My Only Exception

Chapter 19

"Yeah, I've seen her dance before," he answered.

"Do you know that she hit someone in the face when she played volleyball before?"

"Wow! Really? Mom did that?"

"Yes," he nodded. "It wasn't intentional though. Mom was pissed off and when she made a strike, it hit the woman's face. She ended up being brought to the clinic because her nose bled."

"I didn't know Nanay can do that. She's always warm and calm," Cali answered.

"She is. But we don't want her mad because she turns into a monster sometimes," Ethan laughed. Their ice cream got served.

"Since we're talking man to man now, I want to tell you something," his tone was imposing. Napailing na lang si Ethan. He was slowly having an idea what his mom went thru while he was young. "I want to talk to you about Nanay."

"And what about your Nanay?"

"I don't want to ever see her cry because of you. Because if it happens again, I would be the first one to pull your clothes out of our home," he said.

Ethan wanted to laugh but he knew that Cali was being protective to his mother. "I am not promising you that she wouldn't cry again because I could not control her tears but I can promise you that I will make her happy as often as I can," he said. "Is that fair enough?"

"I guess so. You have to keep your word," he reminded him. "Why did you make her cry anyway? It's absurd that people as nice as her are being hurt."

Napalunok si Ethan. His sister's gonna be mad to have him as a brother, if they would have one.

"People make mistakes. I did too. But that's over and done. You know what I am doing to make it up to you and Nanay."

"I know," Cali said and took a spoon of his cold sweets. "Can I learn Spanish too?"

"Of course, you sure can but maybe we have to get you a different teacher for that," Ethan told him. "You wouldn't learn anything from me."

"I'm envious because Gavin knows how to speak Tagalog and I only know Nanay, Tatay, Ate, Kuya, Lolo, Lola, Tito, and Tita," he said and ate his dessert.

"We'll ask Nanay about it. I can teach you Chinese too," he smiled.

"Isn't that hard?"

"We'll start with the basics of course," he answered and wiped Cali's face with ice cream.

"Why do you know Shauna?"

"Oh that... I remembered your Nanay telling me about Shauna and that she gave you chocolates," he answered. "Was she there earlier?"

"No, she wasn't. Why did you do that to those kids?"

"Honey, I don't like it when someone bullies another kid. That's not right. When I was younger, someone bullied me and your Dada fought for me. I learned then that I should fight for those I love. And bullying isn't proper. If they are bullies, your Tatay is too."

"What if they tell to their parents that you threatened them ?"

"Then I will tell them to become better parents. They should teach their kids good manners. Their kids are older than you and they shouldn't do that to anyone. If I said something to them, it's because they deserve it."

"Can I do that too?"

Ethan laughed. "It depends as to what you will say and who you are with. But sure, we can practice that."

••

"He's happy," Raffy smiled at him. "He told me what you did earlier together and what you did to those kids."