Chapter 1 part 2
The flight took five hours. It was the longest journey Bella had ever traveled and she was happy enough to have both feet on steady ground again. She walked to the luggage sinturon and grabbed her luggage, succeeding to pull a few other valises with it. Bella’s face turned red and she put her own luggage on the floor and put the valises that weren’t hers back on the belt. Then she lifted her suitcases again and walked outside.
Outside two people were standing with a huge placard saying ‘Welcome home, Bella’ One of them was waving heavily at her and wanted to run into her arms. Bella was glad the other one was having a tight grip on his hand.
“Remember what I said, Charlie, stay calm. You don’t want to scare her. Wait until she gets here”
Charlie nodded, his eyes big as if Bella was a tsokolate pie. Unfortunately Bella didn’t share his enthusiasm. She had to force herself to get closer to the duo and with every step she took she regretted her decision to get here more. Maybe her mother was right. Maybe she couldn’t handle this. After all she was only 17, her dad should be taking care of her, not the other way around.
“Come on, Bells, he won’t bite you”
Bella grimaced, because she had read about her dad’s condition. If things didn’t go his way he could get really angry and than he might just bite her.
Bella’s cold and hesitative attitude made Charlie’s big smile fade away and the gleam in his eyes went out. He bowed his head and started to balance on his feet. “Bella doesn’t like me” he whined.
“Off course she likes you”
The sudden change in her father’s behavior made Bella get back on the ground, this time both physically and mentally. She quickly walked to her dad and grabbed his hand. Something she shouldn’t have done. Charlie jerked his hand away and scratched at his daughter.
“Aaah!” Bella cried and she touched her cheek. She looked up at her father’s accompanist. “Why did he do that?” she asked shocked.
“He doesn’t like it to be touched” he explained. “I’m Gerard, sa pamamagitan ng the way, the institution has assigned me to take care of your dad until you got here. Off course they wanted me to stay permanently, but you were eager to do it yourself, we wanted to give you a shot. We will, however, keep an eye on things. I’ll come check every araw and if you need something-” he searched in his pockets and pulled out a small card- “this is my card. It had my number on it, so use it, whenever you feel the need to”
“Thanks” Bella sinabi with a small voice and she accepted the card. “Ehm, can we go now?” she asked, still feeling a little uncomfortable and shocked.
“Yes, off course” Gerard agreed. He looked at Charlie. “Ready to go, Charlie?”
Charlie nodded. He jerked his hand from Gerard’s grip, grabbed Bella’s and dragged her to the car. “Don’t worry, I’ll get your luggage” Gerard laughed.


The ride took an hour. Charlie stared at Bella with a mischievous and secretive smile on his face. Bella felt his eyes on her back and tried to concentrate on the rain drops falling on the window.
“You’re very brave, you know that? Not many teenagers would give up their lives to take care of their dad. Especially your dad” Gerard said.
“Thanks” Bella sinabi softly.
“We got a surprise for you. Most of it is Charlie’s due” Gerard continued.
“Oh, is that why he keeps shooting me these weird glances?” Bella asked.
“Probably” Gerard laughed. “Oh, we’re here” He drove his car on the drive and stopped him. “Charlie, wait” he sinabi as Charlie wanted to get out of the car. Gerard opened his door and got out. He let Charlie out and Bella got out herself.
“Surprise! Surprise! Surprise!” Charlie exclaimed enthusiastic and he clapped in his hands jumping up and down. He walked behind Bella and covered her eyes.
“Sorry, Bella” Gerard said. “Come on, Charlie, bring her to it”
Charlie difficulty led Bella to her tahanan coming surprise. Suddenly she didn’t feel any raindrops on her head anymore, which told her they were somewhere inside.
“You can let go, Charlie” Gerard said. Charlie gave Bella her sight back and she blinked. In front of her there was… something… huge underneath a huge textile. “Come here, Charlie” Charlie ran to the other side of the… thing and grabbed a piece of the textile. “Ready?” Gerard asked. Charlie nodded. “Okay, one, two, three” he counted ipinapakita his fingers. “Surprise!” Charlie yelled and he pulled the textile away, revealing a red-colored pick-up.
“It’s not a new one, but we got him from Billy Black. His son Jacob and Charlie here fixed him up a little and they already had a test ride. He’s doing great” Gerard said.
Bella was speechless.
“So, you like him?” Gerard carefully asked.
“I pag-ibig it!” Bella exclaimed.
Hearing those three words made Charlie run into her arms and throw his arms tightly around her neck.
“He’s happy you like it” Gerard smiled.