Chapter Six : First Love

JUNE 2009

Sean and Tan’s Tea Caf, Baguio City

SEAN put down the papers he was reading and picked up the photo that went with the envelope Mr. Jacob Hernandez sent him last week.

It was a stolen shot of a young woman standing on an old waiting shed. She was smiling as if she was talking to someone, which the camera did not capture. Her hands were stuck inside the pocket of her black, faded hoodie jacket. She was wearing a uniform underneath it that was also familiar to Sean.

He sometimes saw her in front of Tea Caf passing by. Most of the time, she was alone. Sometimes, she was with another student who was the same age as her. With the photo in his hand, Sean stood up from his chair. He faced the glass wall of Sean and Tan’s Tea Caf, the very first business he put up when he finished college.

Across the Tea Caf was DM University, which his family-owned. They also had a branch in Manila. It was operating for almost six decades.

Sean glanced at the copy of the contract and the papers on the desk. His life will not be the only thing that would change once he signed those papers.

Just a few weeks ago, he met with Mr. Jacob Hernandez. He was his godfather. The sixty-eight-year-old man owned and was the current chairman of a well-known mall in Quezon City—The Palace Mall and Hotel.

He wanted him to buy half of his shares. Sean told himself he was willing to buy it regardless of the price. He had been eyeing the presidential chair after he invested in the company three years ago. He would only be qualified and possibly appointed if he could purchase half of Mr. Hernandez’s shares.

It should not be a problem supposedly, but the deal came with a condition which he knew his godfather would exclusively offer to him.

Marriage. The chairman wanted him to settle down before he sold half of his shares to him.

Sean was one of those men who they say were natural magnets for the opposite sex. It would not be difficult for him to find a woman to marry if he was only after the appointment as president of The Palace.

He could hire a woman to marry, and after the deal, he’d just annul the marriage. The problem was... the chairman had a specific girl in mind.

A certain Thera Herrera Baguio. The woman in the photo in his hand was smiling without a care in the world.

Sean hated complications as much as he hated the idea of marrying for convenience. But the offer was too tempting. In fact, he had nothing to lose. The thing was, it would definitely shock her parents. He had never introduced a girl to them before.

He just turned twenty-four, and he was not in a rush to get married. He wanted to be successful first. At least, make a name for himself and put up a business he worked hard for and not just something he inherited or was given by his parents.

Sean sneered, mocking his own thoughts. Agreeing with the arranged marriage was worse than asking for financial help from his parents.

He tried to convince Mr. Hernandez to sell half of his shares to him fair and square. Without any condition. He told him a few weeks ago he could not marry someone as young as Thera. She was nineteen and in her final year in college. But that was what he thought a few weeks ago. Now he was sure he could not be refused.

“Sean, do you think that Thera is his illegitimate child? Maybe this was planned. Come to think of it, Mr. Hernandez would become powerful and unstoppable if that happens, right?” he remembered his friend Miguel said anxiously.

Sean doubted that. If De Marcos were rich, the old man was way richer. He was born with a silver spoon in his mouth, and he had no one to leave the company to.

Still, Sean was curious. Who really was Thera Baguio? Why does it have to come to the point that Mr. Hernandez would sell half of his shares just to have the girl married to him?

Thera had no idea about that deal, and the old man did not want to tell her, just like he did not wish Thera to know their relationship was planned, if ever.

“It was a gift,” he remembered Mr. Hernandez telling him when he had not even asked why he had chosen a teenager he was not related to in the first place as his bride. “Or think of me as her fairy godfather granting that good girl’s wish. And if you’re going to ask me why I chose you over other people who desire to buy my shares, Sean, you are the youngest and the competent person in the boardroom and the perfect husband for Thera. I don’t want to marry her off to one of the sons of the directors who were not brought up by his parents well. You were raised by your parents well. You’re the only one I know whom I can entrust Thera with. Well, perhaps, if not to you, I could offer the marriage to Tan.”

Sean could not help smiling in amusement. Like him, what does his brother know about marriage? He’d bet that Tan would rather hold a cold scalpel than hold a woman’s hand.

Though Sean himself thought that Mr. Hernandez’s conditions were illogical, he still could not let the chance he gave him slip away just like that. His father would be proud of him. If he would not find out the condition of buying Mr. Hernandez’s shares.

He slightly turned to the door when he heard a knock. Miguel went in shortly, holding a planner. He began reading his appointments in Manila the next day.

“And lastly, Tan called. He won’t make it to Tea Caf’s anniversary tomorrow.”

Sean put his hands inside his pockets and sighed. He understood why his brother could not make it. He was busy with the field he chose.

“The promo will start at nine in the morning. We have enough supply and manpower. I hired an additional crew just as you said.”

“How about the girl?” he asked.

“The raffle will take place this afternoon. I had personally talked to the canteen head to make sure Thera would pick the winning stub.” Miguel cleared his throat. “Are you really sure you don’t want some digging, Sean?”

“Background checking is not necessary,” Mr. Hernandez said the last time they met. “She had nothing to do with me, but I can sure you that she is a noble woman.”

“You don’t know what you’re getting yourself into, Sean. Men I know marry because of love, but after a few years of sleeping together under one roof, they broke up and ended up in legal separation or annulment. What would happen to your marriage when in the first place, there were no feelings involved? Sooner or later, you’ll end up just the same.”

Sean put a hand in his pocket, and for the last time, he glanced at Thera’s photo.

October 22, 2019

Baguio City, Philippines

Thera had been wiggling her feet nonstop as she sat on the side of the hospital bed. The doctor said her memory will return soon since he could only find shock as the reason she lost them. She should just keep herself from stress and impatience.

But she was bored to death from staying in the hospital for days. It had been three days since she became conscious, and two days ago, the doctor finally removed the cast on her neck and arm.

Two days ago, Nurse Kai said that Sean came to visit her.

She was asleep, so she did not know. He did not wait for her to wake up and left. She should understand, Sean was a busy person.

Okay. It was not an issue to her even if he would not come to see her. She was sad that Joshua and Uncle Jaime could not even check on her.

She was curious how their lives turned out since she got married to Sean. She probably sent them to live in a huge and beautiful house as a sign of gratitude for taking her in.

She wished she knew how to contact them. She wanted to ask Sean about her relatives, but she did not know how to call him, especially that she still had his cellphone. Kai mentioned that Sean owned a business in Baguio City. She tried calling the landline number the nurse provided, but the line was busy after dialing nonstop. She almost thought her fingers worn out.

Thera glanced at the mirror on the side table. She did not feel like picking it to check herself. She was still mind-blown whenever she saw her reflection. She felt like half of her identity was lost. She could not connect her seventeen-year-old self to twenty-nine-year-old Thera. She still could not accept it. She wanted to know what happened in the twelve years that were taken from her memory.

She suddenly thought of Sean. She wanted to grimace, to feel disgusted. She was not a virgin anymore, and that old man was the reason. She knocked her head. They were only four years apart. She only felt like he was older for a decade because she only remembered herself as seventeen years old.

Thera glanced up when the door opened, and a tall man holding a bouquet appeared. He was in his mid-twenties, according to her assumptions.

“Hi,” he greeted, smiling.

She stopped wiggling her feet and creased her forehead. She glanced at her side like a fool as if he was greeting someone else except for her.

He went closer and gave the flowers. Though she was confused, she accepted it anyway.

“I’ve heard about what happened. Are you feeling better?”

Thera cleared her throat and fixed her gaze on him. “Do I know you?”

He shrugged. With confusion, she followed him with her eyes when he sat on the chair across her. “The doctor said you cannot remember anything.”

“Are you my ex-boyfriend?” she asked in curiosity. If not, why did he bring her flowers? Wait, she was twenty years old when she married Sean. Which part did she entertain suitors?

The man laughed. “If you did not meet Sean earlier, you could have been Mrs. Top Montero by now and not Mrs. Sean De Marco.”

Thera gaped. Whoa. So, he was her ex? Two gorgeous men fought for her beauty, yet he chose to marry Sean in the end?

The door opened once again. She and Top turned. Sean appeared, and his eyes were fixated on her guess, but there was no emotion on his face.

“I’ll be back when you’re done talking,” Sean said and left before she could even stop him.

A DAZED and confused Thera welcomed Sean, who was standing in the middle of the hospital room. She stared at the man and watched him as he walked to the mini ref beside the kitchen counter.

“Are you really my husband, Mister?”

Mister. Maybe she should learn to remove the reverence from now own. Sean did not reply. He opened the ref and pulled out bottled mineral water, and drank.

“The next time you visit, could you bring our marriage certificate with you? At least I have proof that you really are married to me.”

He glanced at her. “Isn’t the twin ring we wore a proof?”

Thera laid her palms and smiled despite seeing Sean sigh and withdraw his gaze. “I could not see a ring. The nurse returned all my stuff. There was no ring.” She scratched her nape. “I was just confused. Aren’t you even jealous? My ex-boyfriend came and brought me flowers, but you left me with him. Dao Ming Si got jealous easily when other men stare at San Chai.”

“Daming... who?”

She sighed. “How did we even last for ten years if you could not get the name of my first love right?”

“Sean De Marco.”

She pouted. “What?”

“That’s the name of your real first love.”