Behind Every Man (COMPLETED)

Chapter 09

Chapter 09

"I gotta give it to you—you did the impossible," Aspen said as he stood beside me. We were having a thanksgiving dinner. Kakatapos lang ng thanksgiving mass. If I were being honest, hindi naman talaga ako religious na tao. I didn't even like going to mass dahil mas madalas na hindi ako sangayon sa sinasabi ng pari. More often than not, they're not even preaching the word of God—it's just their own ego talking. But I still go to the church dahil sabi nga ni Abuela—it's good optics. Afterall, Philippines is still a Catholic country. You can get away with a lot of things just by pretending that you've found your way back to the Lord.

"It wasn't impossible," I replied as I smiled at Archie who was being congratulated by everyone. He soon needed to learn na hindi lahat ng tao na kaibigan ay kaibigan talaga. Karamihan sa kanila ay may kailangan lang. It's a skill that he needed to learn.

"It was," sabi niya. "I really thought he wouldn't win."

Lumingon ako sa kanya. "You doubted my choice?"

Aspen shrugged. "I mean, his father was the suspect in a rape and subsequent kidnap and murder of a college girl. Can you blame me?"

"Innocent until proven guilty," I replied.

Aspen laughed. "You sound like Abuela," he said and that made me give him a disapproving look. "But you do know that the court of public opinion always wins."

"I know," I said. "But the sin of the father is not the sin of the son."

"The apple does not fall far from the tree."

I shrugged. "It can," I replied, "If I throw that apple far away."

Tumawa siya. "Whatever," he said. "So, you're the mayor now."

"Archie's the mayor."

"Sure," he said. "Just like Abuelo's the president," he added. "What's next now?"

I watched as Archie interacted with the people. He's better now as compared to before where he used to struggle. He's a nice person, I can say as much, but in the world of politics, being nice is going to be your downfall. Believing that people are nice just because will also cost you something. It's most about 'what can you do for me?' and I hope Archie can get onboard with that soon.

"Be the best mayor this town has ever seen," I said as I excused myself and made my way to my fiancé.

* * *

"That was tiring," Archie said as I was pouring myself a glass of wine. Naglakad siya palapit sa akin at saka niyakap ako mula sa likuran. I felt him kissing the side of my neck. "Let's go to sleep."

"I need to take a shower first," I replied.

"Okay, after we take a shower together," he said while tracing a pattern on my waist.

"Just shower," I said, "I'm tired."

He chuckled. "I know," sabi niya. "I'm tired as well."

We just stood there habang umiinom ako at nakayakap siya sa akin. We had been together for months now. Hindi na kami ganoon kadalas nagtatalo. Sure, sometimes, he'd get annoyed at me, but he's getting better at handling it (or maybe better at hiding it). Either way, it's getting easier for us to get along.

"We have a meeting tomorrow, right?" tanong niya.

"Yes," I replied.

We wanted to get married before he assumes office. Gusto ko na kapag nagstart na iyong term niya ay focused siya sa pagiging mayor. I mean, I really did mean it when I said na he'll be the best mayor this town has ever seen. Sure, he's got a pretty complicated family background, but all that will be a thing of the past once na mapatunayan niya na iba siya sa tatay niya at kaya niyang maging magaling na mayor.