“Overheard Achi Jackie talking about your dad to my mom.”
This Sunday is the fifth anniversary of Pa’s death, but no one in my family has spoken about it. I always thought my sister never liked talking about our dad. I guess she just never wanted to talk about him with me.
My brain has already tuned out Seph when I realize he’s asking me a question.
“So… how are you… doing?” The boy’s looking at me like I’m a bomb about to detonate.
“Please, stop,” I tell him. “This is painful.”
“Me being thoughtful isn’t lifting up your mood?”
“Sadly, I think my mood’s better when you’re being the usual annoying Moseph.”
He scoffs. “You know you’re the only person in the world who calls me Moseph, Ilagan.”
“And you’re the only person who calls me Ilagan,” I say, and repeat, “Annoying.”
His nose scrunches at my comment. “That means I put you in a good mood then.”
Seph laughs when I mime throwing my taho cup at his face.
“By the way,” he adds. “You definitely give off Chihuahua energy.”
“I identify as a Shiba Inu.”
He shakes his head. “You’re four feet tall. How in the world are you a Shiba Inu?”
“Excuse you, the doctor said I was fiveoneduring my last checkup.”
“Exactly the height for a human Chihuahua.”
Seph goes on to roast me about being my chaperone and I reply that he reminds me of Kayla’s Pomeranian that humps everything in sight. It unfortunately doesn’t stop thoughts about Sunday and Pa roaring in my head.
The bakery is way more chaotic, so I’m pretty sure Dr. Derrick decided to “volunteer” again. When Paolo, the regular barista, called in sick earlier this week, Dr. Derrick said he could take some time off his clinic hours to help out.
When he offered, Ma looked like she had a female boner and Achi kept saying it was very “thoughtful” of him. Thoughtful?! Come on. It’s another way Dr. Derrick is sucking up to Ma. Like, we get it already! She already said yes to marrying you! God.
Knowing he’s a dentist, too, I see his ulterior motive. He wants to give people more coffee so their teeth get stained, coincidentally, giving him more patients. It’s a despicable, deceitful plan.
“Sir!” A customer waves at Dr. Derrick from the pickup queue. “Matagal pa? I ordered my latte an hour ago.”
“Almost done, ma’am!” Dr. Derrick yells back. From the way he’s inspecting the milk he’s pouring, he’s obviously more focused on his latte art than the urgency of the situation.
Another thing I learned about Dr. Derrick against my will: He’s probably the world’s slowest barista.
More people from the line start complaining while Dr. Derrick is still perfecting the one latte order.
“Should we help him?” Seph asks me.
“We’re not miracle workers, Moseph.” I sigh and tell Seph that he can go and I promise him I’ll tell Ma I survived the deadly walk from school. As much as I would enjoy seeing Dr. Derrick crash and burn, this is Ma’s business on the line.
I start checking out food orders at the register to placate the hungry clients who have been waiting in the queue.
But not even shouldering Dr. Derrick’s customers can dampen the thrill I get when walking into the Buns by Beth store. The bakery always has the same warm wonderful greeting, the sweet smell of freshly baked bread and an overwhelming display of pastries. You’re offered a tray and tongs at the entrance, then you can pick from rows of pastries enclosed in their own plastic casing. But the Buns by Beth treasure, the one that has propelled the bakery to be one ofManila’s must-try pastry shops, is the nationwide famous siopao. It’s the dish that started Ma’s whole career.
Growing up, I always had Ma’s steamed buns filled with pork asado for merienda. During Pa’s wake, she went overboard and made probably a hundred siopaos—which made people inquire who our caterer was. Ma used to sell her siopaos in bazaars back in her high school and college days but didn’t pursue it when she started a family. So when people still kept asking Ma about her siopao supplier after the wake, Ma starteda business where she’d bake from home and Achi would help arrange the deliveries.
Two years later, Ma decided to convert one of the warehouses Pa used to manage into her own bakery. She started trying new recipes, baking all kinds of pastries and desserts.
