Chapter 5: Random abstraction

Sorry Leo, but she just doesn't give a shit about dimsum.

Word about Ermilinda's mastered skill in painting eventually reaches the people who manage most of the art in the city, so she gets the opportunity to have her own paintings hanged in the museum. 

It's dark and wide enough to get lost into. This might be a good place to hang out at.

The longer she stays in the place though, the angrier she gets at how "generic" everything is. There's nothing worth looking at in this place, and she's seriously considering to reconnect with some artists who have also secluded themselves, but she is also one of them. 

Ermilinda has long given up on attaining fame and wouldn't want to stay too long in the spotlight, but if THIS is what the people get to see as art, then she feels obliged to do something about it.

Seriously. Another generic stock picture of a car. 

Leo's not having too much fun with work right now, but he manages to get by with putting on the right facial expressions and reactions and by being the with the "right" people. Amused by the younger colleague's effort, Yolanda tells him gently, "You can drop the act right now."

It's unsettling him, but he drops his cheery facade cautiously. He may as well be working as an actor.

During lunch break, he meets up with Cresalina at the karaoke place to vent out together on this silly thing. (So far it's working to the point that they forgot about going back to work)

One of them is out of tune, but who cares? The guy in the suit is apparently famous and rich. (I forgot his name, oops)

Promoted!

As a reward for getting promoted, Leo offers to cook a "special" dinner for everyone.

Ermilinda isn't too fond of this dish called "Goopy Carbonara," but is far too polite towards Leo to push it away. Luckily for Lucida, she got her favorite: Ratatouille, with some modifications.

Ermilinda goes out to look for venues for the coming wedding. In this particular place, she spots her sister-in-law and niece at the bar area.

Instead of greeting with a "hello" or a "what are you doing here," Ermilinda starts with, "Your mother isn't letting you drink this early, is she?" 

Trisha likes how blunt her aunt is, and immediately laughs her assumptions away. "Don't worry, mom's not going to risk THAT much to rile up my other mom."

She will never grasp this 'little feud' between Felicita and Sammantha they always seem to have, and hopes that they both won't get too far with whatever they're doing.

In mere days, the little art studio that Leo and Lucida made for Ermilinda is already filled up.

He also notices that she doesn't name most of her pieces. Leo personally calls that one "Mysterious blocks of random abstraction."

In Lucida's dream, the wedding goes perfectly well. There are no rings dropped, no shoes stepped on, no wine spilled. When she wakes up, she feels less excited.

As much as it concerns him to see Lucida eating ice cream as breakfast on a daily basis, he knows better than to criticize her food choices (as a child, Lucida pretty much ignores him).

He clears his throat. "Are you okay?"

Lucida chews more slowly before swallowing it at once. They both can't tell what the other is thinking. "Yeah. It's going to be a big day."

A big day indeed, especially for these two.

Leo is just the happiest person alive right now. He couldn't believe that this is actually happening. 

From the audience, Lucida doesn't show much interest in watching the ceremony. Everyone else is too preoccupied, like Felicita, who is just happy to see that things are working out for her sister in the love department. 

Sammantha notices Lucida's indifference, and walks to get closer to her niece. "What's wrong?"

"I kinda wish that they have a DJ booth in here," Lucida mutters. 

"Maybe you'll get to have one in your own wedding," Sammantha jokes. Her niece doesn't respond anymore, and, feeling obligated, looks at the couple instead. 

Looks like she got herself a new dad now.

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Aaaand Leo's officially part of the family. Everyone's concerned for how Lucida will react to this kind of thing but she pretty much doesn't care anymore. 

I know this is a pretty short chapter, but it's been so long since I worked on this and I want to move on to the story as much as I can. 

Chapter 4: Proper place

Both of their families own a police car, but Felicita won't allow either of them to drive it by themselves. Which leaves Trisha with their old car as she gets on with a Girls' Night Out with Lucida.

"We should have gotten the keys first," Trisha grumbles.

"And get grounded," Lucida nods sarcastically. It's already a miracle that Felicita would let Trisha out during the night. (It's still 7 pm by the way)

Lucida doesn't care if it's still 7 pm; no one's using the DJ booth anyway!

The place is filled with only five people, including the bartender who's kinda regretting that he left the DJ booth free to anyone who gets inside the place.

She tries to make some cool beats but ends up overusing the dubstep. Oh well. At least she's enjoying it, and the military dude at the skeeball area is polite enough to pretend that he likes it.

Meanwhile, Trisha wants to get on with the karaoke bar but has to wait for this redhead to finish. To make the wait worth it, she's already mentally listing some songs in advance.

A client named Mithun Khan calls to cancel the painting that he commissioned her. This annoys her a lot, especially when she's almost done with the painting several days before the deadline.

Lucida comes home to see the cancelled commission already finished just a few hours after the call. She's impressed at how her mother's annoyance can be a good motivator.

These two are getting older and in love.

Ermilinda can't deny that much at least, but she knows that a part of her is still hesitating.

Though Lucida isn't exactly okay with this, she doesn't completely disagree with it. But though Ermilinda voices out her worries concerning Lucida's reaction, Leo knows that there's more to that.

"How about YOUR reaction?" He insists.

"What about it?" Then seeing his worried look, Ermilinda sighs. "I don't know, I thought I would be sure about this. Getting remarried was not on my mind for -- a long time."

Leo takes her hand. "You don't have to, you know." He tries to shrug, as a way to show that he's not completely nervous about all of this, but it ends up weakly, and they both stop dancing. 

Looking at their hands, she squeezes and grins. "I want to, though." 

On one of their dates, Leo suddenly goes down on one knee and before she realizes it, presents a box in front of her.

"I was thinking about it after that night," he admits. "And I don't have anything sweet or romantic to say right now, but -- " Leo swallows. God why am I stopping now, he curses at himself.

"Yes!" Ermilinda laughs. "You're too adorable for your own good!"

These two dorks are too adorable for their own good.

"He proposed with the most uninspiring pre-will-you-marry-me speech," Ermilinda gushes.

"You're getting married now?"

Hearing her mother talk excitedly about it still doesn't get Lucida out of her disbelief; she thought that only fictional people are capable of doing as embarrassing as what Leo did. 

Not aware that Lucida had already been told, Leo nervously sits down beside her and clears his throat. Then he turns around and notices Lucida's seemingly excited expression. It kinda scares him.

"Umm...your mother and I are getting married," he starts.

"I know! She already told me about it!" 

He looks at her carefully. "Are you...okay about it?"

"I am. Just promise to let me drink all the alcoholic beverage you'll serve at the party." 

Leo leans back on the couch, relieved. He thought that she was feigning excitement to not make anyone uncomfortable. Turns out she was actually excited for something.

"There'll be none," Ermilinda calls out from behind. The damn computer keeps breaking now.

Looks like Lucida is excited for a good reason. She gets her room back AND gets a new computer.

These keepsakes also get their proper place, right where Lucida wants it to be.

Aside from that, these two finally get to have a proper place to actually do it.

The house itself is not spared from the changes that have been going on in this chapter.

Featuring Ermilinda sprucing up her garden.

From this renovation, Ermilinda gets a proper studio where she could do all her creative process in peace. (Lucida bought that laptop for her, while Leo did his best to create a makeshift flower pot)

It also faces the ocean. She appreciates the view.

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Lucida finally gets her room back. It's one of the things that she's hoping to get from out of Ermi and Leo's budding relationship. That, and some new companionship for her mother. 

The wedding gets to happen in the next chapter. We're finally gaining some speed here. 

Chapter 3: Buckle up

A visual presentation of why Leo doesn't practice outside. (But here, he's forced to practice outside because he forgot the keys and doesn't know where Ermilinda is right now)

He strums on and decides to wait for that person to get bored with watching and listening and just leave, but she continues. She STAYS.

Time passes by, and Ermilinda's garden starts to grow impressive.

Lucida randomly visits Trisha at her house, and passes by her flirting aunts with a disgruntled expression. Ever since they got a kid in the house, they seemed to get more flirty. She turns to her cousin and asks, "Don't you get bothered by that?"

Trisha shrugs. "Eh, you get used to it."

Lucida makes a face before leaning in to whisper, "If Mom and Leo will do that in front of me, I'll barf." Then she thinks about it, and shudders. "Ew."

Trisha giggles. "Aren't they doing dating stuff already?"

"They are! But they're being weird about it," Lucida complains. Their dating is slow and cheesy and awkwardly sweet at times, and it's driving Lucida nuts.

Ermilinda greets her daughter with a wide grin just as she enters the house. "Luci, I have a surprise for you."

Lucida has a good feeling about this, and eagerly follows her to the backyard. 

Lucida runs to the telescope and runs back to hug Ermilinda as tightly as she could. "It's not my birthday yet!" She always wanted one of those contraptions, but she didn't expect to have one NOW.

"It doesn't have to be a birthday present," Ermilinda laughs. Actually, she doesn't have a place to hide it properly (not that there are a lot of areas to hide in this house), so she'll have to make adjustments with the ACTUAL birthday gift.

She gives Lucida the freedom to use the telescope for as long as she wants for tonight.

Speaking of Lucida's birthday, it's already two days from now, and she calls Cresalina to help her prepare for this one, just like how she helps her prepare for the past birthdays. And then Lucida suddenly appears with the newspaper.

"And we could get her -- now that you mention it, I kinda WANT a new easel now."

Lucida rolls her eyes as she flips to the new page. She already knows what they're talking about, but she lets it slide. For her mother's sake, she pretends not to notice and continues reading.

Ermilinda walks a bit farther from where Lucida is sitting as the topic turns into something else. She clears her throat nervously. Cresalina is the only one among her sisters to know about her growing relationship with Leo.

"Well? How's it going with him?"

"It's okay, but," She pauses. "I'm unsure about it." She's unsure of how Lucida is dealing with this kind of thing; Ermilinda did tell her that she won't get into dating anyone anymore. It's a bit troublesome.

"If things get rough, you can always break up with him and kick him out of the house," Cresalina suggests. "And I might make his job a bit of a hell -- "

"Don't," Ermlinda warns her.

Leo's not a bad person: he's playing chess with her daughter in pajamas. He was about to go to sleep but Lucida has other plans. The chess set was bought at Ermilinda's whim, and Lucida wants to use it to defeat her Aunt Felicita in whatever feud they have. 

He also loves his work, as he excitedly tells them about this one incident at work where they have to make some music by crumpling up their old music sheets. 

"Your job's weird," Lucida remarks. "How does crumpling paper even make music?"

"Someone even managed to make music using only 24 carrots," he tells her. 

The girls are given permission to go to the beach. Prepare for a spam of pretty pictures. 

Wobbly legs. 

It's Lucida's birthday! Ermilinda briefs her daughter with useful advice before the guests will start arriving. (Why is Leo going inside Ermilinda's room?)

"Adolescence will probably be the shittiest time of your life, Luci."

"Even worse than the time Dad died?"

Ermilinda pauses. "There are many things worse than death." Then she smiles reassuringly. "Buckle up, Luci."

The kids gather at the proper sitting area.

(From left to right: Oliver Saint, August Woods, Lucida, and Trisha)

While the adults gather at the area behind it. 

Also, featuring two different opinions on movies from Ermilinda's sisters. It's no wonder that Cresalina and Felicita never seem to interact with each other most of the time (it's nothing personal though).

This kid knows some good shit about stars. 

Finally, it's time for cake!

They are just so excited for her. 

With each blow, Trisha hopes that it'll help her cousin grow up beautifully.

"Please don't blow too hard beside me," August tells her tonelessly.

What does she want when she grows up? Beauty? Fame? All the books that she could get her hands on? More cake? Maybe a potential substitute dad who is not Leo? 

Everyone gathers for the cake while Cresalina decides to stand far away from the table and praises herself for choosing this common birthday cake. 

(The birthday celebrant and her mother is somewhere helping the former with her new clothes)

Cresalina plays a sad song she made for her beloved niece. 

Please don't roll your eyes at me

I know I'm embarrassing

But someday you'll understand

You'll hold a little hand

Ask them if they can

"You help me with these dishes?" Ermilinda continues the song, making her sister begrudgingly put down her guitar and do the dishes instead.

Ermilinda pretends she's not in this weird situation where her older sister is eyeing her boyfriend with a dangerous intent. Fortunately for the three of them, Felicita enjoyed the party, thank you very much.

Like mother, like daughter, Lucida pretends not to notice and continues playing chess.

When the last guests finally left, Ermilinda pulls her daughter aside and gives her a plate of cake that she managed to save from the horde earlier. 

"Happy birthday, Luci."

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I forgot what I was supposed to write for this chapter because I've been saving up the pictures for SO LONG. But I guess it worked out in the end.