Midnight Memories

Blanket Kick

Love is gradual and unhurried.

〰️

I TRIED TO refrain myself from laughing too much when my cousin Chloe scored a quadruple bogey for the sixth time today. She also had 2 triple bogeys before this as well as a double bogey.

In all honesty, her gameplay wasn't all that bad-- if she were a beginner. Kaso nga lang, we've trained years for this, yet she still hasn't improved.

The Imperial cousins are playing golf today at the exclusive Montecristo Country Club and everyone was trying not to stifle a laugh or two because of Chloe's disappointing performance. She's usually not like this kasi nakaka-score naman sya ng par most of the time, and that is when she's in her best shape, pero ngayon, her stats are just in such a bad shape.

"Nice game, Chloe!" I tried to cheer on but I guess she heard the sarcasm underneath my mirth because she just squinted her eyes at me, looking so infuriated with the outcome of her game.

I've scored a birdie, 4 bogeys, 2 double bogeys and 1 par for the rest of the previous games I've played. We're now on our 9th hole in this executive course and because this is only a short game, I can tell that I'm the one winning this and Chloe would very well sulk in one corner later kasi natalo ko na naman sya.

We are now located by the creek overlooking the country club's restaurant. Most of our family members are inside that edifice, probably watching our game, and when I looked back at Chloe, I can sense some deep indignation happening with the way her eyes were throwing daggers at me just because she will surely lose to me in this match, but then again, she never really won against me over anything.

The caddy gave me my club and I prepped myself for this last game. This next hole, called the Llano hole, is definitely one of the most challenging holes in the country club. The 13th, 14th and 17th holes are really the difficult ones but we're only playing 9 holes today.

I bent my knees, allowing my body to be positioned at a better stance. I bent forward until my clubhead touched the ground, set out a backswing, and then made my first stroke for that final game.

I scored another one under par for the Llano hole, which is quite a feat, by the way, given that that hole is quite a difficult one, and that concluded me as the victor with the score of 51-77.

"Well played, Red!" Kuya Ice expressed his delight while patting me on my right shoulder.

Kuya Levi, my beloved cousin who's only a notch less than perfection, gave me a thumbs up. He's the only cousin everyone of us looked up to, wala kasing bagay na hindi nito kayang gawin. He could literally master everything he touched just in one go. He was offered so many scholarships from so many different international universities before just because he's great at everything. Golf in no exception to that, and now, being given a thumbs up, my heart swelled in joy and pride. Levi acknowledged my skills. That's more than enough to make my heart thump in complete drumrolls for the next two days.

"Ang galing nyo po, ate..." Aigne remarked and I was beyond ecstatic. "Nawa'y lahat."

Natawa ako sa sinabi nya. Aigne is such a simple kid, from a simple family, living a simple life, and now everything in her life turned 360 degrees just because she was claimed as the child of uncle Erron. Now, she's adjusting to the life she's never been used to.

"Just keep practicing hard, Aigne. You're getting better na rin!" I replied in hopes of encouraging the cousin we all just recently had.

Aigne replied with a tight smile, parang hindi naniniwala sa sinasabi ko eh totoo namang gumagaling na rin sya. She's showing a more solid progress with only a few month's practice unlike the little devil I've played with earlier.