Sonnet 43

Line Three

‘My soul can reach, when feeling out of sight’

                                                                  ***

I’ve always hated surprises – especially when it concerns me, even indirectly. Even though I’ve seen people react with excitement to surprises, I still don’t see the hype. Back when mom decided to surprise me for my birthday, I was so angry at her I spent an hour inside the bathroom, rethinking about my life. It’s probably very overly-dramatic and stupid, but surprises scare me sometimes.

I mean, can’t they just drop all the pretenses and tell me straight on? Why waste their time when I’m going to find out soon anyway?

My usual response to a surprise would be a nod with my expressionless face on. But right now, I cannot just simply let this moment pass without saying anything. I hated being the youngest in the family because everyone’s just too damn overprotective, and now, with mom’s announcement, I can’t help but be happy!

I barreled into the crowd of relatives surrounding mom, hugging her and congratulating dad for some reason and immediately grabbed mom to hug her.

“Oomph!” everyone looked at me like I was crazy for doing that. Dad just helped mom stand upright as she continued hugging me and grinning from ear to ear.

“I didn’t know you wanted a baby sister this much,” she said, humor etched on her voice. I just looked at her, confused.

“Sister? How did you—”

“She’s just hoping it’s a girl when in fact, it’s gonna be a healthy little boy,” dad said proudly which earned him a few nods of approval from the men and a bunch of sexist remarks from the women, mainly by Grandma Josephine. I couldn’t help but smile at the casual exchange of words from both sides of the family. It’s actually a refreshing sight. We should do this more often.

“Anyway, it’s not that I wanted a baby sister or brother or both or whatever,” some people within earshot just laughed at my statement, “I’m just happy I’m not the youngest anymore,” I finished, earning me a playful slap in the back by Luke which, come to think of it, may not even be playful at all because it actually hurt.

Typical Luke.

“Stop attacking me you Neanderthal!” I turned to him and made a hissing sound, but he was not looking at me. Instead, he was busy looking at his watch and then at the entrance of the restaurant.

“Hey, what are you—” but then he suddenly walked away from me and to the entrance, approaching a lady with really cute eyes and height. He kissed her, probably taking advantage of the fact that everyone’s attention was on mom and dad, and took her hand as he led the way to us.

“Mom, dad,” he started, successfully catching their attention. Mom looked at the girl with an appraising eye, while dad just smiled at the girl.

“Who is she, dear?” mom finally looked at Luke and quirked her eyebrow. Luke just smiled and proudly wrapped his arms around the girl. She, on the other hand, looked as if she was gonna throw up anytime soon. I actually felt sorry for her.

“This is my girlfriend, Lily Morgan. Lils, this is my mom, Patty,” he gestured to Mom while Lily shook hands with her, “Here’s my dad, Kenneth,” she did the same thing to dad, “And here’s Geneva,” but instead of just shaking my hand, she actually hugged me. I was too surprised to even hug her back, so I stood there like a damned statue while she hugged me with her might.

“I can’t believe I’m finally meeting you! I’ve heard so much about you!” she said and let me go. I quirked my eyebrow at her.

“Luke talks about me?” I asked incredulously. I can never imagine my brother talking about me to his girlfriend for no reason at all. That’s just weird.