little tyrants

abby asked me if i have sent tita liwayway to tears. her pillows were soaked, and her hair is all over her face.
no. i am not responsible for the outbreak of her tear glands. the petty argument we had earlier must have triggered a nerve.
andrei, my three year old cousin, ruined the box case of my recently-bought studio ghibli dvd set. as an initial impulse, i salvaged the box from his tiny hands and took it to my room where my tita liwayway ironed our clothes.

tita liwayway is a domesticated aunt who partly raised my two cousins and partly acts a household helper to my other aunt.

somewehere in the middle of my rants, the word peste (pest) came out.
tita liwayway gave me a judgmental look that pushed me to purse my lips.
“ang sakit mo naman magsalita.”

i did not refer to anyone. i made it clear to her. it was not andrei or her sister. it was just an expression, a mere term that is a result of random emotional release.
i found it foolish to have tried explaining to her the basics of semiotics. she would counter my statements with “wala, masama yung ginawa mo.” “bata lang yun, nakakasakit ka na,” “peste…masama yun” and never listen to me.

eavesdropping outside the door were the little tyrants, making innocent faces with teary- eyed hate-me-not-please expression. i gave up the discussion to rest my case and to fix the ruined box.

minutes after, i was shocked after my relatives asked me if i did something nasty to my cousins. they found them teary eyed as they sat on one corner of the bedroom.
i told the people around that i did not do anything to them, but their deceiving natural innocence was far more powerful than my rhetoric skills.
my cousins won.
the spotlight was on me.

abby thought i made tita liwayway cry. tita liwayway thought of another reason for me to be rejected in the gates of heaven. my cousins slept with smiles (more of a grin) pasted on their seemingly innocent faces.
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tyrant- an oppressive, harsh, arbitrary person
(source:http://www.answers.com/topic/tyrant)