ayi at kai

these are the times when all i can do is reminisce about good times. one of those was seeing ayi and kai together. the first time ayi and kai met they clicked right away. ayi was perhaps a little shy but i think kai made her feel welcome at home. kai was so excited upon learning that ayi competes in tae kwon do and he thought she must be very brave. kai was admittedly scared of ghosts. to test ayi's nerve, he asked her to go to our room alone, to ayi's amusement.

that night they met ayi and romel were leaving for sagada, kai was leaving for baguio, and i was to stay home for the holy week. with a twist of fate we all found ourselves together in sagada. it was one good vacation we had, the laid-back life in sagada gave us all a respite.







funny thing in sagada i remember about the two were how they tried to combat their fright because the first place we visited was the graveyard. there's a picture of us three as we went around looking at the tombs. the place was eerie, i couldn't blame the kids if they almost broke my arms with their tight grips. there were other places we visited, the most exciting was the sumaging cave. this time the kids were very gutsy. it was an exhiliratitng adventure for all of us. i went nuts when our guide, biag, made ayi, kai and me crawl inside a narrow crevice telling us that it was a short cut. he and romel would take the longer route out of the cave because they wouldn't fit in the hole. obediently and carefully we went inside, kai first, then me, then ayi. it was just about three meters long. as we got out of the narrow opening we were startled to find romel and biag standing in front of us, grinning from ear to ear. that brought us all to laughter.

after that kai was so inspired to write his first journal. it was also in sagada that he decided he'd call romel daddy and ayi his sister. kai did not waste time proudly telling everyone he had a stepsister as soon as we got back to manila.

kai had always wanted an older sibling that he was so excited having ayi around. he was amazed to have learned that ayi's mom and romel managed to be friends. he couldn't believe it. he had met ge and from then on he would frequently asked if he could spend summer at ayi's place. the last time ayi slept over kai told me to let romel sleep beside ayi because they didn't see each other often.

last christmas i was touched when ayi said she wouldn't spend the whole christmas vacation at her aunt's place because, "sandali lang tayo magkakasama-sama" and when one saturday after a soccer game she opted to just have dinner and go to the mall on sunday with us, "para buong family".

there were just a few times that we were really together but those few times brought the two closer. once we all went to take ayi to fiesta mall at alabang to meet her mom. they were seated next to each other on the bus and they ceaselessly exchanged texts trying out kai's new cellphone. we were few seats apart but i could hear them talking incessantly.

the last time they were together was in marinduque. i think they had a little spat one night over who was sleeping on which side of the bed. ayi ended up sleeping beside romel in one bed and kai beside me in another. they were again in good terms the following morning. ayi had a good time teasing kai when she accidentally opened kai's inbox as she toyed with kai's cellphone, she found so many texts addressed to just one person. kai was so embarrased but wasn't pissed.

they didn't have a chance to be together after that. recently kai asked for a picture of ayi saved in his cellphone. ayi asked me to tell kai she misses him.

both kids are very sweet. intelligent and mature for their ages, cognizant of the idiosyncracies of the adults around them. one day, i hope they'd meet again and find themselves better and tougher persons than most of the adults they know.

i love you kai and ayi.