Bucket List

Chapter 7 Good News

Alliah shared the good news with her sisters Hyacinth and Apple as a novelist and romance author now.

Her two sisters were so excited. They knew their sister Alliah was really fond of reading pocketbooks before, but to write on a digital platform was really a great pride for them. They were both proud of Alliah for finding and collecting herself every time she had downfalls in her life.

"Wow, congratulations sister," Hyacinth sent her a message through their WeChat.

"Thank you. I'll focus on writing now since I can't work physically, on-field anymore," Alliah smiled while responding to her sister.

"I am so proud of your sister. What Apps was it? I'll share your link with my friends as well," Apple was so excited about searching for the Apps on her phone. She wanted to read the few chapters her sister Alliah wrote.

"Thank you for your usual support of me, Apple. I love you," Alliah said sincerely to her younger sister.

"I am really blessed with you guys," she said to her sisters.

Her mother overheard it and even asked Alliah to download the Apps on her phone. Though their mother wasn't that sweet or showy, they knew that she was very proud of her children's achievements, especially Alliah, who was always by her side.

Alliah's mother simply sent the link to her co-civic workers and her employees after Alliah downloaded the Apps on her phone. She is so proud of her despite so many struggles in life, that she never saw her daughter Alliah give up. She always rose and stood still.

Though most of the time, she nagged Alliah with her failures in her life, she never failed to amuse her with how good her daughter really was. She doesn't even know how kind-hearted Alliah is until she lives with her again after the storm in her marriage life.

But never did Alliah beg for their help, especially in financing her son's needs. She supported and raised her son well. Her health was not cooperating, but Alliah's mindset toward survival was always present.

It was Alliah's will to survive and having Joshua as her inspiration to live her life to the fullest. She wanted to explore more about herself and make her journey of survival more exciting and colorful.

Her siblings and mother started to share the link to her newly approved ebook. They were so amazed at how Alliah's talents were so great. She had been just a simple girl since she was young, yet she had several talents that truly made her family proud of her. Her simplicity is quite beyond the monsters of talents hidden inside her.

Alliah smiled, seeing how excited her family was sharing her link with their friends and relatives. She needed to complete 500 subscribers in order to monetize her first book. They were all helping each other and Alliah found out that it was a bit difficult and that she really needed lots of connections to achieve her desired number. She kept on being busy having connections and even sending personal messages to her friends, relatives, and colleagues to subscribe to her link.

Apple and her mother smiled, seeing the new glow on Alliah's face. After her exploratory surgery, they seldom see her smile. She used to be silent most of the time and talk to her son. But now, having her new hobby of writing romantic novels, her aura has changed a lot. It seems like her writing makes her see another dimension of her life that brings her hope, peace, and happiness.

"Alright, I will prepare your favorite, chocolate porridge," Mrs. Torralba said and went to their kitchen right away.

"Wow, our all-time favorite," Apple excitedly said. Since they were kids, their mother used to cook chocolate porridge for them or what they commonly called "champorado" in Tagalog.

"Yey," Joshua's small voice could be heard happily by everyone. He loved chocolate porridge so much.

Apple carried her handsome nephew in her arms. She was so fond of her sister Alliah's only son. Despite his age of seven, he seemed to be an adult man being locked inside a child's body. He was so mature in thinking and easily coped with their situation. He knew that his mother was a solo parent and needed special attention since her health was not cooperating and yet still striving so hard to survive with her son.

"Come here, little man. I'll buy you some snacks at the convenience store," Apple left with Joshua then.

"Yey! So many blessings! I love you Antie Apple," Joshua kissed his aunt's cheeks alternately.

"Thank you Apple, but please don't spoil him too much," Alliah said to Apple with a reminder.

"He can be spoiled but never be a brat, okay," Apple said to her sister. She loved pampering Joshua so much. He is kind and very adorable and, besides, he is her only nephew. She couldn't help herself but give whatever she wanted to this handsome little man, the only son of her loving sister.

"Alright, thanks then. Don't forget that you also have a sister haha. You can continue to spoil me as well," Alliah lovingly shouted out while Apple and Joshua were leaving.

She opened her laptop and started to update her book. She's too excited to write new chapters of her book. She was so excited to see how her subscribers increased gradually, from 6 subscribers to 40.

"Wow, I will continue to promote my book on my page to gather additional subscribers," she told herself.

She started to explore her sister's list of friends first and asked for friend requests from those who have mutual friends in order to expedite the increasing number of her subscribers. She started to join different writers' groups as well to introduce her ongoing book.

There were so many options to explore too. She then coordinated with her editor on how to do promotions with the help of the platforms and her editor willingly shared some tips with her.

This new endeavor made Alliah so busy for the past few days. She took it as a challenge to herself. Making her gather some new friends on social media, from common friends, mutual friends, new friends from her co-authors, and the like. She found it very interesting and fun. She can collaborate with different people now from different countries as well.