"Ethan! Ina is back!" Ethan's mother said as she got inside that tin box shelter. Her brother or Ethan's father sat on the cot inside the room. She stood before him and looked under the cot.

"He's sleeping" Ruso-- as what the people called him, said.
"Okay" She said and went towards the stove. "Did you eat?" She asked as she poured some water into a glass "Yeah about that, you haven't been cooking very well"

She froze and turned towards him. He sat before her and touched her face. "Your husband needs good food to function, doesn't he?" He said.

She nodded. "And our son needs good food too. So earn more money, work harder, steal or beg-- I don't care. I just want the results" He said and grabbed her wrist.

"You have been slacking off lately" He said as he twisted her little finger. She groaned with pain but he covered her mouth "Shut up. Do you wake up our son?" He said and broke her finger.

Tears left her eyes but no voice left her throat. He smiled at her "Good that you understand. You know, right? I love you very much, Parhi. Now stop crying and smile for me"

She quickly wiped her tears and smiled at him. "That's it. You look better when you smile. You must be tired. You should rest" He said and she got up.

As the dawn hit the slums, and the music in the pink, glowing streets dried down, Ruso was gone. Parhi got up and tore a piece of cloth from the blankets. She wrapped it around her swollen finger and covered her mouth while crying in pain.

"Ina..." Ethan said from beneath the cot. She quickly wiped her tears "Oh. Did you sleep well, Ethan?" She asked with a smile. He got up and lay on the cot beside her.

"Is tatay gone?" He asked as he muffled his face into his mother's arms. "Yes, he just left. You must be hungry, right?"

"No" Ethan said.

"Why don't you play with Tik? Ina will do the cleaning" She said as she pressed her hand on his head "I don't want to play" He said.

"Did you both fight?" She asked.
"OI! Ethan! Let's go on garbage hunt!" Tik called out from outside.
"See, he's here."

"Ina..." He said "They say it's weird, for siblings to be married"
"... There were some things that happened and that's why I couldn't marry anyone else except your father" She said.

"You don't have any wedding picture though" He said.
"Well, we just live together. We aren't really married. You need money for that."

"When I grow up, I'll take you far away from him. We'll live far away and have our own fields. We'll grow and eat it. Sell some to get seeds for the next harvest. Where everything with be good"

"Oh Ethan" She said as she pressed his head "I wish that comes true. But you see, ina can't come with you" She said "I have raised this monster so I'll go down with him"

"I won't leave you here." Ethan said while she looked at his ears and his trimmed bangs. "What's this. Did someone cut your hair--" She suddenly saw the implants.

She quietly squeezed him "Ethan, you need to leave this place. The sooner the better"
"I can just go with the flow-"

"Only dead fish go with the flow. You aren't dead, you still got blood in your heart"

"I was usually quiet after that" Ethan said as Vivian sat beside him. "The implants were strongly drugged. I didn't feel hungry anymore and I didn't felt like playing either. I just used to lie on garbage dumps all day. I couldn't express my emotions anymore. I tried but I couldn't.

Even smiling was hard. I turned emotionless. And because I turned emotionless, I got anxious-- "Am I going to stay this way forever?"-- is what bothered me the most.

I grew desperate to present my emotions-- to communicate. It grew so much inside me-- I was dying to come out of that cell, but those implants were the bars that wouldn't let me through.

Mom knew what it was but she couldn't help me. She just held me as I cried for help. Then, started my panic attacks. Mom would calm me down whenever that would happen.

Until one day, it happened in front of my father. He was really happy when he saw that I got panic attacks-- He was one twisted bastard"

"Come to tatay, Ethan" Ruso said with a smile. He seemed genuinely happy as he looked at Ethan, who held a knife in his hand.
"Move away" Ethan said."I'm trying to help you, Ethan. Come here" He said as he moved closer to Ethan.

"I don't want help."
"I said come here!" Ethan threw away the knife and ran outside the house.

"I couldn't do it. I couldn't kill him. I should've done that. But I didn't. I just ran away while mother held him back from following me.

I went outside the slum and decided to come back after I was calmer. I took the highway and decided to take a walk till the next town and return by night. I walked at the corner of the road, when suddenly a car stopped beside me and a couple came out of it."

"Was it Mr and Mrs Hiomi?" Vivian asked.

"Yes. It was them. They were returning from their son's funeral. Apparently, he was sick since a very long time and they brought him to Philippines. They heard there was a doctor who could cure him. But they were too late and lost him"

"He just looks like Kirito" Mr Hiomi said and Mrs Hiomi started crying as she looked at Ethan. "We want to adopt your son" Mr Hiomi said as he looked into the translator. "My son? What's so good about him?" Ruso said and the translator gave a Japanese translation.

"He looks like someone we lost. So, we want to raise him. We will never make him feel different and we will love him. We will give him a better life than these slums" Mr Hiomi said.

Ruso looked at his attire and knew that they were rich and powerful. Ethan stood behind his mother "I need time to think" He said.

"We'll go by next Wednesday. Before that, we will be ready to accept him even if it's a minute before our flight" Mr Hiomi said and got up.

They bowed and Ruso bowed back. Mrs Hiomi looked at Ethan and reached to touch him. He quickly moved away and hid behind his mother. She smiled at his mother and walked out.

"I mean-- my son deserves the best life! And he'll be getting that!" Ruso said as Parhi poured him the pagpag. "I don't want to go" Ethan said, softly.

"Ethan, you know, Parhi, she looked just like you when she was seven... She was fourteen at that time when she had you in her belly" Ruso said as he looked at Ethan's face.

"How old were you?" Ethan asked.
"I was 18"
"That's just so wrong" Ethan said and Ruso started laughing "What a precocious child! Are you teaching him all this?" He glared at Parhi.

"No-- I didn't teach him anything. Children learn by observing" Parhi said and walked inside the room. Ruso just glared at her and threw the plate filled with hot pagpag at her. It hit her right on her shoulders and she began crying as her skin burned.

"Ina!" Ethan said as he ran towards her "You're going tomorrow morning. I will contact them and let them know"

Ruso washed his hands and walked outside the house. Ethan wrapped a dirty towel around her arm. He hugged her as they sat on the cot "I will never leave you, ina"

She just looked at the ceiling, lost in thoughts. Next morning, Mr and Mrs Hiomi came to their house. Ethan clung to his mother while sitting in the room, refusing to let go.

"Ethan, listen. Just go" She said. Ethan looked at her "You are someone I can't have to myself or you'll die. My love is getting father away. I need to let you go" She said.

"Then let's run away, ina"
"No, I can't. You have to go alone"
"But I can't live without you, ina. I'll die. Don't let me die, mom" Ethan said.

"...I'm am not... your mom!!" She said as she pushed him away and kicked him on his chest "Just go! Don't make my life harder!" She shouted.

Mr and Mrs Hiomi took him away. Leaving Ruso's hands filled with money and Parhi's heart with loneliness. Ruso was happy but not Ethan. So he returned. He ran away from their hotel and returned back home.

Only to kill his mother.

- To be continued

Parhi Evaganza
My Heart Hates Me