Thirty-Three

THEY kissed for what felt like forever before he let her go, but because she insisted on cleaning up and getting herself in order.
And even then, after he’d fixed his pants, he embraced her from behind and continued to kiss her down her shoulders until he could turn her around to kiss her fully in the mouth.
“You have to leave,” she whispered to him as soon as he allowed her lips freedom to speak. “My mother will be up soon, and I don’t want her to see you.”
A strong hand cupped her jaw as he smiled. “I know. One look at you and anyone would know you’ve been ravished.”
She took a long, deep breath. “Right. Please…”
Something in her voice might have told him what she was thinking, and he frowned. “What is it, Yna?”
She shook her head.
“Tell me,” he insisted.
She forced a smile at him. “Nothing. Please, go. I can’t explain. She mustn’t know. It’s going to break her heart if she finds out about this and—”
“What if she finds out? There’s nothing wrong about this.”
Her eyes closed involuntarily. Of course, he would think there was nothing wrong about what they were doing.
Of course. Both of them weren’t committed to anyone, and that was good enough for him.
“Sweetheart… Arianna… I don’t care if others find out. I—”
The sound of something falling and crashing on the tiled floor had her pushing away from him. She suddenly couldn’t breathe because she already had a good idea where it came from.
When she turned towards the living room, her mother stood there by the entrance to the kitchen, pale and shocked. At her feet, there were pieces of a broken ceramic vase.
“Mama…” she whispered, scared.
She asked in a low voice, with her hand on her chest, "W-What is the meaning of this? Arianna…?"
Yna rushed towards her mother, but she was already falling as she clutched at her chest and she caught her as she fell.
“Mamaa! Mama?! " she cried out as she cradled her mother. "Eric, my mother!"
Eric already had his phone in his ear. "We'll take her to the hospital,” he said, then he gave instructions to whoever he was talking to on his phone.
She cried out again, "Mama! ‘Maaaa!"
Her mother had already fainted, a pained look on her pale face.
She couldn’t believe herself. She knew she would be up very soon. Why didn’t she insist that Eric leave?!
"Move over, Arianna," he instructed as he knelt down to them, lifting her chin so he could look at her face that was already wet with her tears. "Don't worry, honey, everything will be fine," he said in a gentler tone, though urgent. “Let me get her. Okay?”
With tears continuously running down her face, she nodded. Then she moved out of the way so he could pick her mother up to take her to his car that was parked close to the house.
He drove her and her mother to the hospital right away.

"IT'S a mild stroke. She is showing a good response to her treatment and she will be back on her feet if this continues. But she needs to stay here for a few more days until she is better," the doctor told them after her mother left the emergency room.
Arianna closed her eyes and let out a sigh of relief when she heard this. "Thank god!"
Enrique was still speaking to the doctor. "Do everything you can to make her better, doc. I know it’s what you’re already doing, but if there’s a need for anything more, let me assure you there will be nothing to worry about in regards to whatever expenses this will incur."
"Okay, Señorito Enrique. She is being moved to the ward right now— "
"Ward?" The disgust in his voice had Yna turning towards him. "Why there? Give her a room to herself. I want her to feel very comfortable while she heals. I want the hospital to treat Aling Cynthia like she’s my own mother so she will be in the best shape possible when she gets out of here.”
She couldn't talk until the doctor left.
"Eric, we can't pay for a private room for Mama. I don't even know how we'll pay her new bill, let alone a private room.”
He turned his frown toward her. "And what will people say when they hear that the mother of my girlfriend is in the ward?"
A laugh was the first thing that came out of her mouth. "Eric, the situation is so bad and you're making jokes."
His mouth got tight in a way that she had seen before. It was his stubborn face, which was something he did often these days. Or forever, since she had met him.
Handsome as it was, it also always made her feel nervous.
"But I'm not kidding. You really think I’d be making jokes about your mother? After what she’d been through?"
She didn't understand. He didn't look like he was joking.
"Arianna, your mother had a stroke because she saw us acting like we’re lovers… which we are but…" he took a deep breath. “I was careless. I should have listened to you and left. That wasn’t very responsible of me.”
She was staring at him. “Responsible…” she choked out.
He nodded. “When Tommy finds out about this—”
“He mustn’t know,” she said. “He can’t know.”
He nodded as he looked down at her worried face. “Young and carrying so much weight upon his shoulders. But let’s go back to your mother. Arianna, do you think it would help her situation if she knew... when she wakes up about how things started between us? I don't think telling her the truth about how we met will help the situation. But… I don't think she'll be too upset if we tell her when she wakes up that we've been secretly in love and we were just waiting for the right time to tell her.”
She couldn't believe what she was hearing. She was greatly suspicious about it, in fact.
"Are you saying we… we’re going to act… pretend like—"
He shrugged, but his face had shut down. "Yes, if we must."
Now, she had become more suspicious than confused. What was he up to?
"That’s not going to work. Even if we are… we’re… it’s still going to be a lie and it’s going to create more problems for us."
He looked bored now. “So what? What’s best is that she’s not going to get upset and sicker. Right?”
She was shaking her head. "Tommy won't do it. He couldn’t act like that. He knows the truth. Mama would ask him, and he couldn't lie that well when he knew she had sniffed that something was off."
The only reason they were still getting away with what happened was there was no reason for their mother to ask any questions. She didn’t know anything.
But she knew now that there was something going on right under her nose, and she really would not like it. Yna already felt enough guilt as it was.
"Listen, if your brother had his way, it never would have happened. There would have been no reason to lie to anyone. Of course, he wouldn’t let us do this if he knew. He wouldn’t let us pretend. If I had a sister I wouldn’t let it happen, either."
She was frowning so hard, as he was confusing her more.
"That’s why we are going to pretend to him, too. To everyone else," he said. "Your mom will see I'm not trying to trick you if anyone can see we’re actually together."
She felt her jaw dropping to the floor.
“What?” he asked, as if offended.
“Who would actually believe we’re together even if we pretend?”
“We can find out now.” He moved towards her, pulled her to him, and held her close. Her face went smack to his chest.
“Eric!” she gasped in shock. There was no one in the hall, but there were a few nurses congregating at the information desk at the end of it.
She could feel their eyes on them, even heard a few surprised noises, as he continued to hold her head close to him.
He was really doing this.
"You’re really doing this for my mother?"
She heard a short laugh from him. "You wouldn't?"
“This is… I don’t know why you’re doing this. You’re confusing me!”
“I feel guilty about your mother’s heart attack. Isn’t that enough? Why must you think so badly of me all the time? Have I not done enough to make up for that night?”
“Oh, so that is what it was all about.”
“And that I can’t stop,” he whispered. “I can’t stop wanting you, damn it.”
She flinched, and his hold softened.
“That part is obvious enough, okay?”
She closed her eyes. "Yes, but you don’t understand. This will get around fast. What do you think will your dad say? "
"That shouldn't be your biggest worry. The most important thing is that your mother will be alright. Isn’t that right?"
Why was her heart insisting that wasn’t the whole truth? She didn’t know why. His answers to questions she couldn’t even ask weren’t enough. She somehow knew there was something more to this than what he was saying.
And it was important that things were clear between them. She was gambling now on her mother’s health and Tommy’s dreams. She couldn’t do this to them.
She hardened her jaw and looked up at him again. He blinked, as if surprised.
“I can’t let you do this like… like it’s just a game, Eric. This is my life, too.”
He raised one eyebrow. "Have you forgotten? She had a stroke earlier, and she saw me kissing you like I have a right… like I own you... " He spoke more quietly. "And you… were kissing me back. What do you think runs inside her head? Why do you think she had a heart attack? You were kissing me back, baby… and she must think everything your family received was because it was exchanged with sexual pleasure.”
Her face felt drained of heat before he could even finish.
“We can’t tell her otherwise anymore. We can deny we’ve done the deed, but she must understand we are kissing because we’re in love with each other. And it is the truth that the only reason we’re hiding it is because you feel all shy about it. I’m just waiting for you to agree to making it public.”
“We can just tell her that… that…” She grimaced, because whatever excuse she could think of wasn’t as good as the one he presented.
“There is no other way and you know it.”
The way he’d said it, so emphatically, almost elicited a giggle out of her. Things had gone from worse to crazy. “Why do you even care?! You don’t have to!”
“Because I can. I do.”
Was she being unfair? She was thinking this as she stared up at his set face. “Eric, if your friends find out that your girlfriend is just a hacienda worker who didn't even finish school…"
He was suddenly grinning. "That's something else that's funny. When my ex hears the news, how do you think she will feel?
She felt like a chisel just stabbed her in the chest.
There it was.
It wasn’t just about his conscience. He, too, would gain from this by making his ex-fiancée jealous.
That was easier to believe than that he was feeling feelings for her. That he likes her. Even if he believed he was, it really was just a passing fancy. She wouldn’t believe it.
She was thinking about it. Reluctantly, yes. But it came to a point that she knew she had to.
It really would not hurt him too much. His father would believe he was just bored. She didn’t care about what the neighbors were thinking now compared to what her mother would believe when she wakes up. In fact, they already seemed to be, judging from Tom’s agitation earlier.
In the end, their mother’s survival was the most important thing.