Until The Sunset Sets Again

"Alba, call your brothers and we were going to eat," my mother ordered me.

"All right, ma. I'll just go to the neighbor's," I replied.

"Sister, when are you leaving?" my younger brother Luke asked as we walked home.

We are four siblings. I am the eldest. Girl is next to me while the third and fourth are both boys. Our youngest brother was only five years old, still naive.

I smiled at Luke and shook his head. "I'm going to leave tomorrow so you three should be nice." I looked at them one by one. "Titania, you'll be the eldest temporarily, okay? While I am away, you'll be the first to scold when our youngest are hard headed. Hmmm?"

She nodded and suddenly hugged me. "I'll miss you, sister," she said sadly.

I caressed her back because she was about to cry. "Always remember that I will not leave you because I want to. I will leave you so that you can go to school and I can provide for all your needs and wants. I'll give you a better life."

"Sister, you're coming back," said Jarred, the third of the siblings. "Don't be like papa who left and never came back," he said seriously.

I felt sorry for them. I just want to stay here.

I took a deep breath. I want them to see me as a strong one, as a strong sister for them because if I am the weak one, where will they get strength? Mama and I need them to get strength. Even though there is no pillar of home to strengthen our family, they still have something to lean on whenever they need it.

I knelt down with my brother and touched his cheek. "Jarred, I'll be back. I'm not going to imitate papa."

Another reason why I wanted to go to Spain was that I heard our dad was there. I want to find him there. I want to ask him why he just left us like that. I wanted to ask him why he was so selfish and ran away from his family, to his responsibilities and obligations.

"Promise?" he said.

I smiled at him and nodded. "I promise that I will return for all you. When I come back, I'm going to bring toy for the youngest. I'm going to give a guitar to Jarred. And to Tatiana... I'm going to bring a boyfriend for her..." I looked at Titania to make fun of her.

He frowned. "Sister!" She's already eighteen years old and she never had a boyfriend so I always annoy her. I already had one but it didn't last long. Getting a boyfriend should not be in hurry, that boyfriend is just a problem so don't do it first. I don't think so.

"Let's go home," I told them. I will surely miss them and of course, my mama.

"Why are you taking so long? The food is cold oh. Didn't I always tell you to come home at the right time," mama said so we secretly laughed.

When the night comes, we slept together in one room because of the request of our youngest. He said that it is our bonding so we all agreed because it was also fun.

"Sister..." our youngest called.

"Hmmm?" my answer.

"How many days have you been there?" he asked.

I got up and faced him. My two brothers and mama were just quiet. He is still very innocent.

"My baby, just wait for me, okay? I've been there for a while but I will make time to talk to you," I replied.

He nodded as if he already understood it.

The next morning I was ready to leave. While we were packing, mama was crying. I don't want to leave but I have to. I also didn't tell her my other reason why I am going there. I don't want to upset her.

Honestly, I hate my dad. I don't want to instill hatred in him because he's my dad. I want to know the reason why he left us, why he left me. I want to understand him.

"Ma... take care of yourself too. I will always pray to God to guide all of you," I said to mama.

Shee nodded and suddenly hugged me while crying. "Be careful there, my daughter. Call mama when there is a problem. When you can no longer want there, go home to the Philippines and I will make the way," she cried.

I try not to cry in front of them. I looked at my younger siblings who were also crying. "Be careful. Don't be hard head to mama, okay? Titania, our brothers, huh?" I order Titania. She nodded and hugged me too.

"All right. Goodbye for now because I might be late. I'll miss the plane," I said goodbye to them.

"Group hug?" I said. I couldn't hold back my tears, they were already dripping.

They hurried over to me to hug me. "I'll miss you all," I said while crying.

I will be working as a manager at a resort in Spain. I graduated so I got in there as a manager. Good luck to me.

When I got to the airport I wanted to go home immediately.

I took a deep breath and strained to think about the future of my siblings. "You can't be weak, Alba. For the siblings, for mama, and ... for papa," I whispered to myself.

I pulled my suitcase, I walked and forced myself to steady myself. This is the feeling of Filipinos who leave to work abroad. They leave behind their loved ones. I'm still here at the airport but I want to go home right away.

"You can do it, Alba. You can do it," I repeated to myself.

I bit my lip because I was nervous. I don't know what world I will face in Spain. Spain is definitely very different from the Philippines. People, culture, and so on. I need to adjust.

I remembered my visa so I grabbed my bag. Shit!

"Where is that?" I whispered.

"Ouch!" I touch my forehead because of the force of the impact.

Because of that, my things fell out of my bag. I quickly picked it up, I also saw my visa dropped.

"Sorry, miss!" said the man, because it's a man's voice. I no longer bothered to look at his face. He helped me get my things.

"I can do it by myself," I said softly.

"Hey Arki!" I heard the man's call from afar.

I felt the man turn in front of me. "Wait!" the man answer infront of me.

When I finished I stood up and didn't bother to look at him, I just passed it.

"Wow! Really? She didn't even say sorry," I heard him say.

"Arki, you have chicks right away!" said the man who had called him earlier.

I try to calm myself down because I might get into a fight here.

"Of course not, it's not chicks. I bumped into her and she haven't apologized yet." Obviously, he want me to hear what he said because his voice is loud.

Annoyed, I turned around and was ready to fight when I heard the passengers calling.

"You should be thankful," I finally said before they left there.

DISCLAIMER: This is only a work of fiction. All the names, places, people are all work of fiction. I also used spanish language and first of all, I am sorry in advance if I had a wrong translation. I just used an english-spanish translation so sorry in advance. Thank you!