Forty-Nine

THE next few days saw Yna keeping busy.
She cooked in the morning, took care of lunch breakers from lunch down to early afternoon, and cleaned up after that.
Then a rest… either an afternoon nap or reading, and then anything she could get busy with in the afternoons like weeding out their garden or chatting with friends who’d come over.
Zoren, Chinchin, and Giselle visited several times, bringing snacks and gossip. The girls were both still overwhelmed that she was with Eric. They were so excited and kept on making up detailed happy endings to her story, dreaming they'd also meet a prince, and making Zoren scowl at Giselle who described different descriptions of several princes that weren’t remotely like him.
He really, secretly liked her.
She always ended her day on her Kindle and with Riqui. There were nights when he looked so tired they would chat for a few moments about their day, which always woke him up, until she insisted he sleeps as she watched the clock.
They always had the video call on until they fall asleep. He always fell asleep first. Sometimes, she would just wait for him to sleep and she watched him until she also fall asleep. And there were times she woke up early in the morning to catch him watching her, as he woke up first.
He had already sent her Bluetooth earphones, though their adventure that night wasn’t repeated… yet. They always flirted with each other but he managed to control himself from asking her for it again.
The promise in his heated gaze when they talked about making love again when he comes home, though…
And they talked about their day. When they did talk, he mentioned names and transactions, especially the ones that truly interested or excited him, not holding himself back, and explaining when she asked questions so she could understand him.
He talked about staff in the office who worked closely with him, the directors who were good at something or who had weird quirks. He gossiped about them as much as she could imagine a man would gossip. And they would laugh many times, as he usually made light of their shenanigans at work.
She observed that most of the people he worked with were older than him, and he had not mentioned anyone close to his age except Brad.
There were females in his stories, too. But Yna didn’t feel any jealousy at all with the way he talked about them. Everything was professional. She didn’t know when she was ever going to feel anything like that with him, she could imagine it would be when she gets to Manila, when she encountered all the other women who wanted him, too.
It would be impossible for her not to get threatened because she could just imagine what kind of women would be surrounding someone like him.
Nothing like her.
For now, though, he was hers.
His free time in his waking hours was spent with her. Even his sleeping hours were with her.
She literally would fall asleep at night to the sound of his gentle snoring. It made her feel close to him even when they weren't talking anymore.
For now, there was nothing for her to worry about.
A week later, on the first weekend that Eric was gone, she visited their old garden in their former house.
There were still fruits and vegetables to gather from there, since Tommy continued to go early in the mornings on a new bike to water their healthier plants.
She was on their old tri-bike on the way back home. She didn't cook today, since it was a Saturday. Tommy wasn’t with her today because he was catching up with his school books and exercises.
As she pedaled home with her harvest on the seat, sweaty and dirty and looking like the old vegetable peddler that she used to be, she saw the expensive car parked along the road.
Not a truck or a jeep that people in the mansion used to drive in the hacienda.
That was odd, as there was nowhere to go or see on this rough road for visitors. This really was like the backend of the whole place.
Did they get lost?
Yna slowed as she got near, thinking to help point them in the right direction.
But she was sorry as soon as the windows on both the passenger seat and back seat slid down, she instantly recognized the older woman sitting at the back.
Even if she hadn’t seen the señora for a very long time, she recognized her right way. Even though she had cosmetic surgery done on her face.
It was Señora Lucilla, Eric’s mother and Don Sylverio’s estranged wife.
And she radiated the snobbish look Eric also did… or used to.
Now that he was smiling often and actually chatting with people, Yna was having difficulty connecting him to the aristocratic guy she used to be in awe of at a distance as a teenager.
He was a handsome guy who had the bearing of someone from a wealthy background, and because he was quiet, he seemed snobbish. But she realized he wasn’t like his mother at all.
Señora Lucilla was all self-conceitedness.
She actually looked down on people who worked the land here in the hacienda, and treated farmers like low lives when she still lived here no one wanted to even talk to her since they were always awkward when she was around.
Her father once said that this was one of the reasons she and Don Sylverio quarreled. She didn’t like living in the hacienda or dealing with farmers. Don Sylver loved the land and considered his tenants his responsibility, with most of them his friends.
What was she doing here? And who’d…
“Are you Arianna?”
Yna already felt self-conscious about her appearance, but she controlled her face to hide that. Or that she had no idea what to do.
She suddenly had an inkling Señora Lucilla wasn’t lost.
Eric's mother was here looking for her.
She sighed.
She knew something would remind her what she was compared to the filthy rich Quirozes like a slap to the face.
She just didn't expect something like this.
But that wasn’t all. The señora wasn’t alone.
Yna finally got a glimpse of the woman sitting beside Señora Lucilla. Hadn’t she seen her pictures, courtesy of her gossip of a brother?
It was Helene Smith-Cardam, Enrique’s ex, with the señora in the backseat.
She wanted to get back on her way, pedal fast away from here. And she felt stupid for not doing so right then. Instead, whatever happened to her here, she decided to stick on.
This would happen again, with other people, relatives, and friends of the Quirrozes she would meet.
Best that she faced the hardest she would today.
But she was never that nervous before in her life.
Two women in Eric’s life… or they used to be in his life… actually drove over here from Manila—or wherever they’d come from—just to… what?
Warn her off? Like in a TV drama?
She didn’t understand that part. Why would they think she was such a hurdle that they would come here just to confront her?
“Yes, I am,” she eventually replied, grateful that her voice was at least strong. “That’s my name.”
Two pairs of eyes—one pair behind her dark glasses, yes, but she could feel the piercing stare through them—gave her critical looks.
Helene even gave a low laugh, sarcastic and condescending, while shaking her head.
As if Yna wasn't used to this by now. A part of her didn't feel intimidated by Helene because she actually felt angry at how she had treated Eric.
*Got your chance, you spoiled it. Not my problem, is it?*
“He really must have been that desperate to forget me. Gone crazy after I'd left him. Poor boy,” she was saying now, loud enough for Yna to hear because it was actually for her ears.
She remained quiet, wondering when it had been that Helene tried to get back with Eric and got shunned away.
It must have been just this past week. And so… did he actually tell them about his girlfriend, a poor girl living in their hacienda as a… cook?
No, no, she really didn’t think so. Although it was what Eric planned before, she didn’t really think after what they had gone through just recently that it was still on his mind—use her to insult Helene or make her jealous
How did these women even find out about her?
“Do you know me, Arianna?” Eric’s mother asked again.
“There’s no one in the hacienda who does not know you, Donya Lucilla,” she replied promptly this time.
Or knew about her.
Everyone was angry when she left her husband to be with a wealthy American oil tycoon she’d been having an affair with more than a decade ago.
Most had rejoiced, too, after said tycoon left her for a young Playboy model.
Everyone here loved Señor Sylverio and she didn’t know how this woman got past the gate, but no one would just let her in after what she’d done without the Señor knowing.
Which meant someone had sneaked them in.
“Ahhh, impertinent woman. Did you think that, just because you’ve charmed my son so thoroughly, you can fly as high as an eagle these days?”
Yes, she was right. She’s now inside a TV drama. But she didn’t dare show her amusement because the older woman was red in the face and genuinely angry at her.
Why was the road deserted? Wasn’t there anyone else passing by who could see them and report to the mansion?
She didn’t want to be here right now. It was like you know you were going to get tortured, and yet you couldn’t run away, as if you were nailed to the ground.
“What do you have to say for yourself?”
What was she supposed to say? They sneaked in here to find her and bully her.
She didn’t think there was anything she could say that would be satisfactory to them, except if she would grovel at their feet and do what poor people do to appease the ego of the power-hungry.
*Nah.*
Nothing she could or would do would make them happy. They came here to show her she was nothing but worthless trash, and that’s what they were going to do regardless of anything she did or say.
Her silence angered the women further, and the next thing Yna knew, the señora had opened her car door and was sliding out of the shiny car.
And as soon as she was within reaching distance, Eric’s mother slapped her.
*Yes…* she thought as she held her stinging cheek.
Just like in a cable TV drama, this.