His Masterpiece

“ATE, can you buy me a new phone?”Billy texted.

“Ate, can you buy me new shoes? The last one you bought has worn out,” Ben.

“Ate, don’t tell Mama I texted you. Please stop sending her money. Her boyfriend is here again and she’s just using it to pamper him. Just save it for yourself,” May texted.

She throws herself in the bed, closed her eyes, and massage her temple. Her head suddenly aches reading those messages from her siblings at once.

She feels like May is the only one who understands her while her other siblings and even her mom thinks that she’s living in abundance. She’s a factory worker and only has a minimum wage. If only they know how she skips meals just to save money to send them.

She covered her eyes with the back of her palm and cried silently. She’s tired. Tired working, tired giving her family everything they need and be unappreciated. They can only remember her when they need something and can’t even thank her after getting what they want. They didn’t even remember it’s her birthday.

She wants to be happy too. Eat what she wants, buy what she wants, travel to beautiful places, hang out with friends. She wants to enjoy life. She’s tired being the breadwinner.

She sat down and wiped her tears hearing someone knock on the door. It must be Nicole, her best friend.

“Come in.”

“Hey, Arianne. I’m sure you’re gonna-,” Nicole’s smile was replaced with a frown seeing her face. “Were you crying? What’s wrong?”

She forced a smile. “I’m fine,” but her tears betrayed her.

If there’s a person who knows all her hardships, it’s Nicole. She’s been her friend since they were in grade school. When she told her about her plan going to Manila to work, she openly welcomed her in Potracio Pasay so she can save money.

“Hey, what’s wrong? Tell me?” she placed her hand on her shoulder. “Did something happens? Is it your mom again? Your siblings? I told you before, Arianne. Let them stand on their own. Your mom got a boyfriend, right? Let that man support her, not you supporting them.”

Nicole’s aware that her mom has a boyfriend and spends her money on that guy. She once advised her not to send her mom a large amount and let that man support her mom. That she shouldn’t feel guilty since her younger siblings are already old enough too to work and support themselves. That she’s just making them lazy because she always provides what they need including her mom. She once followed Nicole’s advice but received incessant nagging from her mom. Telling her that she’s disrespectful. Even her brothers called her selfish.

“I want to be happy, Nicole. I want to enjoy my life.”

“You’re free to do that, Arianne. You already spent all your money providing for them. It’s now time you pamper yourself. And that’s actually the reason why I’m here.”

“What do you mean?”

“Here,” Nicole handed her an envelope. “Let that be the start of your new life.”

She opens the envelope and can’t hide her excitement finding out what’s inside. “Is this for real? Please tell me this ain’t a prank.”

“Happy birthday, Arianne.”

She can’t believe she’s now got a ticket to Eissej’s Art Exhibit! She only told Nicole about it once and how she wanted to be there so much but the ticket was expensive.

“Thank you so much, Nicole!” she gives Nicole a tight hug.

“You’re welcome, Anne,” she was caressing her back while hugging her as well. “Actually, it was Rob who bought that. I told him about it and I was surprised that he gave me that today. Maybe this is his way of thanking you for introducing me to him. It’s a bit late but worth it, isn’t it?” Nicole laughs.

Rob is her childhood friend and neighbor. She knows he’s a nice guy that’s why he didn’t have a second thought when he asked her to introduce him to her best friend.And now they’ve been happily married for three years after being together for ten years.

“I’ll thank him later. I’m really blessed to have you guys as my friends.”

“We’re all blessed with one another, Arianne. Feel better?”

She smiled. “So much.”

“Actually I just gave you Rob’s gifts. I haven’t given you mine yet.”

Nicole walks out of her room and when she came back, she has a huge plastic bag.

“I don’t know if these are the right stuff but I guess with your talent, it doesn’t really matter.”

She gapes after Nicole took out what’s inside the bag. “Oh my God, Nicole. You’re making me cry again.”

It was full of painting materials!

“Starting from today, you should do what you love and what makes you happy.”