Nineteen

RUEL was back the next day.
He was with a different companion.
It took a moment of argument before their mother invited him in because Tommy had reverted back to his three-year-old self and he was told to stay in his room until the visitors had left.
Ruel basically repeated what he said last night when she told him again that she wasn't ready to accept suitors.
He would visit her every time he was on his provincial vacation.
He was not ready to give up.
"Your mother doesn't even know you're coming here," she said.
"I told her last night."
"What did she say?" she asked, a bit surprised.
"She said she respects who I chose to like and pursue."
"She isn't happy." That wasn't even a guess. Yna knew.
"Mom doesn't interfere in my personal life."
She didn't reply. There was something else.
She was in an elimination contest with him and a bunch of other students almost twelve years ago for a provincial meet type of contest.
Each public school was given a chance to send a candidate per level and they were both competing for the grade three level.
Ruel was one of the kids she beat in an elimination round for a contest.
It was her mother who actually still remembered how Mrs. Valerio complained and had their tests reassessed.
Her Mama said the other mother tried to find a hole in every dot and crossed t's in her test paper until hers was qualified and Ruel's was eliminated.
Since then, her mother never liked Ruel's mother.
Well, mothers didn't forget stuff like that.
And that was probably why she asked if his mother even knew he was here last night because his mother wouldn't have forgotten that, too.
"Arianna, I really, really like you. I have never liked anyone like you, and I guess that was one of the reasons why it took me too long to even approach you. You are one of the best students in our batch. My mother even respects you and likes you, too. When you had to withdraw from going after your father passed away, she was one of the teachers who worried about you. We all know how you carried the burden of being the eldest child without complaint. You're not someone who would go around looking for pity like others would. You worked hard and honestly. You are beautiful inside and out. I will be very lucky if you will fall in love with me."
"Ruel, you are flattering me too much, don't you think?" she couldn't even blush.
If Ruel only knew what he was talking about.
If she was ever going to think of the possibility to be with a man, she would be with someone who knew nothing about her background.
She would probably go away first.
She would find a man who would not question why she wasn't a virgin on her first night with him even though there was no news of her ever being with any boyfriend.
"I am not. You've always been humble."
"How could you even say that? You can't know me that much."
"I knew enough, I've been observing you ever since we were young. My mother knew this. It's the reason why I would make myself a member of clubs you are included in and compete in a competition where you were at. She knew. She wasn't even surprised when she found out I am actually serenading you." He was grinning sheepishly. "My uncles agree and actually wanted to come to play the guitar for me. Look, Arianna, there will be no problem with my family when you become my girlfriend."
"When?" she repeated.
This time, he blushed thoroughly. "If. If, not when."
"Ruel, I—"
"Please don't say no. I'll do everything. I am willing to wait, no matter how long. I knew when I started this I really am not going to take no for an answer."
"But it is my answer."
"It will not be forever," he earnestly protested.
"Ruel, I don't like you like that."
"It's too early. You might still change your mind."
"I will not."
"Wait for a year more. I'm not surrendering so easily."
"Ruel—"
"I'll come back tomorrow."
When Ruel left, he didn't look hopeless at all.
He still looked determined, his shoulders squared as he walked with his friend towards the truck they used to drive here.
Tommy was silent as they watched the truck leave. Their mother had fallen asleep already.
"You said you will get rid of him last night. It looked like he would be coming back tomorrow, too," he said glumly.
She turned toward her brother. "You were eavesdropping!"
"Of course I was! That's what young brothers are for! And you said you will get rid of him! It looked like you challenged him more, Ate!"
She sighed. "He is the most persistent man I have ever met."
"Can he be more persistent than me?" Tommy asked in a sinister tone.
She laughed as she closed the window. "Maybe he did like me? Maybe he really is in love with me? What?"
He did not answer but he was looking at her as if she had betrayed him.
"What?" she asked again, laughing.
"You are such a flirt," he said, then started to run up the stairs.
"No, I wasn't! Hey! You don’t say that to your ate!"
"You said you'll tell him to not come back anymore!"
"I did!" she whispered when she reached his bedroom door. He opened his mouth. "Don't holler. Mama will wake up!"
"You must not smile at him next time. Don't even use that soft, sweet tone of yours. He's never going to stop!"
"Soft sweet—oh, for the love of god!" She was giggling so hard.
"It's not funny."
"Boy, if I ever see you having a crush on somebody-"
"That's different."
"Aha! You already have a crush! Who is it? Who is it?"
"Nobody you know!" he replied, but he was giggling, too.
"I will find out!"
"Even if you do, I'll not serenade or date anyone until I'm thirty years old. I'll make sure you and mama are okay first before I even think to date."
"You'll never!"
"Watch me!"
She came into his room and hugged him. "You are so cute!" and she also tried to shower wet kisses on his face, but he made such horrified sounds that she had to let him go before their mother wakes up from the noise.
"Promise me you'll tell him that he can't come back again until you're thirty!"
"Twenty-five!" she hedged as she went out to get to her own bed in the other bedroom with their mother.
"Okay. Just don't make him come back here!"
"Deal!"
"Deal."

BUT the next night, there was no Ruel.
And the next.
They thought Ruel had given up.
Then they found out about the curfew.
No outsiders could enter the hacienda's premises from six o'clock in the evening up to the same time in the morning.
Cattle grazing near the fences have disappeared, was the whisper.
Others grumbled about friends who couldn't come in now to drink with them after work hours unless they wanted to sleep over. Unmarried ones grumbled about boyfriends and girlfriends not being able to visit.
Tommy was ecstatic.
Ruel would probably give up now, he said.
He would be back in Manila in the next month. He would forget about his sister.
He would find someone easier to date, he said.
But then, Ruel was waiting for them outside the gates the next morning.