CHAPTER 5: Second Life

ALLYS POV

"You hear that, Mariel? It won't be long before you go back to normal, daughter. Once you fully heal all of your wounds, I will immediately have you undergo plastic surgery. To bring your beautiful face back. I know you want that, my dear. Please fight this one. I know you can do it. You are not my daughter for nothing."

I suddenly felt nervous at what she said. My mind was almost restless. I wanted to be happy because finally my condition would be okay, but fear still prevailed in me. Fear that they would know the truth that I am not their daughter.

Even though I couldn't talk to them, I felt comfortable with them. But I'm not their daughter. What will they do when they find out that I'm not Mariel?

I want to admit the truth to her. I want to say that I'm not Mariel. That I am not their daughter, and I don't know her daughter either.

But not a single word comes out of my mouth. I tried to open my eyes, and for the first time, I did!

Even with only a small opening in my eyes, I could see the light around me again. Although blurry, it was slowly becoming clearer in my vision. And when I looked to my side, I saw a very beautiful woman in the distance.

She is so beautiful that even though she is old, you can still see her beauty on her face. I wanted to be amazed by her because she looked like an angel to my eyes.

Her eyes are sad. While she gently strokes my hands as if they would break at any moment if she was not careful.

"Hmmm..."

That's all that came out of my mouth when I tried to speak. A small moan that I couldn't understand.

"Oh my god! OH MY GOD! DOC! MY DAUGHTER'S AWAKE NOW! DOC!"

She shouted frantically while pressing something on the side of my head.

After a few moments, the door opened, and two doctors and four nurses entered.

They quickly attended to me and observed me. One was shining a light in my eyes while one doctor was looking at something somewhere.

"Is she okay, Doc? Tell me, my daughter is okay, right? She's fine now."

The woman while anxiously watching what the doctors were doing to me.

"Okay, Miss Mariel, can you please give me a blink of an eye if you hear me," said one doctor to me.

I immediately followed his orders.

"Yeah that's great Miss Mariel. Now can you please move your fingers just a little bit."

I followed that too.

"Awesome. She's ready for the operation, Mrs. Cuevas," he said and turned to look at the very beautiful woman.

I was surprised to see her cry. The door opened again, and a strong man with some age also entered. But the handsome features of this man are still very evident.

"Rosellena," he uttered and approached the woman who had been crying.

"She's fine now, Rod. Our unica hija is fine now."

He turned to the doctor who looked at me.

"What happened? Doc, how's my daughter case?" asked the man who had just arrived.

"As you can see, she's fighting for her recovery. Her wounds are slowly healing now because of the medications. She's already awakened."

The doctor immediately answered, and I even saw him adjust the glasses he was wearing.

"For now, she can see you both, but we cannot yet talk to her," added the doctor.

"That's enough for us, as long as she can feel our love and moral support, it's enough for us," said the gentleman and looked at me.

"Mariel darling, I know you will survive this one," the woman said to me crying and held my bandaged hand.

I only noticed now that my whole body was bandaged. Even my head, and only my eyes and nose were not.

I want to answer her that I'm not her daughter. That I'm someone else. That they are mistaken in thinking that I am their daughter. But I can't do it. I can't get my words out.

Instead, only a tear came out of my eyes.

I didn't want this. I didn't want this to happen. All I wanted was to get away from my Tatay Arsing and have a simple life. But why is it like this? Until when will I suffer?

I kept crying, and only my tears became the answer to the woman who was very worried now for me.

Even though I knew those weren't for me, I felt love from a loving parent. If I had that, I wouldn't be in this situation.

The child of these people is so lucky. She had a loving family.

"Sshh..baby don't cry. We will do anything to make things back to normal. You are the only one who survived on that tragic accident. All of your companions inside the bus are dead. It was a miracle that you survived," she said to me while wiping away my tears.

I cried even more at what I heard.

God! Thank you for saving me from danger.

"We identify you because of the bracelet that you are wearing, Mariel. God, thanks! That you're wearing that thing," she added as she kissed my hand.

Her husband stroked the woman's back.

Bracelet? That bracelet?

So this is the family of the sarcastic and very beautiful woman I was with on the bus? I suddenly felt fear again.

They flew me from Manila here to another country just to be treated because they thought I was their daughter.

What am I going to do? What will happen to me when they find out that I'm not their daughter? I'm nervous about my situation now, and I also feel sorry for myself. And more than that, I also feel afraid of this family.

What if they find out the truth? What will happen to me?

(Fast forward)

Several months have passed, and I just came from an operation. The doctors here in America are experts, and they said they can restore my face to its former state. So they subjected me to plastic surgery.

I can also move my whole body now. I recovered quickly here. And today is the day to remove the bandage from my whole body after a month of operation.

I am sitting on a stool chair now while the doctor who operated on me is in front of me now.

He slowly removes the bandage from my body, and I can clearly see the excitement in the woman's eyes as she looks at me.

After a few minutes of removing the bandage, I saw the woman cry. Her husband, Roderick, hugged her.

The doctor gave me a mirror, so I slowly reached for it and slowly put it in front of my face.

Fear and anxiety enveloped me again.

I cried at what I saw. This is not it! This is not my face! This is the face of the woman who was next to me on the bus!