Misplaced Trust

It was 3 years ago when some of my cousins who live in the rural provinces (my family lives in the capital region in the Philippines) came by for a family get-together since my maternal grandmother from the US came back home for a months' visit. It was a huge family get-together event, more like 6 families consisting of relatives and my granny's old friends, all from the upper rural provinces. I have to admit some of them are somewhat poor financially, and I knew they're just fleecing my old granny of some dollars.

My aunt's house next door took in the older members of the group so our house inevitably hosted most of my cousins and some other people. Some of my cousins stayed in my room, which was spacious enough for 3 of us to sleep on my bed and the rest sleep on the floor in wide cots.

Inevitably, they opened my cabinets out of curiosity and found some of my good shirts and jeans. Some of them were local-made, some custom-made, and some were great shirts I got in Hong Kong, and most are designer clothes. My mom asked me to lend some of my clothes and jeans to make them look presentable during the many shopping trips my granny did which included them traveling to tourist spots and malls. Out of trust to kin, I did so.

When my grandmother went to catch her flight to the US, my relatives went with her to the airport for accompaniment then went their separate ways. A day later I was to go out on a date with my girlfriend. Then I noticed that most of my designer clothing were gone - all that I lent and some were obviously stolen. I asked my mom if my cousins returned my clothes and by her aghast expression I knew they did not. I immediately knew my trust was for naught - I have slept with thieves. I canceled my date and immediately called my cousins' parents telling them of their childrens' theft. To my disgust and horror, they defended their children even though I told them my mom said they did not return my clothes. They even called my mom a liar, which hurt the most. One month later one of my cousins who didn't come with his older brothers to see granny told me that they were bragging at school they have designer clothes - which he told me they told him in private those are my clothes, and he admitted was ashamed to have such siblings.

I was left with a sad reality - I have only one pair of jeans and five shirts left in my cabinet from a high of ten pairs of jeans and 45 shirts. I had to start buying some of my shirts and jeans again. Damn them. My girlfriend noticed my new clothes.

My grandmother's scheduled to return for another get-together here by February next year. I managed to convince my mom to not offer lodging to any relatives who will come next year, and to those thieves (I have a list of who's who of my thieving cousins and aunts and uncles who called my mom a liar. Who's in the list, STFU and GTFO, and who's not in the list, come in and welcome. I'll keep my room relative-free though). They can stay in any other house but ours. Sleep outside if they want.