Disclaimer: I do not own Skip Beat, and its characters, All Rights Reserved to Yoshiki Nakamura-Published 2002;
Warning: This is purely fiction, driven out from my favorite fandom/s. I do not own nor profit from its characters; the places familiar to the fandom and the ones from the 'real world.' If there are places unfamiliar; Therefore, I take credit together with the characters I personally made which would be addressed by the end notes.
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Part 6
Unconditional
Julie Hizuri long accepted that her youngest son loved another mother other than her, watching a heart warming scene in front, where her son; Julianne finally found his nanny, the woman who raised him from the time he was a toddler to his teenage life. "Look at you 'Anak!' You're so big na!" The woman spoke with her mother language and kept on cooing at the youngest Hizuri. "I'm so relieved that you are well!" Giving him another tight hug.
Julianne with his warmest and softest smile, "I heard from mom that you resigned after I left for University." He asked.
The old woman cupped his cheeks, "You are the only reason I stayed, Anak." Hugging him again, "But I am glad you are well, and wow! You grew to a fine young man!" She never failed to provide the young man plenty of praises, Julie felt guilty that she rarely praised her son in the past. The woman provided the much needed love, affection, affirmation and attention, and the fact the nanny stayed for the sake of her son in the past is quite the unconditional devotion as his second mother, Julie has to admit that without the older woman, their son would have been broken into the worst state. Julie appreciates her for that.
Julianne looked at her with pleading eyes, "Nanay, now that I'm back, would you please stay again? I promise to be good and help you around instead..." The nanny however turned to her former employers for permission, the woman was very understanding and do not want to intrude with the family when they are tying to mend their awful past. Julie and Kuu who does not have the heart to refuse gave their smile nodding.
Julie finally spoke, "After you left, I requested her to stay with us, but nanny Mel insisted to retire."
Kuu followed, "Julie and I could not thank you enough for helping us raise Julianne, and we appreciate what lengths you had gone through to be with us." Kuu said in appreciation, "Not only Julianne but Kuon too." Yes, the woman helped raised both of their boys, but the nanny had a special place in her heart for the youngest.
Kuon and Kyoko who are present were thankful for her too, Kyoko gave her a tight hug appreciating what she did for her little Corn. "Come, let's head inside!" Julie pulled everyone in the house.
Kuon told his fiancee that their nanny never got married because she was too busy taking care of him and Julianne, "Like no boyfriend?" Kyoko gasped at the old lady.
"Goodness, hija! No!" The old lady blushed and giggled, "I was to dedicated on raising these boys! One's really handful and the other has the fancy to keep things to himself!" Staring at her favorite sons. "I hope, ya'ng alaga ko, did not give you so much trouble~" she mused.
Kyoko had confused look, "What she meant was, 'I' did not cause you any trouble." Kuon translated and Kyoko was amazed that her fiancé knew another language.
"What language was that?" She asked.
Julianne replied, "Tagalog. Nanay Mel is a pure Filipina from Philippines." He explained. Now that the woman was reminded of her country of origin.
"I almost forgot mga anak!" She then went to look for her luggage and took out plenty of items, "I brought pasalubong!" Kyoko again confused.
Kuon chuckled, "Pasalubong means souvenirs." The woman started to take out jars of food and other presents. Julie was delighted to have new types of textile for her to experiment designs, she and the nanny had been long friends and even took the couple years ago to visit her home country. Kuu loved the traditions there since it involves plenty of food, cultural entertainment and sights, while Julie loved the native fashion, especially the colorful patterns and handmade fabrics.
"Kuon, anak, here!" Handing him a giant jar of purple yam.
Kuon's eyes sparkled, "Is this Ube Halaya?" he grinned and immediately fetched a spoon to share with Kyoko.
Julie giggled, but she was lowkey jealous since she cannot do those trick to her sons, "You never fail to amaze us how you can bring the inner child out of a twenty seven years old..."
Nanny Mel gave her a soft smile, "I'll share my secrets later... for now, Cha-cha!" her personal nickname for Julianne, he then bounded like an excited five years old grinning from eart-to-eat with his hands reaching, his security as well as staff were all amused at their boss' childish behavior. "How can I forget about you? Here! The Bagoong and Durian Yema that you always love!" Julianne took the items with glee, everyone except his parents started at the massive bottle with weird content.
With a wide grin, "My inner seven years old is already going feral for these."
Once he opened the bottle the room started to stink, everyone except nanny Mel and Julie did not mind it. "Stinky and weird, just like how I love and remember it! Thank you Nanay!" He gave her another hug as thanks, "Do we have any mango?" he asked and his staff together with the new housekeepers were looking weirdly at him, "A manga that's still green..." And went to the kitchen to look for any.
Kuon was holding his breath, "This finally reminded me how morbid bagoong is, than nato." he commented and Kuu laughed.
"Julie-sama, we know Chief eats plenty and all kinds of food but, is it really okay to give him that?" Julianne's staff were overly concerned.
Julie and the nanny shared a look and laughed, "Well, when Signora was pregnant with Cha-cha, she was craving for some sour and salty dish, I remembered the best pair; mango and bagoong thus, it became her pregnancy craving combination." Everyone in the room were silent amazed of what the fashion godmother was eating while carrying their Chief. Turning to where their employer is, he was now happily munching at the stack of unripe and sour fruit with the weird jar of stinky paste.
While everyone was busy receiving presents from nanny Mel, Kuu noticed his wife to be a little down. "Honey, are you okay?" Kuu scooted and comforted her.
With a long sigh, "Do not get me wrong, I don't have anything against Melanie, and whatever it is, it's gratefulness and appreciation." She breathed in, "But I can't help to envy how she can bring the smiles to our boys! Especially Julianne." Julie finally cried and hugged Kuu.
"I understand babe, and I to regret making him lonely and unappreciated for so long. She and our Julianne bonded while we were busy." Kuu rubbed her back and allowed her to cry.
Julie sniffled, "I know, and the only person I blame is myself for not paying attention. I'm happy she was there to help and be present for him. I don't know what to think if she wasn't around. Julianne might even have ended his life a long time ago." Kuu had to agree. Julie fixed herself to be presentable before joining everyone again.
Julie and Kuu watched their youngest son enthusiastically show pictures of his University life and awards to his nanny, telling her about his achievements and adventures. Not gonna lie, the couple were a little bitter that he did not show the same happiness nor enthusiasm when he came home after graduating- but who are they to complain, it was their fault their youngest had a rough and lonely teen years, they will take what they can receive.
Once everything was settled, Kuu and Julie assigned nanny Mel to be the head-retainer since she knows the ins-and-outs, especially all the work needed to be done. Surprisingly, even the mean-looking security dogs frolic like puppies around her, she never cease to amaze the celebrity couple.
Indeed, nanny Mel shared her secret with Julie and Kuu, so far for a week she returned Julie has been slowly sliding her son's comfort zone, except for Kuu, he's taking a little bit longer because Julianne has plenty more reservations.
Despite the little bitter feeling because of how affectionate her sons towards their nanny, Julie will never exchange what she has right now; the formerly empty mansion is now bustling with her children, happy staff and even plenty of dogs. Julie never realized that the silence in the past was more deafening than the boisterous and chaotic situation her manor is having at the present.
The nanny had a relieved look, "Signora, thank you for calling and letting me know, your boys are finally home. I was really worried about you and there wasn't a day, I am not thinking about both of you and Signor Kuu." the nanny thanked her. Julie only smiled and noticed the tiny gold necklace she gave the lady in the past.
"No, thank you... thank you for always taking care of my sons." Julie expressed her gratefulness through another embrace.
Nanny Mel then pulled out the umbrella, "Siri said there is a chance of rain today, here please take this!" and handing the item to her employer.
"Thank you nanny~" And Julie stepped in to Kuu's car. Not only she takes care of the boys, but also their home and even them. Her unconditional love was not just reserved to Kuon and Julianne, but to the whole Hizuri family.
~TBC~
Extra: Feeding Frenzy
With a new knowledge that Julianne eats anything that's edible after Kyoko's recent vlog, her fans combined with Kuon's started to make requests and made a new trend, hauling along his personal staff.
They have been taking turns making weird dishes from other country and feeding it to the unsuspecting youngest Hizuri, as he enjoys his grub not complaining at all he then started to get alarmed, "Aright, can someone tell me what is going on and why are you guys feeding me every-thirty-minutes-or-so?" they all looked guilty. Yashiro who was asked by Kuon to record as usual was hiding his amusement.
Kyoko guilty of the trend showed him her phone and the comments made by her and Kuon's fans, everyone in the room feel silent and watched Julianne's next reaction. With a long inhale, "I won't mind you guys feeding me these weird edible stuff but at least give me the heads up." He was too kind for his own good. His staff breathed in relief that they were not going to be fired any-time-soon.
With everyone ditching and avoiding being scolded, Yashiro remind quietly by the couch and continued to record Julianne who finished the mountain of greasy food given to him by Kuon.
~TBC~
A/N: Tagalog (Filipino) 101 with your loving pinsan (cousin)
Anak: It means child. Yaya Mel here adresses the Hizuri boys as her "Children" its. very common thing with nannies in PH, my late Yaya Bell calls me that all the time, or langa (my dear, in Hiligaynon. My native language.)
Pasalubong: means "Souvenir" but to expand, its a way of bringing loads of presents for family and friends (when I say loads, it is plenty and making sure the presents matches the receiver's taste, or close to what they like) and it is our tradition as Filipinos to come home bringing lots of presents.
Alaga: This accurately translates into "pet" but us Filipinos intimately refers to it as "someone we cared for dearly" this is another how my late Yaya would refer me as.
Nanay: It means mom, mother, mama. I never called Yaya Bell Nanay, but most of my friends with their Yayas, they call them Nanay.
Yaya: means Nanny.
About the food. Ube Halaya is one of my favorite, its made of as you guessed it "Ube" a purple sticky yam that was mashed and sweetened and placed in a jar. It is one of my favoeite deserts and another condiment for my favorite Halo-halo. (I sugget you guys try it when you visit.)
Bagoong: Let me introduce you to one of the stinkiest food PH can offer. LMAO, but I gotta admit, it is one of my favorite and I eat it with a rice. It is made out of anchovies, sardines, herring, silverside, shrimp, slipmouth, freshwater porgy, oysters, clams, and other shellfish. But mostly little shrimplets. I love them when they're cooked as "guisado" (stir fried with some steips or diced pork rinds and garlic) My friends love to dip the unriped mangoes to it. (I never liked sour things so its not appealing for me.)
I hope I get to teach you guys some more Tagalog and even my native language, (Hiligaynon.)
See you on the next one!