing up, but don’t allow our strict upbringing of your father to interfere with your life. And your father will hear the same thing before it’s all over with.” “Lola…thank you, truly. I would never forget our ways; they’re too important to me for that to happen.” The green-haired woman went to her grandmother and wrapped the smaller, older woman in a close, tight hug. “Go introduce that sweet man to the rest of the family. I was almost finished here as it is…I was just waiting for you to arrive.”
After kissing her grandmother on the cheek, Marley took the apron off and folded it over the back of a chair only to send one last glance towards the elderly woman. When she was waved away, she took Samuel’s hand again. “Why don’t you give him a tour of the house first, Lele…I’ll be done shortly and will be outside with the rest of the family then. And I know you may not want to, but you really should try talking to your father today. Not attempting to resolve things won’t help anyone, after all.” Marley knew that her grandmother was telling her to wait a few minutes before going back outside, hoping that the chances of anything starting would be lessened once she was outside as well. The pair left the kitchen, and she began leading him farther into the house, spotting the various pictures of her father, aunt, and uncle when they were kids. “I was here more than I was at my actual house as a kid. Most of my time was spent in the kitchen with Lola, but this was home away from home for me. They had set up a room for Zara and me to share since we were usually here together as it was. She liked being outside with Lolo but being inside with Lola was what I preferred. Lola was always teaching me different recipes, and she even taught me how to sew and embroider a little.”
Marley abruptly stopped and bit her lip, suddenly feeling like an ass. There she was going on about things without even thinking about what she was saying/doing. The green-haired woman had tried not to ramble on about things like that to try and be considerate of what Samuel had gone through, but something about being back at her grandparents’ house just had her not thinking straight. She frowned at herself and turned around towards him, giving his hand an apologetic squeeze. Her voice was softer than before as she spoke. “I’m so sorry…here I am rambling on about this without even thinking. Maybe we should just go back outside, I’m sure Lola won’t be much lon-” She stopped when she felt Samuel kiss the top of her head but the frown didn’t leave her face as she stepped back and looked at him. She raised an eyebrow when she saw him smiling at her a little but didn’t say anything as he had started to sign. “It’s okay, Marley. I’ve come to terms with what’s appended. But don’t ever think that you can’t talk to me about childhood due to how mine was. You know how much I value the importance of family. The only thing from my past that I care about is helping Sylvia.”
Marley gave Samuel a small smile and took his hand again, giving it a little squeeze before continuing the tour. Other than her grandparents room for obvious reasons, she showed him the various rooms, blushing a little when she realized her old room was still set up from her teenage years only to blush more at him seeing the pictures of her when she was little that were still out on display. When they had reached the front of the house again, her grandmother had indeed made her way outside to join the rest of the family. Just as they stepped off of the front porch, Marley could hear Miko calling out, “Head’s up, Marley!” Now it wasn’t that the green-haired woman was incapable of catching a football, but when you’re not expecting it, you resign yourself to the probability that you’re going to be hit with what’s coming your way. When she didn’t feel any kind of impact, she opened her eyes, having not realized that she closed them in the first place, only to see that Samuel had stepped in front of her and the football had hit him instead of her.
When he turned around, the impact had caused his nose to start bleeding a little, but Samuel began to sign at Marley, “Are you okay?” She very briefly nodded before a deadly look crossed her face as she looked towards Mike and the rest of her cousins. “Shit! Talaga, Miko?! (Really, Miko?!) Damn it, y’all! Bakit kaya walang ingat?! (Why are you guys so careless?!)” Marley could hear her cousins trying to apologize, but she was having none of it. “Mamaya sisipain kita! (I’ll kick your asses later!)” She took Samuel’s hand and went back onto the porch where she blushed when passing by her grandparents because she had never spoken like that around them before. “Paumanhin sa aking wika, lola at lolo! (Sorry for my language, grandma and grandpa!)” Her grandmother gave her a smile as her grandfather gave her a little nod, and the pair continued inside.
“Balang araw masasaktan ko sila. Binabaliw nila ako. (I’m going to hurt them one day. They drive me crazy.)” She had Samuel sit down on one of the stools in the kitchen before she grabbed a dish towel and dampened it in the sink. Gingerly, she began wiping the little bit of blood from around his nose, making sure to be careful. “The bleeding was just from the impact of the football…they don’t ever throw hard enough to break anything just in case one of us would catch the football with our faces. You didn’t have to step in front of me, Samuel…it wouldn’t have been something that I hadn’t had happen before.” Samuel took the towel from Marley and placed it on the counter next to them before signing, “I’m not going to stand by and let you get hurt, Marley, even if it is by accident. I’ll be fine. I told you that I would protect you no matter what, and I meant that.” She smiled and gently kissed him before she wrapped her arms around him, the smile remaining when she felt his wrap around her in return. “Thank you.” Her voice was soft as she held onto him for a minute before ultimately breaking the embrace. She grabbed the towel, gently wiping around his nose one last time before she balled it up. “I’ll be right back, I’m going to go put this in the hamper.”
As Marley exited the kitchen, she bumped into Zara and Zinna who had impressed looks on their faces. “Lele, you’re missing it all! Lola went off on Miko and the rest of them for what happened.” “Yeah, then Uncle Danilo said something…we don’t know what, but apparently lola heard him because she’s been going off on him too.” Upon hearing that, Marley’s heart sank a little…she was surprised that her father would say something around her grandmother that would upset her in that way. “He’s not ever going to accept Samuel and I, is he, Zar?” The sisters paused once they heard the pain in their cousin’s voice and they both wrapped her in a tight hug. “Hey…Mar, everyone else seems to like him, especially after he stepped in front of you so you wouldn’t get hit. If Uncle Danilo can’t see what you two have then he’s the only one in the family and that’s on him. Lola might be able to get some sense into him, but if she can’t then maybe he’ll realize it on his own eventually. But if not then that’s his fault for missing out on his only child's happiness. You’re happy and that’s all that matters in the end.”
Marley smiled softly before she gave the two women another quick hug. “Thanks, you two…I’ve got to get this towel in the hamper. I told Samuel that I’d be right back and that was right before you two came inside.” Zinnia took the balled up towel from her younger cousin and smiled before shooing her away. “Go on…I’m headed that way as it is, so I’ll take care of it for you.” She sent Zinna a thank you smile then nodded towards Zara, who had started making her way back outside again, before she made her way back into the kitchen. “So apparently lola went on a warpath with my cousins over them acting ridiculous. I’m sure it was something to see.” She briefly bit her bottom lip as she remembered Zara and Zinna telling her that her father had said something as well but decided not to say anything about it. When he gave her a questioning look as he stood up, she shook her head a little and gave him a half-hearted smile.
“It’s nothing…something I’m going to be taking care of in a minute. But…while I do, I need you to hang, per say, with Zara. It’s something I need to handle alone.” She knew that she wasn’t being too clear with what was going on, but truthfully, she didn’t fully know how she was going to handle it. He gave her a slight nod, getting a little genuine smile out of her before they made their way back outside again. Miko was waiting for them on the porch and mumbled an apology to the pair. She squeezed her cousin’s arm then walked over to Zara and Zinna, having leaned close to them to quietly tell them what she was about to do. The sisters nodded and had Samuel join them though Marley gave his hand a gentle squeeze first.
Taking a deep breath, Marley left the little group to make her way over to her parents and grandparents, hearing her lola giving her father an earful still. “Ikaw ay tanga, Danilo, talagang tanga. Hindi mahirap makita kung ano ang nararamdaman nila sa isa’t isa! Nag-aalala ako para sa iyo. Mawawalan ka ng anak. At ito ay magiging dahil sa iyo. Ikaw lang ang nagpipilit na pumili siya. (You are being stupid, Danilo, absolutely stupid. It’s not hard to see how they feel about each other! I am worried for you. You will lose your child. And it will be because of you. You are the only one trying to force her to choose.)” At that point, Marley put her hand on her grandmother’s shoulder to stop her. “No matter what tatay does, he will never lose me, lola…not permanently at least. But I do need to talk to him…I don’t mind if y’all are around, but I do ask that you let me speak without interruptions as this is between tatay and I.” She could feel multiple sets of eyes on her, and she licked her lips before she sighed.
Marley glanced back towards her cousins, Marcus, and Samuel, feeling her boyfriend’s eyes on her. She gave him a reassuring smile then looked over at her father. “I’m hurt, tatay…by you. Mom came to see me off before we left a few weeks ago, lola and lolo have called me multiple times, even the guys have texted to check on me. I talk to Zinna on an almost daily basis, and I work weekly with Zara. But you are the only person that I haven’t heard from. After what happened at my old place, I wasn’t going to reach out to you first. You needed time.” She looked at her dad with gentle eyes though there was no mistaking the pain written in them. “I was giving you that time, that space, thinking that maybe you would come around. At this point, though, I don’t care if you do or not.” She paused again, and while she knew that everyone was trying to seem like they were busy doing their own thing but were paying attention to what was being said.
“Tatay, whether you like it or not, I’m not a little girl anymore. And I’ve changed a lot from who I was almost a year ago. Yes, Zara taking me on as her manager had a lot to do with it but meeting and being with Samuel has changed me for the better too. I was reaching out to make a new friend and ended up finding someone that I can’t see not being in my life. I wasn’t looking for love, but I found it with him…” Marley paused once more, a slight tremor in her voice but her gaze remained secured on her father. “No matter what you think, feel, or say…Samuel isn’t going anywhere. As long as he wants to be, he’s going to be in my life, so you need to get used to seeing us together. Schedules permitting, we’ll be at family events, we’re going to be around. I love you, tatay, but I love Samuel with everything in me. He loves me too, and he wants to show you how much I mean to him, but you won’t give him the opportunity to do so. But I realize that it’s your problem and loss, not anyone else’s.”
The green-haired woman was sure the entire family could hear what she was saying yet she just didn’t care…didn’t care if they could hear her and didn’t care what they thought about it. Without waiting for her father to say anything, she turned to her grandparents with a small smile on her face. “Lola, I apologize for taking away from your celebration. Today is supposed to be about you, not all of this. But I had to get off of my chest otherwise I doubt I would have at all.” Her grandmother simply smiled and nodded before she kissed the young woman’s cheek in understanding. Marley smiled at her grandfather then kissed her mother’s cheek before walking away from the group, going back over to her cousins and Samuel.
[color=37b439“You alright, kid? That was a Hell of a speech you just gave to Uncle Danilo.”[/color] Zinnia gave Marley a little nudge in the side, a prideful grin on her face. Marley looked at Samuel with a smile then looked at her cousins. “Yeah…I’m great. I said what I needed to say, and now the focus can go back to being on Lola like it should be.” Zinna nodded before going back to the conversation she had been having, or rather pretending to have, with Zara and Marcus. As she leaned her head against Samuel’s arm, she looked over her shoulder and saw her grandmother watching her with a smile of approval on her face. Returning the smile, Marley found herself laughing a little when the older woman winked at her before turning back to the others.
“I guess Uncle Danilo is ready to go after all of that.” Hearing Zara’s comment, Marley looked back towards her father again, a little surprised to see him heading towards his car. Samuel gently nudged her to get her attention. “Before he leaves, I have something to give him. I’ll be right back.” She looked at him with a questioning look but nodded. She watched him walk over to her father who looked at Samuel with leery eyes. She began chewing on her bottom lip a little when she saw Samuel hold a folded piece of paper out to her father, not surprised when Danilo didn’t take it from him at first. After a rather sharp nudge in the ribs from Sandra, Marley’s mother, her father took the paper then turned and got in the car. As her parents drove off, Samuel made his way back over to the rest of them. With her father gone, the rest of the part that the couple got to enjoy seemed to go off without a problem…though they weren’t able to stay for the entirety of it since they had a flight to Manchester to catch later in the evening.
The pair got out of the car, seeing pretty much all of the family hanging about in the front yard. Marley took Samuel’s hand in hers, her nerves from earlier in the day subsiding some. She hadn’t introduced someone to her family in years, and with the way her father was being about their relationship, her mind hadn’t been very friendly to her. Of course, just as he said he would, Samuel had gotten her calmed down and had eased her nerves knowing how she could get. Of course, the way things had gone the last time he met someone in her family, not counting Zinna, her nerves and concern were somewhat warranted. She gently shook her head, trying not to think about that day, before the two made their way towards the yard.
It didn’t take long for all of her cousins to realize that the pair had arrived, and the result of their arrival was almost instantaneous. Marley ended up getting swarmed by Zara and Zinna’s brothers, Isandro being the first one to engulf her in a hug. Of course, one hug led to hugs from Zoren, Jake, Bayani, and Araw. “It’s so good to see you again, Marley!” “You too, Jake!” “We miss you at the gym, kid!” “Yeah, you need to come and kick some ass again!” Marley laughed at Zoren and Bayani, shaking them all off in order to take Samuel’s hand in hers again. While her other cousins were there as well, the green-haired woman didn’t expect much of a greeting from them…she had always been closer to Zinna, Zara, and their brothers versus the rest of them.
She glanced around for a second before she spotted Zara and Marcus with hers’ and Zara’s Aunt Diwa and Uncle Carlo, the group catching up. Her lolo (grandfather) was with some of the other cousins, talking to them about something. She spotted her parents with Zara’s parents, Zinnia with them as well. While she wanted to, she couldn’t bring herself to go over to them quite yet, so she turned to Araw with a questioning look on her face. “Do you know where lola (grandmother) is, Araw?” “I think she’s in the kitchen…you know how she is, even on her birthday.” Marley giggled and nodded before she looked up at Samuel and began leading him to the front door, heading inside when they reached it.
It barely took any time to reach the large kitchen of the house where Mutya Divata was working on food for her family. “Lola! It’s your party, we should be cooking for you!” “Didn’t want anyone in my kitchen…you’re the only grandchild welcome in it, and you know it.” Marley smiled as she slid an apron on in order to help her get things finished up so the older woman could enjoy her own celebration. Not sure if Samuel wanted to sit down or not, she pointed out some stools that were pushed in against the island that was in the room, a small smile on her face as she fell into a comfortable silence next to her grandmother. But the older woman didn’t let that silence last long.
“Ipapakilala mo ba kami, o kailanganko bang ako mismo ang gagawa? (Are you ever going to introduce us, or do I need to do it myself?)” Marley blushed at her grandmother’s words. It wasn’t that she was trying to be rude or anything…she had just fallen back into the comfortable habit of helping her lola. “Paumanhin, lola…mga dating gawi. (Sorry, grandma…old habits.)” She smiled apologetically to her grandmother before looking over at Samuel, the smile turning to a loving one rather than an apologetic one. “Samuel, this is my grandmother, Mutya Divata. Lola, this is Samuel Lopez…my boyfriend.” The matriarch of the Divata family wiped her hands on her apron and made her way over to Samuel. After wiping her own hands off, Marley joined them in order to translate, but one could call her quite surprised when her grandmother began to sign. “It’s a pleasure to finally get to meet you, Samuel. I would like to apologize for my son’s behavior a few weeks ago. Unfortunately, Danilo is not known for always having the best temper. Zara called me and told me what happened after she spoke with Marley about it.”
Marley began biting her bottom lip when the blow-up was brought up. She had been trying not to think about what had happened, in general, and with being in close proximity to her father for the first time since that day. “Uh…lola, maybe that’s not th-” When she felt Samuel squeeze her upper arm gently, she stopped and looked up at him, seeing the smile that she felt was only ever for her. The green-haired woman stepped back towards the food that had been left alone, content to watch them converse while she worked. “It is an honor to meet you, Mrs. Divata.” Samuel paused his signing to glance at her, knowing she was paying attention despite working on putting together some spring rolls. He turned his attention back to the older woman and began to sign again. “The apology is unnecessary, Mrs. Divata; I’ve forgiven him. With Marley’s help and my own research into your family’s culture, I understand why he reacted the way he did…he was looking out for his daughter. All I would like is the chance to prove to him how much I love Marley. To show him that I will do everything in my power to protect and love her.”
Marley found herself blushing deeply as she watched the conversation between the duo. She glanced down at the spring rolls that she was working on and bit her bottom lip until she heard her grandmother speak to her. “Marley, halika dito anak. (Marley, come here child.)” Wiping her hands on the apron yet again, the young woman walked away from the rolls and back to the duo of people that she deeply loved and cared about. “Oo, lola? (Yes, grandma?)” Mutya took her granddaughter’s hand in her own, smiling gently when she noticed Marley almost instantly take Samuel’s hand in her free one. “Maliit, masaya ka ba? (Little one, are you happy?)” “Oo…sobrang ganun, lola. (Yes, very much so, grandma.)” She smiled at Samuel before looking back at her grandmother. “Nararamdamanmo bang ligtas ka? (Do you feel safe?)” The green-haired woman simply nodded in response. “Mahal mo ba siya? (Do you love him?)” She nodded again as she squeezed Samuel’s hand, a smile on her face. “Higit sa anuman. Mahal ko siya sa lahat ng nasa pagkatao ko. (More than anything. I love him with everything in my being.)” Marley gently slid her hand from her grandmother’s and moved to lean against Samuel a little, her arm now wrapping around his.
“Then don’t worry about what the rest of us think. When I was raising your aunt, uncle, and father, I didn’t think about taking America’s customs into mind. That was my mistake when they were young but thankfully your aunt and your uncle didn’t become stuck in our ways and adjusted as they grew and had your cousins. Your lolo and I love that you and your cousins want to honor our traditions the way that you do, but our ways of life are not the way of now nor the way of where we live.” Her grandmother paused to look at the young couple, sending a gentle smile their way. Marley had never heard her grandmother speak that way, and she felt it tugging at her heart. “Lola…” Mutya held her hand up to stop the young woman before she really got going. “I’m not saying completely abandon what you’ve been taught while growing up, but don’t allow our strict upbringing of your father to interfere with your life. And your father will hear the same thing before it’s all over with.” “Lola…thank you, truly. I would never forget our ways; they’re too important to me for that to happen.” The green-haired woman went to her grandmother and wrapped the smaller, older woman in a close, tight hug. “Go introduce that sweet man to the rest of the family. I was almost finished here as it is…I was just waiting for you to arrive.”
After kissing her grandmother on the cheek, Marley took the apron off and folded it over the back of a chair only to send one last glance towards the elderly woman. When she was waved away, she took Samuel’s hand again. “Why don’t you give him a tour of the house first, Lele…I’ll be done shortly and will be outside with the rest of the family then. And I know you may not want to, but you really should try talking to your father today. Not attempting to resolve things won’t help anyone, after all.” Marley knew that her grandmother was telling her to wait a few minutes before going back outside, hoping that the chances of anything starting would be lessened once she was outside as well. The pair left the kitchen, and she began leading him farther into the house, spotting the various pictures of her father, aunt, and uncle when they were kids. “I was here more than I was at my actual house as a kid. Most of my time was spent in the kitchen with Lola, but this was home away from home for me. They had set up a room for Zara and me to share since we were usually here together as it was. She liked being outside with Lolo but being inside with Lola was what I preferred. Lola was always teaching me different recipes, and she even taught me how to sew and embroider a little.”
Marley abruptly stopped and bit her lip, suddenly feeling like an ass. There she was going on about things without even thinking about what she was saying/doing. The green-haired woman had tried not to ramble on about things like that to try and be considerate of what Samuel had gone through, but something about being back at her grandparents’ house just had her not thinking straight. She frowned at herself and turned around towards him, giving his hand an apologetic squeeze. Her voice was softer than before as she spoke. “I’m so sorry…here I am rambling on about this without even thinking. Maybe we should just go back outside, I’m sure Lola won’t be much lon-” She stopped when she felt Samuel kiss the top of her head but the frown didn’t leave her face as she stepped back and looked at him. She raised an eyebrow when she saw him smiling at her a little but didn’t say anything as he had started to sign. “It’s okay, Marley. I’ve come to terms with what’s appended. But don’t ever think that you can’t talk to me about childhood due to how mine was. You know how much I value the importance of family. The only thing from my past that I care about is helping Sylvia.”
Marley gave Samuel a small smile and took his hand again, giving it a little squeeze before continuing the tour. Other than her grandparents room for obvious reasons, she showed him the various rooms, blushing a little when she realized her old room was still set up from her teenage years only to blush more at him seeing the pictures of her when she was little that were still out on display. When they had reached the front of the house again, her grandmother had indeed made her way outside to join the rest of the family. Just as they stepped off of the front porch, Marley could hear Miko calling out, “Head’s up, Marley!” Now it wasn’t that the green-haired woman was incapable of catching a football, but when you’re not expecting it, you resign yourself to the probability that you’re going to be hit with what’s coming your way. When she didn’t feel any kind of impact, she opened her eyes, having not realized that she closed them in the first place, only to see that Samuel had stepped in front of her and the football had hit him instead of her.
When he turned around, the impact had caused his nose to start bleeding a little, but Samuel began to sign at Marley, “Are you okay?” She very briefly nodded before a deadly look crossed her face as she looked towards Mike and the rest of her cousins. “Shit! Talaga, Miko?! (Really, Miko?!) Damn it, y’all! Bakit kaya walang ingat?! (Why are you guys so careless?!)” Marley could hear her cousins trying to apologize, but she was having none of it. “Mamaya sisipain kita! (I’ll kick your asses later!)” She took Samuel’s hand and went back onto the porch where she blushed when passing by her grandparents because she had never spoken like that around them before. “Paumanhin sa aking wika, lola at lolo! (Sorry for my language, grandma and grandpa!)” Her grandmother gave her a smile as her grandfather gave her a little nod, and the pair continued inside.
“Balang araw masasaktan ko sila. Binabaliw nila ako. (I’m going to hurt them one day. They drive me crazy.)” She had Samuel sit down on one of the stools in the kitchen before she grabbed a dish towel and dampened it in the sink. Gingerly, she began wiping the little bit of blood from around his nose, making sure to be careful. “The bleeding was just from the impact of the football…they don’t ever throw hard enough to break anything just in case one of us would catch the football with our faces. You didn’t have to step in front of me, Samuel…it wouldn’t have been something that I hadn’t had happen before.” Samuel took the towel from Marley and placed it on the counter next to them before signing, “I’m not going to stand by and let you get hurt, Marley, even if it is by accident. I’ll be fine. I told you that I would protect you no matter what, and I meant that.” She smiled and gently kissed him before she wrapped her arms around him, the smile remaining when she felt his wrap around her in return. “Thank you.” Her voice was soft as she held onto him for a minute before ultimately breaking the embrace. She grabbed the towel, gently wiping around his nose one last time before she balled it up. “I’ll be right back, I’m going to go put this in the hamper.”
As Marley exited the kitchen, she bumped into Zara and Zinna who had impressed looks on their faces. “Lele, you’re missing it all! Lola went off on Miko and the rest of them for what happened.” “Yeah, then Uncle Danilo said something…we don’t know what, but apparently lola heard him because she’s been going off on him too.” Upon hearing that, Marley’s heart sank a little…she was surprised that her father would say something around her grandmother that would upset her in that way. “He’s not ever going to accept Samuel and I, is he, Zar?” The sisters paused once they heard the pain in their cousin’s voice and they both wrapped her in a tight hug. “Hey…Mar, everyone else seems to like him, especially after he stepped in front of you so you wouldn’t get hit. If Uncle Danilo can’t see what you two have then he’s the only one in the family and that’s on him. Lola might be able to get some sense into him, but if she can’t then maybe he’ll realize it on his own eventually. But if not then that’s his fault for missing out on his only child's happiness. You’re happy and that’s all that matters in the end.”
Marley smiled softly before she gave the two women another quick hug. “Thanks, you two…I’ve got to get this towel in the hamper. I told Samuel that I’d be right back and that was right before you two came inside.” Zinnia took the balled up towel from her younger cousin and smiled before shooing her away. “Go on…I’m headed that way as it is, so I’ll take care of it for you.” She sent Zinna a thank you smile then nodded towards Zara, who had started making her way back outside again, before she made her way back into the kitchen. “So apparently lola went on a warpath with my cousins over them acting ridiculous. I’m sure it was something to see.” She briefly bit her bottom lip as she remembered Zara and Zinna telling her that her father had said something as well but decided not to say anything about it. When he gave her a questioning look as he stood up, she shook her head a little and gave him a half-hearted smile.
“It’s nothing…something I’m going to be taking care of in a minute. But…while I do, I need you to hang, per say, with Zara. It’s something I need to handle alone.” She knew that she wasn’t being too clear with what was going on, but truthfully, she didn’t fully know how she was going to handle it. He gave her a slight nod, getting a little genuine smile out of her before they made their way back outside again. Miko was waiting for them on the porch and mumbled an apology to the pair. She squeezed her cousin’s arm then walked over to Zara and Zinna, having leaned close to them to quietly tell them what she was about to do. The sisters nodded and had Samuel join them though Marley gave his hand a gentle squeeze first.
Taking a deep breath, Marley left the little group to make her way over to her parents and grandparents, hearing her lola giving her father an earful still. “Ikaw ay tanga, Danilo, talagang tanga. Hindi mahirap makita kung ano ang nararamdaman nila sa isa’t isa! Nag-aalala ako para sa iyo. Mawawalan ka ng anak. At ito ay magiging dahil sa iyo. Ikaw lang ang nagpipilit na pumili siya. (You are being stupid, Danilo, absolutely stupid. It’s not hard to see how they feel about each other! I am worried for you. You will lose your child. And it will be because of you. You are the only one trying to force her to choose.)” At that point, Marley put her hand on her grandmother’s shoulder to stop her. “No matter what tatay does, he will never lose me, lola…not permanently at least. But I do need to talk to him…I don’t mind if y’all are around, but I do ask that you let me speak without interruptions as this is between tatay and I.” She could feel multiple sets of eyes on her, and she licked her lips before she sighed.
Marley glanced back towards her cousins, Marcus, and Samuel, feeling her boyfriend’s eyes on her. She gave him a reassuring smile then looked over at her father. “I’m hurt, tatay…by you. Mom came to see me off before we left a few weeks ago, lola and lolo have called me multiple times, even the guys have texted to check on me. I talk to Zinna on an almost daily basis, and I work weekly with Zara. But you are the only person that I haven’t heard from. After what happened at my old place, I wasn’t going to reach out to you first. You needed time.” She looked at her dad with gentle eyes though there was no mistaking the pain written in them. “I was giving you that time, that space, thinking that maybe you would come around. At this point, though, I don’t care if you do or not.” She paused again, and while she knew that everyone was trying to seem like they were busy doing their own thing but were paying attention to what was being said.
“Tatay, whether you like it or not, I’m not a little girl anymore. And I’ve changed a lot from who I was almost a year ago. Yes, Zara taking me on as her manager had a lot to do with it but meeting and being with Samuel has changed me for the better too. I was reaching out to make a new friend and ended up finding someone that I can’t see not being in my life. I wasn’t looking for love, but I found it with him…” Marley paused once more, a slight tremor in her voice but her gaze remained secured on her father. “No matter what you think, feel, or say…Samuel isn’t going anywhere. As long as he wants to be, he’s going to be in my life, so you need to get used to seeing us together. Schedules permitting, we’ll be at family events, we’re going to be around. I love you, tatay, but I love Samuel with everything in me. He loves me too, and he wants to show you how much I mean to him, but you won’t give him the opportunity to do so. But I realize that it’s your problem and loss, not anyone else’s.”
The green-haired woman was sure the entire family could hear what she was saying yet she just didn’t care…didn’t care if they could hear her and didn’t care what they thought about it. Without waiting for her father to say anything, she turned to her grandparents with a small smile on her face. “Lola, I apologize for taking away from your celebration. Today is supposed to be about you, not all of this. But I had to get off of my chest otherwise I doubt I would have at all.” Her grandmother simply smiled and nodded before she kissed the young woman’s cheek in understanding. Marley smiled at her grandfather then kissed her mother’s cheek before walking away from the group, going back over to her cousins and Samuel.
[color=37b439“You alright, kid? That was a Hell of a speech you just gave to Uncle Danilo.”[/color] Zinnia gave Marley a little nudge in the side, a prideful grin on her face. Marley looked at Samuel with a smile then looked at her cousins. “Yeah…I’m great. I said what I needed to say, and now the focus can go back to being on Lola like it should be.” Zinna nodded before going back to the conversation she had been having, or rather pretending to have, with Zara and Marcus. As she leaned her head against Samuel’s arm, she looked over her shoulder and saw her grandmother watching her with a smile of approval on her face. Returning the smile, Marley found herself laughing a little when the older woman winked at her before turning back to the others.
“I guess Uncle Danilo is ready to go after all of that.” Hearing Zara’s comment, Marley looked back towards her father again, a little surprised to see him heading towards his car. Samuel gently nudged her to get her attention. “Before he leaves, I have something to give him. I’ll be right back.” She looked at him with a questioning look but nodded. She watched him walk over to her father who looked at Samuel with leery eyes. She began chewing on her bottom lip a little when she saw Samuel hold a folded piece of paper out to her father, not surprised when Danilo didn’t take it from him at first. After a rather sharp nudge in the ribs from Sandra, Marley’s mother, her father took the paper then turned and got in the car. As her parents drove off, Samuel made his way back over to the rest of them. With her father gone, the rest of the part that the couple got to enjoy seemed to go off without a problem…though they weren’t able to stay for the entirety of it since they had a flight to Manchester to catch later in the evening.
