I couldn't shake off my 'grandfather's' words. ‘𝘐 𝘱𝘶𝘭𝘭𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘵𝘳𝘪𝘨𝘨𝘦𝘳,’ he said that’s what my father said the day he died.

I can’t wait any longer. I need the answers to this mystery. I’ll go to Rizal right away tomorrow.

That evening, Jena, Mama, Ali and I filled the Farrado residence. Ali and Jena were chatting noisily in the living room while I was with Mama in the kitchen preparing food.

"𝗨𝗵𝗵, 𝗱𝗼 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗵𝗮𝘃𝗲 𝗮𝗻𝘆 𝗽𝗹𝗮𝗻𝘀 𝗼𝗳 𝘃𝗶𝘀𝗶𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗼𝗹𝗱 𝗵𝗼𝘂𝘀𝗲, 𝗠𝗮𝗺𝗮?" I tried to ask casually.

Mama looked at me. Maybe she found it weird. It was the first time I showed interest in the past.

She firmly replied, "𝗪𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗲𝗹𝘀𝗲 𝗶𝘀 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗲 𝘁𝗼 𝗴𝗼 𝗯𝗮𝗰𝗸 𝘁𝗼 𝗶𝗻 𝗔𝗻𝗴𝗼𝗻𝗼, 𝗮𝗻𝗮𝗸? 𝗜 𝘄𝗮𝗻𝘁 𝘁𝗼 𝗳𝗼𝗿𝗴𝗲𝘁 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗽𝗮𝗶𝗻 𝗼𝗳 𝗹𝗼𝘀𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗳𝗮𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗿. 𝗜 𝘄𝗶𝗹𝗹 𝗮𝗹𝘄𝗮𝘆𝘀 𝗯𝗲 𝗿𝗲𝗺𝗶𝗻𝗱𝗲𝗱 𝗼𝗳 𝗵𝗶𝗺 𝗶𝗳 𝗜 𝘃𝗶𝘀𝗶𝘁 𝗠𝗮𝗿𝘄𝗼𝗼𝗱 𝗮𝗴𝗮𝗶𝗻. 𝗕𝗲𝘀𝗶𝗱𝗲𝘀, 𝘄𝗲'𝗿𝗲 𝗵𝗮𝗽𝗽𝘆 𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗲, 𝗿𝗶𝗴𝗵𝘁?"

‘𝘋𝘰𝘯'𝘵 𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘳𝘺, 𝘔𝘢𝘮𝘢. 𝘐 𝘸𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘣𝘳𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘫𝘶𝘴𝘵𝘪𝘤𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘗𝘢𝘱𝘢'𝘴 𝘥𝘦𝘢𝘵𝘩,’ I said in my head, despite some doubt my father’s last words to Grandpa gave me. If he pulled the trigger, should I really bring justice to him? Shouldn’t it be the other way around? What happened when he pulled the trigger?

Ali and Jena interrupted, so I didn't discuss it further and continued with dinner. We started eating and I’m waiting for the right time to announce my out-of-town leave.

"𝗠𝘆 𝗯𝘂𝘀𝗶𝗻𝗲𝘀𝘀 𝗰𝗼𝗻𝘀𝘂𝗹𝘁𝗮𝗻𝘁 𝗵𝗮𝘀 𝗮𝗱𝘃𝗶𝘀𝗲𝗱 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗺𝘆 𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗽𝗮𝗻𝘆 𝘀𝗵𝗼𝘂𝗹𝗱 𝘀𝗽𝗿𝗲𝗮𝗱 𝗼𝘂𝘁 𝗻𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝘄𝗶𝗱𝗲. 𝗪𝗲 𝘄𝗶𝗹𝗹 𝗯𝗲 𝗶𝗻𝗾𝘂𝗶𝗿𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗮𝗯𝗼𝘂𝘁 𝗹𝗼𝗰𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝘀 𝗳𝗶𝘁 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗽𝗮𝗻𝘆. 𝗧𝗵𝗶𝘀 𝘁𝗮𝗹𝗸 𝗵𝗮𝘀 𝗯𝗲𝗲𝗻 𝗴𝗼𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗼𝗻 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝘄𝗲𝗲𝗸𝘀 𝗻𝗼𝘄 𝗯𝘂𝘁 𝗜’𝘃𝗲 𝗯𝗲𝗲𝗻 𝗯𝘂𝘀𝘆…𝘄𝗶𝘁𝗵 𝘄𝗼𝗿𝗸. 𝗦𝗼𝗿𝗿𝘆 𝗶𝗳 𝗶𝘁’𝘀 𝘀𝗼 𝘀𝘂𝗱𝗱𝗲𝗻 𝗯𝘂𝘁 𝗜 𝗵𝗮𝘃𝗲 𝗮 𝗯𝘂𝘀𝗶𝗻𝗲𝘀𝘀 𝗼𝘂𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘁𝗼𝗺𝗼𝗿𝗿𝗼𝘄," even though the truth was I would head to Rizal for an investigation. It’s better to keep them out of this mess. I’ll handle this on my own.

“𝗕𝗮𝗯𝗲, 𝘄𝗵𝘆 𝗮𝗿𝗲 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝘀𝗮𝘆