Thirty-Seven

IT was the second day that Eric was in the hacienda.
Again, he came for lunch break and ate here while chatting casually with the workers. He had a denim shirt on and ripped jeans, boots for mud on his feet, and farmer’s hat on his head. He had dirt on his arm when he arrived with some of the men and a bit of dried mud on one cheek.
And he never looked more handsome.
She was told they repaired one of the water canals that came out of a spring brook inside one of the woody parts of the hacienda. It was at the foot of one of the hills dotting the north side of the land and the señorito helped with his own hands.
This seemed to make the workers feel good about it, because even though they remained polite, there was no shortage of smiles and laughter since they arrived as they teased the younger man about a few misconceptions and mistakes he did as they ate.
After serving he dessert which was just plain gelatin with raisins and milk, she went back inside the house. She was going to wash her hands as others had already taken the rest of what needed to get served outside, and she was planning on checking their stock since there were others paid for washing the dishes and cleaning up after the workers.
But as soon as she got to the kitchen, the women flocked to her like chickens to where grains were scattered to feed.
“Go refresh yourself. Clean up and put powder on your shiny face, you foolish kid,” Aling Bigne was saying.
“Of course, my face will be shiny. I’ve been working for hours and it's hot,” she replied calmly.
“My goodness… didn’t you see Don Sylverio just arrived. Do you want him to see his son’s girlfriend looking like this?”
As Yna stared at Aling Bigne, she had a mini-stroke.
“The Señor?” Yna whispered nervously. “Oh no.”
“He just came in with Señorito Brad,”
In a panic, she looked for Tommy and he was sitting by their mother’s side on a bench on the wall to the right. It was where they usually prepared the vegetables and beans for cooking.
She felt blood had drained from her face, and she wasn’t sure, as the women pushed her toward her bedroom, if it was Tommy's—or was it her mother’s face?—that looked paler than his.
She and Tommy knew it was Señor Brad who’d paid for her that night, so yes, he would freeze like a doe caught in headlights.
Their mother could be worried about Don Sylverio.
But as the aunties were already pushing her towards the stairs to her bedroom, she wasn’t able to talk to both.
Her apron was discarded, she was made to wear a different dress, her hair was brushed, and she got powdered.
She shook her head at the red lipstick and opted for a lip balm that had the shade of light pink.
After she was done, she did look more presentable in her reflection in the mirror, but still felt like someone had gutted her with a fist.
“I’ll come out in a moment. Please… let me just be alone for a moment, I need to calm down,” she begged Aling Menang after the older woman exclaimed that her hands were so cold.
“I’ll have cold water waiting for you when you come downstairs. It’s going to be okay. Yna… Don Sylverio is very kind. You don’t have to be scared of him.”
“Would you like your mother—”
“No! No!” she exclaimed, shaking her head. “Stay with Mama because she could be more nervous than me. I’ll… I’ll be fine. Please, don’t let her come up here.” The last thing she wanted was her mother with her right now. She might blurt everything out in her panic!
They left. And she tried to calm herself, to think straight.
She didn’t know how she could act in front of Don Sylverio, much more with Señorito Brad there. Not with him knowing exactly how she and Eric got together!
What if Don Sylverio noticed that they were lying? What if Señor Brad had already exposed her to the Señor and he was only here to confirm…?
Would they be kicked out of the hacienda?
She knew it was wrong to lie to the Don. But she hadn’t realized it was going to go on and on like this. She hadn’t wanted Eric to know who she really was, but he found her out, and it happened again… and now this.
What was she going to do?!
There was a knock on the door and she jumped. When it opened, it was Eric, and he was coming in.
It didn’t even occur to her to reprimand him for coming inside her bedroom.
As soon as she saw him, she started to cry.
“Jesus, Yna!” he exclaimed as he reached her and pulled her to him. “Why are you crying? Does something hurt? Baby, your hands are so cold.”
“I’m so s-scared,” she said.
He looked incredulous. “Why are you scared? Is it my father?”
She nodded repeatedly. “What if he finds out? What if—”
“Find out what?”
“About that night? That I went to you as a pros—”
“Don’t.” His face turned hard, fast. “Stop.”
She was shaking her head. “But it was true. It was true…!”
His head dipped down and he kissed her, hard. And she closed her eyes and kissed him back. But she was trembling so hard. And she pushed at him.
“Señorito Brad is there. He could have—”
“Baby, Brad feels as guilty as I feel. Okay? He isn’t going to tell. He knows I’d beat him to hell and back if he ever insinuates about what happened that night.”
She sniffled. She had stopped crying. His embrace, his soft voice and assurances, they were helping. “But why do we have to act, anyway. My mother is fine now. We can just stop, act like we’ve broken up—”
“No.”
“Eric, this… pretending doesn’t serve any purpose now.”
“Not the old way. But I can’t break up with you.”
“But why?”
“Because I’m in love with you, you foolish woman. I love you.”
Her breathing hitched. She stared at him, at his handsome face. Someone had brushed the dried mud away. But she had a suspicion that even if he was covered with it, he would still look the handsomest and the sexiest man on Earth. “W-What?”
“The only thing that’s pretend here is convincing you I’m just acting my feelings. I am not. I’ve fallen for you even before the day I bought your vegetables near the road. I was so jealous of him… that boy you were with. He still managed to get near you even after the curfew I’ve imposed, when I can’t even get near you. When all I could do to see you is to spy on you at nights. I…” He stopped, took a deep breath, and spoke again. “I have to trick just so I can remain by your side because you’re so stubborn. You didn’t want to believe me. You fight me with reason every single time I start to confess to you. But no, I can’t break up with you. I want us to be together. And my father knows my feelings about you. That’s why he’s excited to meet you.”
She gulped the big lump on her throat. “I-I think I’m going to faint.”
His face turned soft. “Baby, you can’t. We’ve been here long enough for this to become a scandal. C’mon, let’s come out and meet my father. He’s not going to bite.”
She sniffled again. “But… but my face must be—” She turned away from him and looked in the mirror, and was horrified to indeed find her eyes and nose red from crying. “Oh no…”
“Just put powder on, okay? You still look the most beautiful woman I know.” He was standing behind her, his arms sneaking around her, his head lowered so he could rub his cheek on her cheek. “And that’s what my father’s going to see.”
“Eric…”
“Hmm…”
“I…” She bit her lower lip.
His eyes were tenderly looking at her reflection in the mirror. “We’ll talk after the introduction. I’ll ask your mother to let me have you for a few hours for a drive. We need to talk.”
She stared at him for a moment then she nodded.