warmheartedly | SUPPLMENTARY HISTORY

Born in the Philippines, Clara didn't have a lot of opportunities. Her parents couldn't afford much. With her father as a tricycle driver and her mother a hairdresser, she didn't have the luxury for many things. At least she got to study for a bit, learning Tagalog, English and some math before dropping out of school to help bring in money by doing laundry and by helping keep the house tidy.

That would have been her entire life if not for Francisco Seville. A boy she knew since childhood, Francisco was loud and boisterous and everything Clara was not. All the same the two quietly fell in love over the years and they got together officially when she was seventeen to her parents’ shock. To them Francisco was a hooligan, a street rat, and a troublemaker. It strained her relationship with her parents and she never really got them to see her side of it.

It reached a boiling point in 1969 during Clara's eighteenth birthday with only her parents and a few friends as guests, Francisco there too at her insistence. The quiet and awkward affair turned into a shouting match between Clara's father and Francisco when a momentary disagreement blew up and it ended with her fleeing the house in tears after her father, in a moment of anger, struck her when she tried to intervene. The next day Clara moved out of her remorseful parents' home and lived with Francisco.

1969 would also be the same year her father passed away from a car accident when his tricycle got struck by a truck. Her mother passed away from a combination of poor health that's been plaguing her for decades and grief from the loss.

Clara suddenly didn't want to live in the provinces anymore. In fact she didn't want to be there period. In a rare moment of impulsiveness, she turned to Francisco after the funeral and asked if they could go somewhere else. He agreed out of her sake and the two opted to migrate and headed to Britain since Francisco had a few close friends living there who could help him get a job or three if needed. While they struggled with paperwork to make themselves official citizens and tried to find a roof over their heads and earn a steady income, Clara had two children. In 1972, a year after they were married, they had Antonio and in 1973 they had Kyle.

After she allowed herself to grieve, Clara was able to move on with her life. Francisco and her got stable jobs and raised their sons to the best of their abilities, watching them both grow up to fine young men. While Kyle dropped out of school in his youth, Antonio managed to apply himself and he graduated from college with honors, soon marrying a classmate of his who came from a well-to-do family.

1997 she got the chance to hold her granddaughter, Magra, in her arms and welcomed the newest addition to the family. It felt like everything was going to plan.

Then Clara passed away in 1998. Like her mother, she never had the best health.