Two more hours and my most dreaded confrontation was about to unfold. I was afraid of being rejected. I was afraid to know that my father no longer needed me in his life.My last memory of my dad, David Rodriguez, was when he asked me to leave his house because my new stepmother did not want my presence in their house— our house. I was making his wife remember that she was just a second wife.I remembered that I had begged them because I had nowhere to go. But my father also begged me to leave.He needed his second wife, he said. He said that it was the only way for him to completely recover from the loss of my mother.That's when I ran to Olive for help. And my friend did not disappoint me.Nine years later, here I was. I hope my heart was ready to face my father and his new family."Nervous?" asked Nate."A bit," I admitted.That's right, I am with Nate. I was actually surprised that he came.—"Nate!" I called him when we both went out of Elisha's room. Nate, who was already on his
Aunt Mercy brought us to visit my dad's grave the next day. While we were there, I asked them to leave me alone. Somehow, it was the closest I could get to my dad. I could no longer see him, no longer hug him, no longer talk to him.And no matter how hard it was for me, I had to face the truth. That I am an orphan now and will be alone in life. Even though I have been independent for a long time, the feeling was different now that I knew I had no parents anymore. I have no one to return to. And I knew that I would never see them again.But the worst feeling of all was losing dad without the chance to apologize for my mistakes. I wasn’t able to tell him that I was not mad at him, that he didn’t need to ask for my forgiveness and, just like him, I never stopped loving him either. I didn’t expect our next meeting to be like this. Then again, it’s the truth and I can no longer change it."Hannah." I heard Nate call me softly. I immediately dried my tears before looking at him. "Let's go.
Olive was traumatized. She was always crying and shouting and would only calm down in Nate's presence. Nate, on the other hand, managed to clear his schedule to stay beside his ex as per Olive's doctor's advice.In fact, it was already a whole week that Nate was there, and during those times, he would just call and talk to Elisha for a few minutes everyday.Nate and I hadn't talked since that call when we got home from the trip. Besides, I didn't want to add to his worries. I knew that he was going through a hard time.It was also a good thing that Elisha's school was on break. Because there was circulating news that Olive was really Eli's mother. I had no idea how the media got a hold of that truth. But these days, everything is already possible.Nate has yet to release an official statement. Up to this time, he had refused any interviews.But the problem was, since the issue was all over social media and the news, Elisha and I couldn’t go out of the house. Especially because some m
I have been unleashing someone that wasn't really me. I hated doing it but I had to. For the sake of one family that I had unintentionally kept apart.Just now, Elisha's been crying for the nth time this week because I’m always scolding her. I was making even the smallest thing an issue just so I could have a reason to get mad at her. But I’m not hurting her physically because I’ve no reason to spank a good kid. My Eli was a good girl. I am proud to have raised her like that.But I need her to resent me. That's what I have been trying to do. But Elisha was always begging for my forgiveness. She wasn’t getting mad at me for scolding her for no reason. That’s why it’s becoming more difficult for me. I wanted so badly to pacify her, but I needed to be hard on her."Mommy... Sorry! Mommy!" She hugged my thighs. "I'm not going to play with dolls again if you don't want it, mommy." It was because I made her dolls an issue. No reason at all. They’re not even all over the place. I just wanted
From my room’s window, I could see Nate, Olive and Elisha having breakfast together in the garden. I was also supposed to be there by Eli’s request. In fact, she had come to my room many times but I refused and pretended to be sick so I couldn't join them.Their family was getting complete little by little. But it was happening faster in my heart as I felt I was not needed there anymore. I weakly returned to my bed. Pretending to be sick seemed not a good excuse as I could feel my body weakening for real. I was feeling bad and my eyelids were heavy and hurting from crying. I could even feel my head aching like hell. It was as painful as the invisible wound in my heart that’s becoming deeper by the day.I found myself sleeping again. It seemed that it was the only thing that I wanted to do– sleep the pain away. Forget about eating and everything else. At least, while I’m sleeping, I can rest my overthinking mind.It's like a temporary escape where I needed not to face Olive, hurt Eli
'Good morning folks... I know we have the same question in mind as Nate Sarmiento, Olive and their cute daughter Elisha were spotted together in an adorable family moment in Bali, Indonesia... Are we hearing wedding bells soon? This family has truly touched the lives of many. They struggled to be together, but hey, in the end, evil did not prevail...'The corner of my lips curled up when I heard what the reporter said. Did she really mention evil?"Hey!" Leah hit me."Ouch!" I complained and looked at my friend who had just given birth. “What’s wrong with you? Why did you hit me?”“Why are you watching that?!” She took the remote from me and turned off the TV."It's not like I knew there’d be something about them. I'm just watching the news. Not them," I denied."Who are you kidding? You saw it in the headlines. But instead of turning the TV off, you waited for the news about the Sarmientos!”"Of course not. You're too assuming!" I rolled my eyes.“Hannah, try lying to someone else.
I wasn't able to sleep that night. So the next day, I looked like a panda with dark circles around my eyes. It was because I didn't only stay up the whole night, I also cried until my eyes hurt. "Hannah, what happened to you?" Of course, my co-worker, Mia, noticed my weird face."I wasn't able to sleep last night," I offered."Okay, as you say so.” Mia gave up the questioning at once. I was secretly thankful that she wasn’t in gossip mode today. “Go to the boss' office. She'd been waiting for you for a while now." Or maybe that was the reason why she couldn’t hold me up for interrogation."She's here already?" I glanced at my wristwatch. I'm thirty minutes earlier than the official working time. "Yup. She arrived early. She asked me to prepare the conference room for a meeting. All of us included.""Really?" It was seldom that Mrs. Everett would gather all of her employees. I'm sure that she was going to say something important. I proceeded to my boss' office. I made three calcula
"He's at the hotel.""What?!" I exclaimed. "I just came from there, Paul and his assistant told me he was not around."I called Paul to ask Nate’s whereabouts. Of course, I won’t go to his house. For all I know, he banned me from entering the village.“Maybe in another branch.”“Where exactly?” I asked frustratingly. “There’s a lot of NS Hotels. Which one? Please, I only have a couple of hours left and then my landlord will throw away all my belongings if I am not back to get them.""Hannah, I'm sorry. I don't know. I'm going to fetch Elisha now.""Can you help me figure it out please?" I begged. "Please, I've nowhere to go. I need him to tell my landlord to give me more time.""You have his number, Hannah. Why don't you call him?""I- I don't have it." I deleted his number so I wouldn’t be tempted to call him then. "I deleted his number," I admitted."Jeez, Hannah, you're so complicated. I'll forward it to you. Call you later, I’m going to get Elisha.""Okay... Uhmn, wait... Could yo