VOLS 1: Stacia Walker

Chapter 22

Chapter 22

It took them a while, but Stacia and Brian had finally tied the knot in a civil wedding ceremony. Puno ng kaba na may halos saya ang nararamdaman ni Stacia. Maraming tao ang nagkaroon ng duda sa relasyon nilang dalawa, pero nanaig ang kanilang pagmamahalan. Hindi sila naniniwala na may bibitaw sa kanilang dalawa sa mga susunod na taon dahil ngayon na kasal na sila ay pinatuyan nilang wala nang makapipigil pa.

"I'm still living the moment. . ." ani Stacia at nilingon ang asawa. Nakangiti naman si Brian sa kanya. Karga-karga nito ang anak at giliw na giliw dahil natututo na rin itong magsalita. Hindi niya maalis ang tingin sa mag-ama. "Ang cute niyong dalawa. . . I didn't expect this would happen sooner."

Napangisi rin naman si Brian. "Hindi ko rin naman ine-expect 'to, but who am I to turn my back on you kung ganitong ka-cute na baby ang magiging anak ko? I don't think I could ask for me. . . Dagdagan na kaya ulit natin?"

Natawa naman si Stacia sa sinabi ng asawa. Alam niya namang nagbibiro lang 'to, pero sa isip-isip niya ay ayaw niya munang magbuntis muli. Iiwasan niyang mabuntis muli.

"Biro lang. . . We'll just have to look after our baby Thamara for now. . ."

After giving birth and getting married, isa na lamang ang gustong mangyari ni Stacia at iyon ang makapagtapos ng pag-aaral sa college. She believe it wasn't impossible for her to continue what she started, even though they were struggling financially dahil nahahati na sa iba't ibang bagay ang gastusin nila. She never knew that it woud be so hard to be a parent and support a family na hindi pa financially ready.

At that moment, Brian started working on multiple jobs just to keep up with all the things they needed, especially for their daughter. On the other hand, Stacia thought of doing buy-and-sell that somehow would lessen their expenses. Somehow, it worked for her for a while, but when she began a new semester at college, all things went sideways.

Uuwi si Stacia at aalagaan ang anak niya. Kanyang hinahabilin na ang magulang niya muna ang mag-alaga sa anak niya habang wala ito. Good thing that worked for them, but when Brian thought that it wouldn't work out in a long time, he suggested she needed to drop out of college and forget about it.

They started fighting while their daughter was in the other room crying out loud because their screaming and shouting. It was so hard for Stacia to prove herself that she could do it. Gusto lamang niyang maniwala si Brian sa kanya. She thought he was just stressing it all out dahil graduating student na si Brian sa college at maraming projects ang kailangan nitong ipasa.

She realized that at that point, it wouldn't work out if they were both out of the house and no one would look after their daughter. Until he graduated and got a job that would totally support their family, she asked her husband if she could continue studying at college. Wala namang problema sa kanyang magulang ang pagbabantay sa anak nito. Nag-usap ang dalawa nang taimtim at humantong sila sa desisyon na magpapatuloy siya sa pag-aaral at saka maka-graduate ito ay hindi muna ito magta-trabaho at pagtutuunan ng pansin ang anak gaya nang napag-usapan nila noon.

What they agreed happened. Stacia went back to college and was determined to finish college soon. She was only two years away from getting that degree so she wouldn't want to miss that.

But along those years, it was the most stressful thing they have ever been into.

Hindi maiwasan ng dalawa ang mag-away araw-araw. Iniintindi na lamang ni Stacia ang asawa dahil sa tingin nito ay pagod lamang mula sa trabaho. Sometimes, he accidentally hurt her, but eventually realized what he had done to her. Pinagsisisihan ni Brian sa tuwing masasaktan niya ang asawa dahil hindi naman niya gustong mangyari iyon. If he could take all back what he did, he would, but he knew the repercussions of the actions he made.

As months went by, it was still hard for them to get by and live a life like this, but somehow things got better, slowly. 

When Thamara turned one, they thought of having a birthday party for their daughter. They planned for it and somehow worked out on it. They invited their friends and family to the party. During the birthday party of their daughter, it was the kind of happiness she was looking forward to experiencing, but it all went down after a few days when bills and debts were coming after them.

They don't know how to resolve it, but they know what would be the cause of the things they did. Tinatanggap lamang ni Stacia ang masasakit na salita na sinasabi ni Brian sa kanya. She knew they would get over it and that this was happening because they'd been struggling for a long time and hadn't had a plan to get out of this dilemma.

Ang nasa isip lamang ni Stacia ay sa oras na makatapos siya sa college ay mabibigyan niya ng magandang buhay ang pamilya niya. Kaya naman pinagbutihan nito ang pag-aaral at kahit ano mang problema ang dumating ay hindi niya inintindi.

Two years after deciding to go back to college, Stacia finally got to where she is now. She couldn't help, but be so happy that she would be able to finish college in the midst of what had happened to her life. She knew that Brian had just struggled for the past year and now that she would be able to focus on what she needed to do and that was to look after their growing family, news just popped of a sudden when Stacia started feeling sick.

Stacia kept it hidden for a while until she did a quick test to know if what she was feeling was right, and then the result came out.

After three years she gave birth to her first child, and the result of her pregnancy test came out positive.

"Brian. . . I'm pregnant. . ." 

When she told him about her pregnancy, she got mixed reactions from him, but she thought of being positive throughout because this is another phase she had to go through and she hope, everything would go fine and better than before.