“Tommy?”She found Tommy standing alone by the edge of their garden, looking at the vegetation they worked hard to maintain, and he looked very dejected. He glanced at her for a moment before he looked back at the garden again. His shoulders looked bowed as his posture was, and he seemed unseeing. Her heart melted at the sight, and she decided against the lecture she was about to impose on her little guy. Instead, she stood beside him and looked over at the garden herself. “We'll transfer as much as we can bring there. It will be easier because we'll have faucet water. We can get a hose so Mama can water the plants and it'll be an exercise for her.”At the periphery of her vision, she saw him glance at her again. “Ate, I know you didn't want to move, but it was just so fast and—”“I understand. Tommy...” She raised a hand to place it on his shoulder. “You made the right decision. This is good for you and Mama and for me, too.”He was looking at her. “I told him the truth, that it was
Before nine o'clock that night, all of their belongings—as meager as they were—were moved from their old hut to the bigger and sturdier house near the fishponds. That house was built a year ago and remained vacant, only occasionally used by a consultant for the fishery who visited the hacienda when needed.They first got the bedrooms ready for sleeping that night so their mother could get rested as soon as she comes back in the morning from the hospital. That left their other stuff scattered in the living room of the house. There were three bedrooms upstairs, which meant they would all have their own rooms. They didn't have time to go to the hospital before visiting time was over, but a nurse Zoren knew had arranged a video call with Zoren's phone so they could show their mother the mess in the living room and their bedrooms. She looked happy and so well that Arianna felt guilty after the call for arguing with Enrique—Eric—too much about moving, as it was supposedly their mother's
Right after breakfast, Yna prepped the kitchen for cooking. She wasn't worried about her mother because the hacienda staff who brought her to the hospital promised to take care of her and bring her home after they finished with her last test results. She wanted to get everything ready for lunch so she could have time for her mother when she arrived.She had just finished clearing up when someone came with a clean sack of whole plucked chickens and slabs of pork ribs. Another neighbor brought large pots and pans that she said the former cook used for cooking. That cook left to work abroad just a month ago. Other neighbors came to help her on her first day, and soon enough, the kitchen and backyard were busy with women peeling and cutting vegetables and parting meat for the boiling water in the big pot or oil in a big pan.Before she knew it, the steaming chicken tinola was being transferred to lunch containers and kangkong (water spinach) with pork ribs and rice to bilaos layered with
“What the hell are you doing up there?” he asked angrily. “Are you not afraid to fall?”She raised one eyebrow at the question. How could the hanging of a curtain on a window be possible if you would not climb 'up there?' But Eric was already there, hooking an arm around her waist to pull her down so that she had no choice but to let go of the curtain or it would rip. She fell right into his arms.He let her slide down slowly, both of them already aware of each other's bodies by the look in their eyes. Thank god they were standing on that part of the window where one curtain already hanged, so they were covered from any eyes that happened to be looking from the outside. He was wearing a shirt with a hood that looked fashionable and appealing, and gym pants, as if he'd gone out to run. She already knew his body without them. She could only gasp as heat suffused her face and warmth, her body. Her heart was suddenly beating so fast.Why couldn't he keep his hands to himself? Why did he
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 invol
“Okay,” she finally said. “Let’s do it. Fine.” He was watching her face like a hawk while she deliberated. He blinked. “Are you sure about this?”“Yes,” was her soft answer.“Shall we kiss to make it official?”She gave him a look that could have hurt him, but she couldn't run away when he bent down to kiss her lips like he was punishing her for it. When he pulled her closer to him, she couldn't even say any-thing. She just closed her eyes and thought that, from the outside, he was being kind and thoughtful to his ‘girlfriend’ whose mother had just had a very terrifying stroke, right on the day she left the hospital after passing her medical exams. And that was what was needed for the charade. Except he’d always kissed her like this. Like he was always hungry. Like he truly thirsted for her lips.Then he lifted his head and hugged her close to his chest. For a moment, it felt like they were in their own world. Or maybe because the nurses were now very quiet. She could feel the wav
Arianna knew exactly who’d arrived just by the kind of noise she could hear from outside the house. She closed her eyes and took a few deep breaths to calm herself, and then she stepped out the front door.And she sighed again when she saw her ‘boyfriend’ standing there, with a smile on his handsome face, talking to Chairman Castro in his soft, modulated, and manly voice that seemed always private and intimate to her ears, his eyes focused on the door where she just came out.Even if she knew it was all an act, her heart still melted at the way his aristocratic face seemed to light up when he saw her. As if she was a favorite sight those eyes wanted to see. As if all his worries and problems melted away. And he was so convincing.The workers were grinning at their lunch plates while they sat at the two long tables set up under the shade of the trees that protected them from the direct hit of the midday sun. Meanwhile, her servers (the neighbors) were giggling their delight as they
Many attested that since he’d been with her, he smiled more and had become more approachable.There was no doubt that he was in love with her, they said, because of the change in his behavior. People who were supposedly in love were happy people. He had never looked so cheerful and he was always laughing these days, they said.Even though she could detect surprise at this development from the hacienda staff telling her about this, she could see that Eric also had them convinced.But some praises were veiled envy.The condescension at being told she would eventually give in to the easy life Señorito Enrique was offering irritated her.But the first and only time someone mentioned this while her mother could hear received a tongue-lashing from her usually mild-mannered parent.“Have you ever seen us asking for or accepting anything we couldn’t get our own way? Have we complained while we lived alone and my children worked like horses so we could eat decently all those years since my husb
Arianna fought, pushing him back until it was him lying on the bed and she was pulling his socks and pants off him.“There will be no other woman,” he told her urgently as she climbed on top of him breathlessly. His hands cupped her face, his movements sure, his movements silky.“Huh,” she huffed. “That’s what husbands say to their wives on the first night, yet not all of them remained faithful to the end.”He was scowling now. “What’s with you, baby?”“See? I showed a few little teeth and you’re confused about me now?” She rolled her eyes at him.He grinned, and again, she found herself on her back, under him. As they were only on their underwear now, their exposed skin rubbed against each other, and she had more difficulty breathing.And of course, he could see this. His eyes smoldered with heat and his body started to move against hers. Yet, he remained where he was, staring down at her, his eyes remaining worried.“What is it, my love? It’s our first night together as a married cou
The van was ready and people climbed in. The Señor and the Chairman were in front, with the latter driving.There was a separate car for some of the usual men who casually accompanied Eric’s father—her father-in-law now. These were, of course, his bodyguards. Father and son had bodyguards whenever they were outside the hacienda. In the past ten days, she went out with Eric several times to shop or simply dine out on a date. And though there wasn’t an obvious escort, she could spot the very same men with Eric when he had to go to work loitering not too far away from them as they shopped, but surrounding them.Aside from the bodyguards, Eric bought her jewelry, new clothes, and her own laptop and gadgets.It was like the moment she accepted the marriage proposal, although she had imposed conditions, there was no doubt she had become the woman of a Quiroz.A part of her knew that insisting on being her old self would not help her transition into her new role as a Quiroz wife, so she let
The next few days were the most surreal of all the days of Arianna’s life that it even surpassed that night she first went to Eric’s private house in the back of the hacienda.Eric used his influence to get an expedited marriage license for both of them within a week and the wedding itself was performed by a judge in the garden of the house they were staying in the next day.It was private, attended only by their immediate family (minus his mother, of course) and her awe-struck childhood friends driven from the province to witness.There weren’t adults, but she was informed the Señor had the staff in the hacienda invite tenants for a catered celebration of the day in the hacienda’s function hall, unofficially confirming the news about his only son marrying his girlfriend and shutting down any dirty gossip regarding how they met. At most, it was just a malicious charge thrown at her by Eric’s mother, accusing her of seducing her son with her feminine wiles.The fact was, most believed i
“What happened this morning here between you and… oh god, I just realized… my son’s ex and my ex—”There was a short burst of a snort from Tommy before he clamped a hand to his mouth and ducked his head towards his mother’s nearest arm, and Yna hid a smile. Or tried to.Eric rolled his eyes and shook his head. “Dad, you’re traumatizing the kid.”There was a bigger snort from her brother that had him totally smacking his whole face on their mother’s back. “Hija, what I was saying,” the Señor, trying to get back on track as he tried not to grin at Tommy’s machinations, given his topic was supposedly serious, “was that what happened this morning was deplorable, and I swear that it will never happen again as long as you’re here with us in the hacienda. The same goes for your family, as they will become my family, too. But when you marry Eric, you are going to be living with him wherever he is. When it comes to your security, you have to compromise with him until, at least, you are more us
They all sat to eat then, with the Señor leading the prayer.And she was surprised when Eric and his father opened a conversation when they started eating, with the son giving sarcastic observations about something in hacienda transactions, or the father telling random memories about his son’s childhood that had them all laughing.If she or anyone else was worried that it was going to be an awkward dinner, they were very much mistaken.On the other hand, she had noticed a long time ago that father and son treated each other casually, but backed each other up quietly.She had caught Eric watching his father with respect and a bit of adoration a few times, which he would instantly hide into a sardonic countenance or an expression of serious consideration when he noticed being watched. As if anything softer would make him less grown-up.And observing and knowing them better now than before, she realized it was something Tommy used to do when he was little, doggedly following after their f
Yna started to feel excited about making love with him the moment he slipped inside the room, but she didn’t know how wet she was until he buried himself inside her, to the hilt… smooth and quick. He followed this with a self-satisfied, awed groan.“I miss that feeling so much,” she told him in an awed whisper. Then she closed her eyes and moaned when he pulled himself out to push back in again. Incredible sensations assailed her, stirring embers that heated her whole body and made her nerves pop.“Baby… you always feel like I’m sinking into heaven… so tight and hot that you make me crazy. This is going to be… my quickest…”She nodded over and over, whimpering at the next full thrusts until he was kissing her again to hold any noise they make inside their mouths. He was pacing himself now, moving his hips in such a way that she felt the most pleasure from his thrusts, and it wasn’t very long before she felt the force gathering.And before she knew it, the ball of hot pleasure imploded
Arianna was staring sightlessly at the wall after she entered her room, and she was aware when Tommy tried to open the door but their mother pulled him back, and there they argued in whispers outside, in the corridor.When Eric’s voice got mixed with their voices, she took a deep breath and turned her head to look accusingly and tiredly at the closed door. Did they have to do all that right behind it, where she would strain to hear what they were saying?Didn’t she say she wanted to be alone?Yet, Yna found herself standing up from the edge of her bed’s cushion to quietly tiptoe to the door to try and hear them more clearly.And she heard everything since then.Her eyes even shed a few tears, even though those were words she had heard before and knew already.Those three loved her to death, she knew all that. She also knew they would not so easily let her be.Especially Eric, who owned the hardest skull of all.Her mother and Tommy went down the stairs and left Eric there, and she coul
“Honestly, I can understand if the poor child panics at this point,” Papa said after how quiet the kitchen had become after Arianna rushed out then her mother and Tommy left to follow her. “Your mother can fucking overwhelm anyone, and she’s just a girl.”Eric was on his feet and he would have run after her, too, if he didn’t remember the panic in her eyes, the fear and confusion marring her whole face, and the pain that was in her voice when she begged to be alone. So he wasn’t sure if he should follow her.Instead, he closed his eyes and lowered his head.“Am I doing the right thing?” he asked the two men quietly. “Or am I pushing her too much? Rushing her relentlessly?”“There is no such thing as rushing to a man when he wants a woman,” his father replied. And Eric turned to him, thinking he was still making light of the mood, but he was seriously looking up at him from where he sat across the table from him. “Ask Castro here. It’s good to see that his own rush twenty-five years ago
As if by design, Señor Sylver—Papa Sylver—and Chairman Castro arrived then to check on her with a nurse from the hacienda center who lived here.Miranda was the daughter of one of the older farmers and a senior to her and her friends by seven years.She checked her carefully for further injuries, concern in her eyes apparent. After making sure her cuts and scratches were laden with antibacterial cream and she had taken in the right medicine for her body pains, she tapped her on her shoulder and smiled down at her.“You’ll be okay. The Señor and Señorito are both your allies, as well as so many other people here, Arianna. Don’t let this derail you, kid, okay?”She felt more confused after the nurse had left because, in the kitchen where the elders had retired for coffee and further apologies and discussions, she felt like she wasn’t gaining control of her own life.This feeling started quite a while now. There was so much in the future she wasn’t sure about, nor did she feel secure, sud