They immediately put me inside a private room in the nearest hospital from the restaurant, where we were supposed to have dinner to avoid attention from people who walk in and out of the hospital. Mom said the doctor also told them there was nothing we should be concerned about after a few tests they gave me, apart from the fact that I was a little dehydrated and the blood pressure was unstable.
I knew my blood pressure had been low because I often feel dizzy and I look pale without makeup on. The doctor advised me to eat healthily and get a proper rest to get back in shape. According to mom, Lucas followed us into the hospital, but dad told him to leave. He obeyed immediately in fear of making a scene and after that—he didn't come back.
It seemed he was afraid of getting hit again by my dad. Well, that's better because I don't want to see his face around.
They told me to rest, but the ambiance inside the room was uncomfortable. I convinced my parents to get me out of the hospital. I would rather rest at the hotel than inside a room. I don't even know how many took their last breath there. While dad settled things, mom and I waited for him in the lobby.
I no longer feel dizzy. It was just that my stomach was sour because we haven't had dinner yet, but that didn't matter because I was more concerned about the things inside my head.
"By the way, hija, the doctor asked what happened before you lost consciousness." I suddenly stopped filtering my thoughts when mom mentioned this. I was alarmed because the problem might increase when what happened in the restaurant became the talk of the town.
"D-Did you tell him?" I asked. Too obvious with the way I stammered how nervous I was.
"Of course I didn't," mom answered while rolling her eyes. "I only told him we were having dinner when you suddenly passed out—just that," she assured me. I immediately sighed as a sign of relief when I heard this.
"I know what could happen if I did, so you don't have to worry about it. Your dad and I will protect you," she assured me.
"Thanks, mom," I gave her a hug and lay my head on her shoulder and as I moved away, she patted my cheek and smiled sweetly at me.
I'm thankful that they are my parents. Even though I grew up as a brat and kept getting upset when I did not get what I wanted, they never get tired of teaching me and loving me. They have no choice, anyway. I am their only child. I love them both so much. I just couldn't show it often.
Honestly, mom did the right thing, although she lied, yes, but she saved me from getting into more trouble.
It is actually strange how Lucas's family values their name, and almost all over England people know them, especially those in the line of big companies. That is the one thing I don't like about them, but I discovered it too late. I got to know when I was already married to one of them.
Well, I found out they were so afraid to put dirt on their name but they were fearless of doing things that could destroy it. They thought they could shut the mouths of people by stuffing them with money all the time.
I could do that as well. Our wealth is close to them. My dad could use all his power to put their family down if I asked him to, but I don't want to. I don't want to drag my parents to something I know would also cause something that we won't be happy with in the end. They are lucky because my parents are still using their brains. Still kind, despite what their son did to me. But earlier—I was a little surprised when Lucas said that we should talk about everything first.
He was asking for a chance, and that left me clueless. Like why? His reason was enough to end things between us. He was too shallow because his reason was I could not give him a child. Let me rephrase that—I haven't been able to give him a child—yet.
There are still chances that I could. I don't understand why he cheated and used that as a reason and that—really frustrates me to the core. If I could just give him a headbutt when he was still in front of me, I would, but I suddenly lost consciousness while they were quarreling.
His last words kept repeating inside my head. His words are sharp enough to pierce a heart.
"Are you okay, Elyana?" my mom out of nowhere suddenly asked me. I forgot I was still with her. I got lost in my own thoughts and for a moment, it scared me.
I could clearly see the concern and sadness in my mom's eyes. I knew she was hurting as well because of what was happening to me. It hurts to see her and my dad sad because of what I was going through. To realize my marriage was a mistake that I even fought for was truly a shame.
"Y-Yes, mom. I am," And this time, my turn to smile. But mine was fake, and hers was not.
Dad arrived, and we went back to the hotel. We requested sandwiches, and that was what we shared as our dinner. After eating and taking a few minutes of preparing before going to bed, we three slept together again in the same bed.
My parents hugged me like I was back to being their small daughter. Being in the middle of them made me feel protected. They fell asleep faster. I heard dad snoring, and as the night got deeper, the more my thoughts bothered me.
To distract my mind, I tried to think of a few plans to do after I get divorced, although Lucas didn't sign the papers yet—anyway, I thought of a few things, but what made me feel excited was the idea of going back to the Philippines to start a new life there.
I have friends in the Philippines, the Martincu's siblings who have been my friends since I remember. Lea the eldest, and the twins of Martincu, Felix, and Felipe—I mean Felicity, who are just a year older than me.
Felicity is my childhood best friend. Born as a boy, but he has a heart of a girl. I still remember those times he was often at our house when we were kids to play with me and my dolls. We play dress up and I let him wear my clothes and sometimes we do make-up together.
Their Dad was very strict when he was alive. That was why he hid who he truly was for a long time. Actually, I was the first to know. That became our secret for a very long time before I convinced him to tell his parents when we were in high school and, as we expected, their dad didn't accept it.
That was where he rebelled. He became the black sheep of their family and when we were in college, Felicity ran away and whatever he has now, it is the fruit of his own hard work. I had never been so proud when I got the news his career as a matchmaker had been booming.
He's a well-known matchmaker now in the Philippines. The owner of the first-ever matchmaker agency in the Philippines. Not a big agency, but he's earning big because most of his clients are rich.
Well, Felicity is the sister who would always make you smile. Among the three Marticu's children, he had been the closest to me. We stayed in contact but recently we have been so busy. Lea already had her own family. She just gave birth to her second child, and last among the Marticu's, Felix, this nerdy and aloof twin brother of Felicity whose brain had been so hard to read.
They are identical twins and it's hard to know who and who, but for me, I have a way. You just have to wait to see whose hand moves like he was holding a magic wand, and when it comes to Felipe, he mostly acts snobbish and he likes to walk out, it's Felix.
Felix—actually, he's the type of guy that girls chase, unlucky them. He was too snobbish and he always focused too much on his studies. He was the version of a no-girlfriend-since-birth, but I somehow understand why.
He is the only boy in their family, because one is only half, and their dad wanted one of his boys to be reliable enough to manage their engineering firm. I heard he's still single and I'm thirty-six now—he's thirty-seven.
Sometimes it made me wonder maybe he was waiting for someone. Who knows, when we were kids, people around us teased us as childhood sweethearts. They say we look good together. One is handsome and one beautiful. Thinking about those old times puts a smile on my face. I honestly feel like a fool, smiling alone. Even though my day and the days that passed were very stressful, I found a reason to smile.
Like I suddenly found a light, even though darkness surrounds me.
I fell asleep after reminiscing about things back in the Philippines and I put it on the top list of the plans I will do once I'm done with Lucas.
Two days had passed and there was still no word on whether Lucas had signed the papers. It seemed the other party didn't want to make it easy for us. My lawyer advised me to use the precise reason I want to end my relationship with him, which was adultery, and we took the issue to court to help us with the process. They appealed and made a statement that I was the one creating stories because I only want money, but for Pete's sake! They were trying to turn the story to make him look like he was the victim. I even wanted to believe the chance he was asking for was genuine, even though his voice lacked sincerity that day. But now — how could I believe him? And during those two days of me waiting, I never heard from him. Just today, I received a message from an employee in their company the other day that Diane had been visiting Lucas in his office. I couldn't believe that she had such an audacity to show her face in a place that was once my territory. They were not scared to show to
It was the most tiring and longest week of my life. Lucas didn't stop bothering me, even though I already made myself clear I would continue the divorce I filed. I was not crazy to just forget what he did to me, not like his poor mom who had been cheated on several times, but still hadn't divorced her unfaithful husband. Lucas didn't deserve a second chance, and I didn't feel his sincerity whenever he tried to ask for forgiveness. I was sure his dad was the only one who motivated him to negotiate with me for their reputation and the assets they might lose. That manipulative man thought he could use me as one of his puppets. As for his son, who couldn't refuse his order — even after getting married, he continued interfering with his son's life's decisions — with our lives. 'I would be glad once Lucas and I are finally divorced. He is no longer my in-law.' I thought. It wouldn't come to that if Lucas's relationship was new maybe — just maybe I still could still forgive him, but hello
After getting the divorce papers, the next thing I did was start selling my assets. I also moved to a different hotel and made sure Lucas couldn't follow me anymore. He no longer had a reason to look for me because everything between us was done and resolved, but I just wanted to make sure, and yes, I received a vast amount after they combined both of our assets. I knew he was having a lot of regrets because he lost a lot. The first thing I sold was the resthouse, don't ask me why. Honestly, if I didn't think it would be a waste, I might have just bulldozed it or set it on fire, but if I had put it on fire, someone else could have been affected because it was in the middle of the forest. 'I'm not that heartless.' It wasn't that hard to find a buyer. The resthouse was the most important and memorable place to me before, but because of the two shameless fellas, it turned into the thing I hate the most. I had an acquaintance that handled everything, the same as with other properties
It was a scorching morning when I woke up the next day—still surprised by the new atmosphere and weather. I still thought about the delicious dinner I had that night that I first thought was just a dream. I ate a lot, though. I even forgot the proper table etiquette because I ate giant oysters and lobsters with my bare hands. Filipino food has a unique taste. Even some kinds of seafood I missed the taste. I hope Mom's newly hired maids wouldn't spread the word about what happened last night because it was embarrassing. For sure, they had been thinking I looked like I didn't eat for days. It was 10:00 am when I woke up, that was why it was already hot. I didn't turn on the air conditioner when I went to bed because I was already tired. My whole body was dripping with sweat with the humidity. I was awake, but my spirit was still asleep. I stayed lying down even though I was already sweating, but when I suddenly remembered my plan for the day, I got up. I almost forgot where I planned
Since we sat down, we hadn't started eating yet. I kept answering everything Lea was asking. More about the things I did for the past five years I was gone in England. Although we kept in touch while I was away, face-to-face conversations aren't similar to texts and phone calls; those only happened when there were special occasions. The time had always been limited, so I couldn't tell them all the details. "Mama is such a killjoy," Lea murmured while pouting her lips when Auntie Eugene told her to let me eat first. "You know, if you're the only one who will be hungry, I'll let you carry on with an empty stomach. My grandson wouldn't have milk to drink when he wakes up," Aunt preached to her daughter just to make her stop talking, and because of that, she stopped. Lea just gave birth to her second baby. A healthy baby boy who's already six weeks old. Thinking about that made me feel sad for myself. Lea was only a few years older than me, but she had already given birth twice. The
"So, how are you, Felix?" I broke the silence after I let a few minutes pass by. He had been silent since we rode in the car, and we were already halfway from where we came to the mansion, but he didn't even try saying anything. "I'm good," he answered flatly, looking at the road as if he didn't want to talk to me. I tried ignoring that because there were things I badly wanted to know from him. "And why does it seem you're not good at all? Is managing a company stressful?" I continued. "Well, yeah. It's stressful sometimes when there's a lot of paperwork, but because it's for the good of the company, it's okay to be stressed," he answered. His tone remained the same. He sounded uninterested in our conversation, and his eyes were fixed on the road. "And how about your love life? I won't believe you if you tell me you're still single now," I asked. The truth was, that was what I wanted to know. I want to hear from Felix about what Lea told me earlier. I heard so much from Lea that
"No! I don't want to!" I exclaimed firmly and was about to stand from sitting when Felicity suddenly grabbed my arm and made me stay from where I was sitting. "Just for once, Elyana. Please... pretty please... date him so he will stop pressuring me. I have other clients to take care of. I'm planning to go somewhere. I don't have enough time to arrange him for my female clients now that I have already tried doing for so many times. Please! Help me, just with this person, please!" he begged. He even kneeled on the floor that shocked me the most. "H-Hey, girl...get up!" Ordering him, but he didn't want to listen. I couldn't believe that was what he would ask me to do after so many years we were apart but he seemed to be in trouble with his client, and I'd seen it as well, but what should I do? I had other plans too. "Pleaseee?" he pleaded. He stayed kneeling while both palms of his hands touching. Felicity tooks like praying, but knowing what he wanted from me, I'm not a saint to agre
I had gotten ready, but I was having second thoughts about meeting Quintin. I got exhausted shopping for clothes that afternoon. When I was supposed to buy only a few things to put in my closet, I bought almost 10% of the dresses, sleepwear, and shoes displayed in just one boutique. Who can blame me though? The aesthetic hues of the clothes and softness of the fabrics were too delicate for the skin. Fits for tropical countries just like the Philippines. The designs were cute, from the florals to the prints, and I felt like a teenager again after trying a few. I fell in love with them, and that’s why I took them home. The staff made me try most of the clothes that they told me would look good on me, and I admit, I became too gullible to believe all their sales talk. When I was done, my poor driver had to carry a lot of shopping bags and boxes. He had trouble putting all the stuff I bought inside the car. Fortunately, he thought of a way. He asked me if it was okay to remove some