Prologue

They see her as the antagonist. A villainess sent for retribution. Only a few of the people of Bayanihan could welcome her with a smile or speak with her hospitably. She might be among the powerful, but they cannot easily believe it. They look at her with precaution and at her guards with a sneer. They speak ill about her from behind and attack her with scowling and mockery.

Yet, none of these troubles can stop Essi Paulsson from staying at Bayanihan for the sake of Oneil. He is the reason why she can resist the hostilities directed at her. For him, she can keep up herself in the presence of the crowd at the most unlikely place.

The barangay of Bayanihan is a vast land. Houses situate from each other. But words and gossip were running through the distance. How could they not when a new person is shaking the entire town?

“There she is again, the ostentatious self-acclaimed fiancee of Riley,” was one of their thoughts against her. They keep calling Oneil Riley because that was how he got identified by the people who found him.

Essi didn’t bother to defend herself or run from the crowd. She had to remain brave in the queue with them for water supply since barely any cubit could reach the leased house. Standing in the tropical heat, dealing with her sweat-drenched shirt and mudded pants, and orientated to the way of rural life, she wasn’t worried anymore about what anyone else thought about her.

“Why not just hire a man to fetch you water, Isi?” an old man with eight pails in his wagon asked. He didn’t question why her guards were not with her. Maybe she’s like those rich people who prefer to hire others to give them immediate livelihood and income. “By your beauty and wealth, you still have not thought of hiring someone? You’re just wearing yourself out.”

“I can manage, Tata Ramon,” Essi replied. Essi could stand the rudeness of the villagers because of some elders who show their care amid their henpeck. Essi has seen such treasured behavior in Tata Raon. She has understood that they are sweet but cannot be vocal with their feelings. “What about that young man whom you keep claiming as your fiance? Why is he still not with you?” Tata Ramon asked.

Essi smiled to show that she didn’t mind him showing his care to a foreigner like her. However, she was not sure why Tata Ramon was curious about Oneil. Essi went on with a vague answer. “It’s not that easy.” She pressed on with another smile, revealing that her being strong-willed was more vehement than her uncertainty about Oneil. “I will not go until he returns to me.”

Tata Ramon sighed for Essi. “You know what? Ever since the two of you came here to our province, there was no such an ordinary day anymore..”

“But I came here late, Tata,” Essi defended. She never intended to turn the course of the province upside down. In the first place, she never knew that she would stir too much discourse.

“Well, Riley came here first. But he already has amnesia. No one among us would believe him because we only saw and heard such a case on TV. Now, my daughters and nieces have gone crazy on him because they keep saying he is handsome. I admit he is one. Just like how I used to look when I was young.”

Essi nodded while hearing familiar statements all over again from Tata Ramon. Almost everyone in the village would say the same thing.  But Essi always keeps her guard up. She suspected that some people were just utilizing friendliness to keep the fire of the issue burning. They were the crowd’s favorites. Still, Essi exempts Tata Ramon in her attempt to be silent. She chooses to answer him when he asks certain things.

“But now, this is my real wonder, Essi,” Tata Ramon said intently. “How long can you do this?”

“The answer is in the waiting. I have come this far.”

“So you love him that much?”

Back then, when one must ask what Essi felt for her fiance, she would say that it was a love not visited yet existing. It is untested but would wish to remain –to wait for Oneil amid the cold night at the Mountain Park past the arranged time is just a little thing. She could do it for a long while because it was a rarity among the chances that they collide with each other’s horizons. She waited. But he never came.

Essi imagined she would go back to the hotel wondering where Oneil went instead of meeting her. But it was anxiety that disturbed her night. It was impossible to bat her eyes down. Her calls were unanswered by him. She went out in search of Oneil. Essi tried roving through the paths where Oneil might go before reaching Mountain Park. The memory of their morning conversation returned to her like this.

“If I couldn’t go to you, would you be the first to find me?” Oneil asked while holding her hand.

“Are you challenging me? You know that I’m the first to notice if you went out of the party or when you want to be silent,” with a sudden question, of course, Essi would pull a vain joke.

Alas, she shouldn’t have said something like that. It dawned upon her how terrible it was to wake up the next day without hints of what happened to Oneil. The night would have been a practical joke except that Essi drove the entire immediate roads of the city of Mon Salvador, losing her wits to where she could begin finding him.

“Where are you, Oneil?” she uttered through the cold air –the dropping temperature through the mountainous land was more brutal to Essi without Oneil beside her.

Essi thought of calling someone. Disconnecting her phone’s Bluetooth from the car, the radio news kicked in with a hint that she could get some help from the Elite Guard Agency. She used to shrug at sponsored information, but with the reality that she needed loyal help, these people could be her best ally.

While they couldn’t begin looking for him at the major establishments, Essi got the company of the bodyguards for search operations to questionable places. Threads and links were coming to her, others sounded spurious, and many were filtered away as potential bogus. They spent nights and days with minimal information –barely enough to get better development on their purpose. 

As the days went on without news about Oneil, Essi felt like losing herself. She seems to remain tough on the outside, but her inner self was falling at the desperate plea to see Oneil’s face immediately. How can she find him? Will he surprise her again and show her he was just somewhere around? She couldn’t even tell. 

Essi handled the businesses within the buildings of Gautarza Complex with minimum enthusiasm covered by professionalism. Treating each day in their dullness without solid leads to Oneil, she passed through the main pavement of the complex with her guards. She heard a man and a guard of an accessory shop arguing.

“Please just give this to her because she missed her lunch.”

“Come on, man. You know that we’re not allowed to bring foods here.”

Their voice gets louder even when Essi’s team are still from afar.

“Please just give this to Marika.”

“If you are her boyfriend, you should understand that you can’t bring that kind of food inside. Do you want to get her embarrassed?”

Essi didn’t bother to meddle in their commotion since they got silent when she was in sight.

“We’re sorry for the commotion, ma’am,” the guard told Essi. He knew that she was the owner of the complex. She’s the higher boss that he should at least acknowledge. Although Essi focused on her job and Oneil, she observed that the guard gave up arguing and let the man in to meet a sales intern. 

That is what all Essi knew happened. Later that day, she found out that there was a missing accessory in that shop. It was a micro-managerial concern undeserving of higher-up delegations, but the guard asked for her help because he was afraid of losing his job.

“Ma’am, please help me to prove to Ma’am Regina and her daughter that something sneaky happened in the shop.” The guard also pointed out that it must be the hoodie man who messed up the shop to steal some jewelry. He invited Essi to the monitoring studio to view what that hoodie man did inside the shop. 

“If it gets proven that Riley stole our accessories, it would be easier to catch him.” The guard never missed pointing all over again to Essi about the hoodie man’s partner and their exact address in the barangay of Bayanihan.

The system loaded. The angle with his clearer image zoomed in.

A message of mysterious intel came to Essi’s phone.

“That is Riley Ramirez,” the guard said.

“He’s in Bayanihan,” the message simultaneously declared what the guard added.

All of this pertained to the person Essi has been trying to find. She immediately searched for the hoodie man who was Oneil Mercator after all.

Along with the elite guards, Essi went through obstacles with people subjecting them to suspicion and many questions. But she finally came around like among the treasure hunters reaching the end of their elusive goal.

She found him gleeful in his innocence. The brightness of summer beamed at him. It was enough for Essi to see him better.

“Oneil, I finally found you,” she uttered while walking toward him.

He was close to her vision –though he was meters away, she could hug him after many steps. It didn’t matter if he got frozen in his place. She will go to him anyway.

“Who are you?” Oneil asked.

“I’m Essi. Your fiancee,” she said in delight that he must be just fooling her.

But when she was about to reach him, a new name got declared to defy her reality.

“Riley!” and Oneil turned to the coming person who was never familiar to Essi.

He left Essi wanting to never agree with the fast pace recognition her mind could create. But her realizations got louder in declaring one thing. It is not about finding Oneil anymore. It is about taking him back. And yet, she’s never sure of the right way to begin.

Hence, she’s here.

Fighting for love. Fighting for the arrangement. Never retreating from the reality set before Oneil and Essi –even if others would deny it for her.

“Perhaps you will not believe it, Tata Ramon,” Essi said.

“I believe you. You are the only one who knows Oneil better than anybody else,” Tata Ramon responded. “Well then, I can only give you my blessings, just like your parents would for the two of you.”

Yet, this is the case now. None of Essi or Oneil’s parents knew about this. It is a heavy secret dragging Essi to a faster war with time. None of Essi’s loved ones in Bordeaux should know that Oneil has amnesia because of her. She needs to solve the problem first before going back to Bordeaux.