THE SONG

Year 83



Valentino Hotel , November 16, 3: 22pm.

In the hotel, behind the white and golden elevator door stands Ylil Esor Valentino. He impatiently looks at the number of floors he has passed. Irritated he starts tapping his wrist watch.

 "Could this elevator be more slower?" he asks in frustration. He looks at his reflection on the elevator and fixes his hair and necktie.

"Ding" He arrives on the first floor. He smiles and waves at the people who greet him. Ylil, excited to exit the building, was stopped just before he could pass through the automatic doors.

 "Ylil, my boy!" a man who looks no more than forty calls for Ylil.

Ylil's smile disappears from the interruption, then quickly returns after seeing who called him. Approaching with a proud smile he asks, "Father, what brings you here?" he bows then takes his father's right hand and places the back of his hand on his forehead; A sign of respect.

 "I came here to see my son work, but hala you were on your way out, diay."

Ylil shyly scratches the back of his head. "Ah... yes. I was on my way to the orphanage." the thought of going there brings a bright smile on his face. "I'm finally giving you an apo, papa."

Mr. Valentino gives a hearty laugh. "Ay sus! I just remembered how much you were excited for this day." he hugs Ylil in warmly. "Sige na. I should let you go now. I'll be here for a while, unless you want me to come with you?"

 "It's all right. You should just rest. Sige papa, I'll go now." Ylil runs to the door as he waves back to his father.


East Area Happy Smiles, 4pm.


 "What was that, sir?" Miss Deborah, the caretaker of the children, asks Ylil.

Ylil looks at her with a big smile. "The kid you mentioned that was the longest here in Happy Smiles. I want to see him." you can hear the excitement in his voice.

Miss Deborah blushes at this.

Moments later, a hallway far away from the other children, walks Ylil and Miss Deborah.

 "How long was he here?" Ylil asks.

 "He arrived when he was just born minutes into this world. He's currently ten months, his birthday is on January 14."

Ylil starts counting the days until the kid's birthday. He smiles and looks at Miss Deborah. "Roughly two months before he turns one." he says excitedly.

Miss Deborah giggles at his cuteness. "Oh! We're here." she opens the only gray door in the vicinity. She then lets Ylil enter first.

Entering the plain pink room, he sees a baby on the floor playing with blocks.

Miss Deborah waited for Ylil to do or say something, but he stood quietly still. She awkwardly stands beside Ylil. "Kleio, come here. I want you to meet someone." she calls the baby.

The baby, Kleio, looks up at Miss Deborah. He stares at her with a wondering look on his face, then quickly picks up a block and presents it to her. "Want to play, too?" Kleio thinks.

Ylil slowly walks towards the door with his hand on his mouth. This made Miss Deborah worried. She accepts the block from Kleio and gives him a pat on the head (Kleio returns to his blocks).

 "Is there a problem, sir?" Miss Deborah asks, as she fidgets with the block in her hands.

Ylil faces his whole body towards her, but his eyes are looking at the floor. His hand trying to cover his wide smile. "H-he's so small." he says in a soft voice.

Miss Deborah saw how happy and excited he is. She smiles. "He is." she looks towards Kleio who is crawling towards Ylil.

 "I'm scared I might accidentally crush him with my arms." Ylil makes a gesture of carrying a baby. "Maybe I should adopt a ten year old...–" Ylil starts mumbling to himself, but was cut off by someone tugging his coat.

He looks down and sees that Kleio is holding a block up to him, trying to let him play with a toy like Miss Deborah.

Ylil stood still and stares at Kleio's cuteness.


4: 01pm.


Ylil safely buckles Kleio at the back seat. He looks at how comfy Kleio is with the baby seat he installed behind the passenger's seat.

 "I wanna be comfy too, buddy." he looks at his wrist watch. "This is a perfect time to pass through the road with the best view." he looks back at Kleio.

Kleio was staring at Ylil ever since he placed him on the seat. Kleio smiles at Ylil, showing two of the only teeth he has.

Ylil clutches his chest at the cuteness. "We're gonna be best buddies I can tell." he smiles.


South A., Cake Hill 4: 27pm.


Ylil while driving up the Hill is singing with his son at the back seat. Ylil doing more of the cheering for Kleio's mumble singing.


By the time it struck the thirtieth minute of four in the afternoon, Ylil couldn't notice the slight static of the radio. The only heads up for the upcoming falling boulder from the sky.


At the next minute, Ylil's world slowed down as he looked up the sky. He was filled with pure panic, he couldn't focus on what he could've done. He tried to reach for Kleio, but was held back by the seat belt.


Kleio not knowing what's wrong, just smiled at Ylil, thinking he was playing with him.


Ylil's heart stopped when Kleio said, "Tata–"



Author's NOTE

Hala; [interjection] Watch out!; Oh no!; Geez!; exclamation of warning.
alternate spellingHalá, Halah
Diay; [deictic, demonstrative pron.] Oh!
 I see that, ... as it turns out ...
Apó; [noun] grandchild Ay; [interjection] Oh!
Susmaryosep!; [interjection] "Jesus, Mary & Joseph!" * exclamation of surprise / shock.
alternate spellingSus
Sige na; [expression] all right.
Sige; [interjection] go on • ok • go ahead • sure • fine • all right