Chapter 2

Windy's POV

"Windy! Hurry up! The pandesal will be sold out again!"

I burst out laughing as I placed the last basket of eggplants at the back of our small tricycle.

"Aling Nena, just give me five minutes! The pandesal isn't going to run away."

"Three trays are already gone! I'm only waiting for you!"

"I'm coming!"

I quickly jumped off the tricycle and almost slipped on the muddy ground. The light rain last night had left most of the roads in our village wet and slippery. I immediately stretched my arms to the side to keep myself from falling.

"Oh my!" I laughed at myself. "What a good morning."

Seriously. Aling Nena was always rushing me. She was probably more afraid of me running out of pandesal than I was. But I couldn't really blame her. I didn't want to miss my favorite bread either. Good thing Aling Nena always saved some for me.

"You're unbelievable, hija."

Mang Isko lightly tapped my shoulder while sweeping the ground in front of the barangay hall. Even Mang Isko had witnessed my daily battle for pandesal.

Of course. It was my favorite. I would face every danger in this world just to taste you—

Wait. That sounded wrong.

Pandesal. I was talking about pandesal.

"One day, you're really going to break a bone," Mang Isko added.

"I won't break anything. Don't worry, Mang Isko."

"Why not?"

I proudly lifted my chin. "Because I'm God's favorite."

He slowly shook his head. "You're really something else."

I only grinned before continuing my walk. I grew up in San Isidro, a small town where almost everyone knew each other. Actually, I was pretty sure I could recognize most people here even with my eyes closed.

By their voices, their footsteps and maybe even their smell. That sounded a little strange, but it was true!

We saw the same people every day because strangers rarely visited our town. San Isidro was far from the city, and there wasn't really anything exciting here that would attract tourists.

Unless they wanted to see rice fields or chickens. We had plenty of those.

Aling Nena immediately smiled when she saw me standing in front of her small store.

"There you are, hija!" She quickly handed me a plastic bag filled with warm pandesal. "Here's your favorite." The old woman's smile grew wider when I accepted the bag. "Don't pay for it anymore."

My eyes widened. "Really?"

"Yes. Go home before you cause another accident."

I laughed. "Thank you, Aling Nena! You're my second favorite person today!"

"Second?"

"Lord is first."

She stared at me.

I quickly walked away before she could throw something at me. The smell of freshly baked pandesal filled my nose as I walked home. I was already thinking about dipping one into hot coffee when something unusual caught my attention.

I stopped walking. Three black luxury SUVs were parked in front of our house. My eyebrows immediately pulled together.

I stared at the expensive vehicles and then I looked at our small house. Then back at the SUVs.

Something wasn't right. Our town was so far from the city that seeing expensive cars here was rare. Usually, a nice car only appeared when someone from San Isidro finally escaped poverty and returned home to show everyone that they had made it in life.

Or...

My eyes narrowed. Maybe someone caught a foreigner again.

Lucky woman but then I frowned.

Wait. If someone had found a rich foreign boyfriend, why were the cars parked in front of our house? I shook my head and quickly walked faster.

Oh my goodness. What if it was Mama? What if Mama found a rich foreigner and planned to give him to me? I almost laughed at my own thoughts.

"Ma..." I called softly as soon as I reached our house. "Do we have visitors? There are rich-looking cars outside."

The front door opened. Mama immediately stepped outside. The moment I saw her face, my smile slowly disappeared.

She looked nervous. Very nervous. She couldn't even stay still as she walked toward me. She kept pressing and cracking her fingers, something she always did whenever she was worried.

"Anak..."

She quickly grabbed my arm and leaned closer. But before she could continue, my attention moved toward the living room. There were three men wearing black suits inside our house.

I blinked. They looked completely out of place.

Our living room was small. We had an old sofa, a wooden table, and curtains Mama had sewn herself. And now, three men who looked like they belonged in an action movie were standing inside it.

In the middle of them sat an older man. He was calmly drinking tea. The moment he saw me, he placed his cup down and immediately stood.

I studied his face. He didn't look familiar. I was certain I had never seen him in San Isidro before. Maybe he was one of those people who left our town, became rich, and never came back.

"Miss Windy Guanzon?" he asked.

Then he extended his hand toward me. For a second, I didn't know what to do first. Should I shake his hand? Or should I ask who he was? But because I was a kind and well-mannered person, I decided to keep my questions inside my head.

For now. I reached for his hand and shook it.

"Yes..." I tilted my head slightly. "Is there a problem?"

He gave me a polite smile. It was the kind of smile that immediately told you someone had money. I didn't know how to explain it. He just smiled differently. Even his smile looked expensive.

"My name is Benjamin Castillo, and I'm the legal counsel of the Domingo family."

Domingo?

I searched my memory. I found nothing. The surname wasn't familiar to me at all. And why was he telling me he was their legal counsel? Shouldn't he be visiting the Domingo family instead of us?

Because, with all respect, I didn't care.

Of course, I only said that inside my head. I was too kind to say something like that out loud. So, for now, my complaints would stay safely inside my brain.

"I'm sorry for coming here without prior notice."

Good. At least he knew. Because I almost had a heart attack after seeing three expensive cars suddenly parked outside our tiny house.

Our house was already small enough. Now his cars were covering the entire view.

Seriously.

"It's okay..." I answered instead.

I glanced at Mama. I honestly had no idea what this man wanted from our family. I didn't owe anyone a huge amount of money. At least, not that I remembered.

And I definitely didn't have any loans that required a lawyer to personally visit our house just to check if I still had money in my GCash account. From the look on Mama's face, she seemed just as confused as I was.

Attorney Castillo took a deep breath.

"I came here because I have something that your late father entrusted to Don Alejandro Domingo many years ago."

I froze.

Papa?

Hundreds of questions immediately rushed through my mind. How did this man know my father? Who was Don Alejandro? And what did Papa give him?

At the same time, I suddenly felt a tight pain in my chest. The smile slowly disappeared from my face. My father passed away when I was only eight years old.

Since then, we rarely talked about him. It wasn't because we had forgotten him.

We never did.

Maybe talking about Papa simply hurt too much. Even after all these years, I could still remember his face clearly. I remembered the way his eyes became smaller whenever he smiled. I remembered his laugh. His voice and the warmth of his hand whenever he held mine.

I had been young when he died. But the image of my father had never disappeared from my mind.

"What..." My voice came out softer than I intended. "What does this have to do with my father?"

Attorney Castillo looked at me with gentle eyes. "It has everything to do with him."

My fingers tightened around the woven bag I was carrying. For a moment, I didn't know what I was supposed to feel. Excited? Curious? Or maybe scared?

Since Papa died, his name had slowly become a quiet part of our home. He was always there in our memories. But he was someone we could never bring back.

Attorney Castillo glanced at Mama before looking at me again.

"May I?" He gently gestured toward our dining table. "Can we sit down? It's... a rather long story."

I looked at Mama. She quietly nodded.

"Come, Attorney," Mama said.

I pulled out one of our wooden chairs for him. Even though I was completely confused about what was happening, I still chose to be polite.

"Please excuse our house," I said. "It's a little simple."

Attorney Castillo smiled warmly. He didn't seem bothered by how small and crowded our home was.

"Miss Guanzon, I've been inside boardrooms worth billions." He briefly looked around our small house. "But I've rarely seen a home that feels this peaceful."

Mama smiled shyly. "Oh, you're embarrassing us, Attorney."

"It's the truth."

We all sat around the dining table. I sat beside Mama.

For a few seconds, no one spoke. So, naturally, I decided to break the silence.

"So..." I took a deep breath. "What exactly did my father entrust to Don Alejandro?"

Oh. Wow. English. Not bad, Windy.

This attorney better not think I couldn't speak English.

Excuse me. I was a valedictorian in kindergarten.

Attorney Castillo didn't immediately answer. Maybe he was also surprised by my English. Instead, he slowly opened the leather briefcase he had brought with him.

My eyes immediately followed his hands. Money? My heart suddenly became excited.

Who knew?

Maybe that briefcase was about to save us from poverty. The briefcase looked old, but it was clearly expensive. Attorney Castillo carefully reached inside and pulled out a large brown envelope.

My eyes followed it. Maybe that was the money. Or a check. What if there was a note inside that said—

Here's one million. Stay away from my son.

I almost smiled. Just kidding. I could dream about that once I finally caught myself being a billionaire.

For now, I needed to focus. I looked at the envelope again. An old red wax seal was still attached to it, although part of it had already cracked because of its age.

It looked like the envelope hadn't been opened for decades. My excitement immediately disappeared. I felt betrayed. That definitely didn't look like money.

Attorney Castillo placed the envelope in the middle of the table.

My eyes widened when I saw the words written across the front.

For Windy.

Oh. Fancy. Maybe there really was money inside. Or jewelry! Something I could pawn at Palawan Pawnshop! But when I looked more carefully at the handwriting, my thoughts suddenly stopped.

My smile disappeared.

"That's..." I swallowed hard. "...Papa's handwriting."

Attorney Castillo nodded. "Yes."

I didn't realize that tears were already beginning to form in my eyes. It had been years since I last saw my father's handwriting.

And suddenly, he felt close again. So close that it almost hurt. As if only one letter stood between us.

"Can I..." I pointed weakly at the envelope. "Can I open it?"

"Of course. It belongs to you."

I slowly reached for the envelope. My fingers touched the old paper carefully. I was afraid it might tear because of its age. I gently traced my name written across the front.

Windy.

Written by Papa.

I didn't realize my hands were already shaking.

"Mama..." I whispered.

She immediately moved closer and gently rubbed my back. "Open it, anak."

I took a deep breath. Then, very carefully, I opened the old envelope. Inside was a folded white paper. There was also a smaller envelope. And an old photograph. I immediately picked up the picture. A small smile appeared on my face.

Papa.

He looked much younger in the photograph. Standing beside him was a man I didn't recognize. Both of them were smiling while holding cups of coffee. The stranger even had one arm wrapped around Papa's shoulder.

They looked close. Almost like brothers.

"Who..." I looked at Attorney Castillo. "Who's the man with Papa?"

Attorney Castillo smiled.

"That's Don Alejandro Domingo."

I blinked.

"Him?"

"Yes."

I looked at the photograph again.

"They were best friends long before they became successful in their own ways," Attorney Castillo explained.

My eyes remained fixed on Papa's smiling face. I never knew this part of his life existed. There were so many things about him that I had never learned. So many stories he never had the chance to tell me.

"They made a promise to each other," Attorney Castillo continued quietly.

I slowly lifted my eyes toward him. His expression had suddenly become serious.

"A promise they both intended to keep..." He paused. "...even after death."