Aling Minda’s dining table was full of food.
Lechon (roast pig), spaghetti, and fruit salad.
Eric, the eldest son, had just arrived from Dubai after five years of not coming home.
Gloria (the second sibling) and Jun-jun (the youngest) were smiling.
They were excited not for Eric, but for the large Balikbayan Boxes they were expecting.
“I’m sure I’ll get an iPhone from Kuya (older brother)!” said Jun-jun.
“Me, I’m sure it’ll be a branded bag and perfumes!” said Gloria.
The door opened. Eric walked in.
He was thin, had dark circles under his eyes, and looked utterly exhausted.
The only thing he carried was a small, faded backpack.
“Nay (Mother), I kiss your hand,” Eric greeted, kissing his mother’s hand.
His siblings looked at him.
They looked behind Eric. Nothing.
They looked outside the door. No van, no boxes.
“Kuya, where is the Balikbayan Box?” Gloria immediately asked, her smile gone.
“I didn’t send any, Glo,” Eric replied softly. “I didn’t bring anything either. Just this backpack.”
The family exchanged glances. The air suddenly grew heavy.
“What?!” Jun-jun shouted. “You were in Dubai for five years, Kuya! You’re an Engineer there, aren’t you? Not even chocolates?”
“I apologize. I was saving my salary for something,” Eric explained, about to sit down to drink water.
But Gloria angrily slammed the plate she was holding down.
“You have the nerve! You come home here for what? To eat the feast we prepared? We put in the effort to cook, and you don’t even have a contribution?”
“Son,” Aling Minda interjected, but she was also visibly disappointed. “Not even a bar of soap or lotion for your mother, nothing?”
“Nay, I was saving up for the—”
“For yourself!” Gloria cut him off. “How selfish! I bet you gambled there, huh? Or maybe you have another woman! That’s why you brought nothing home! You’re a worthless brother!”
Eric’s chest tightened.
He stared at the family he had been supporting monthly through remittances.
The first time he failed to bring gifts, and this was how they treated him.
“Get out!” Jun-jun yelled. “If you didn’t bring anything, you’re useless here! Sleep outside!”
No one took Eric’s side.
Even his mother turned her back on him and went into the room, upset.
Eric stood up. He held back his tears.
“Fine,” Eric said. “I’ll leave. I’m sorry if I disappointed you.”
He took a brown envelope from his backpack and placed it on the table, next to the lechon that he hadn’t even tasted.
“That was supposed to be for you. Happy Birthday, Nay. Happy Graduation, Jun. And for you, Glo, a peace offering.”
Eric walked out of the house as it began to rain.
Once their brother was gone, Gloria angrily snatched the envelope.
“What is this? A letter of apology? Small change?”
She opened it and took out the contents.
Gloria’s eyes widened.
Jun-jun’s jaw dropped.
Aling Minda came out when she heard Gloria scream.
“W-what is that?” the mother asked.
Gloria’s hand was trembling as she read the document.
It was the Original Certificate of Title for the land and the house where they lived.
The house had been mortgaged for a long time and was about to be foreclosed by the bank due to the large debt left by their late father.
Inside the envelope, there was a letter and a passbook.
Aling Minda read Eric’s letter aloud, her voice shaking:
“Nay, Glo, Jun…
I apologize that I don’t have chocolates, shoes, or perfume.
For five years, I scrimped on myself. I only ate canned goods and noodles in Dubai so I could save the 3 Million needed to pay the mortgage on our house.
I didn’t want you to be evicted. This is my gift—the assurance that we have a house we can call our own forever.
And that passbook contains 500k, for you and Nanay to start a business so you won’t have to rely on remittances anymore.
It was my intention not to bring gifts that are used up, so I could give you a gift that cannot be stolen.”
Intense crying erupted inside the house.
Gloria realized that while she was looking for an imported bag, her brother had paid for the roof over their heads.
Jun-jun, who was looking for shoes, didn’t know that his brother had cemented the ground they walked on.
They all ran outside.
“Kuya! Kuya Eric!” they shouted in the middle of the rain.
They saw Eric at the end of the street, waiting for a tricycle, completely soaked.
They ran faster than sprinters.
Aling Minda hugged her son.
Gloria and Jun-jun knelt at their brother’s feet, sobbing uncontrollably.
“Forgive us, son! Forgive us!” the mother cried. “We were so shallow! We were so wicked!”
Eric smiled bitterly but hugged his mother back.
“It’s okay, Nay. What’s important is the house is ours now. No one will knock to make you leave.”
That night, there were no imported chocolates on the dining table.
But it was their most delicious dinner—because along with the lechon and spaghetti, they swallowed their pride and learned the true value of a brother’s love, who was willing to look selfish, just to secure his family’s future.