The Man Of Her Dreams (COMPLETE)

Chapter 29

Tumawa siya nang pagak. Pagkatapos ay napailing. "I'm a very practical person, Rohan. I don't believe in love. I will never marry for love. Love doesn't last long. It maybe gone after five, six or ten years. Then, what?" She shook her head again. 

She couldn't help but remember her parents and their demise. They seemed to be really in love when she was still young, when they were still in the US. But when they went home to the Philippines when her grandfather died and her mother had to run GOC, things started to get messy. 

Ilang taon pa lamang sila sa Pilipinas nang mapansin niya ang sitwasyon ng ina. She was dead worried and very tensed if her father comes home late. Cecilia passed her position in GOC to her husband because she had no idea how to run the company. Tapos ay napansin niya ang kadalasang paglalasing ng ina. 

She tried to ask her mother if there's something wrong but she assured her that everything's okay. 

Then, one fateful night, her mother went home crying. Kaagad niya itong dinaluhan. Cecilia was hysterical and she couldn't properly talk to her. But she had managed to pull some information. She found out that her father was seeing someone else and he was asking for a divorce.

She was shocked. Hindi niya kailanman naisip na mambababae ang kanyang ama. Her mother served him and gave him her everything. Pero nagawa pa ring maghanap ng iba ng kanyang ama. 

She consoled her mother the whole night. Nakatulog ito sa kanyang mga kamay habang umiiyak. Hindi siya nakatulog buong gabi dahil binantayan lamang niya ang ina. It was actually the first time that they spent a long time together. 

Okay naman ang kanyang ina. Mabait naman ito sa kanya. It was just that her full attention was focused to her father. Kaya kung minsan ay nakakalimutan na siya nito. She wasn't really complaining because everything that she needed was provided to her. It was just that sometimes, how she wished that her mother would spend a little more time with her. 

Kaya ang saya niya nang gabing iyon. Dahil sa silid niya natulog ang ina. But she was very worried, too, of her family's future. She was worried sick of her mother. For sure, she wouldn't take her father's indiscretion easily. She couldn't live without her father. 

Alam niya iyon. Her father was her mother's life.

Kagigising lang niya nang tanghaling iyon nang tumunog ang telepono at siya ang nakasagot. Someone was looking for her mother. Natutulog pa ang kanyang ina kaya ayaw pa sana niyang gisingin ito. Pero ang sabi nang tumawag ay emergency daw. So she was forced to wake her mother up. 

That was when they found out that her father died. Naaksidente kasi ang kotseng minamaneho nito habang bumibiyahe palabas ng Metro Manila. He was dead on the spot. His companion on the other hand - his mistress, survived. Iyon ay dahil niyakap ito ng kanyang ama para maprotektahan. 

Cecilia was distraught and went even more hysterical. Hindi naman niya alam kung papaano aaluin ang kanyang ina. Mistula siyang hindi nito nakikita at naririnig. Her mother suffered from a nervous breakdown. 

Tulala ito nang ilibing nila ang kanyang ama. Mula nang mamatay ang asawa nito ay ayaw na nitong kumain at nawalan na ng sigla. She was literally begging for her mother to cope up with the tragedy, that she was still there for her, but she wasn't enough. Her efforts went in vain. It didn't take long for Cecilia to suffer from anorexia. 

Sa hinuha niya ay anorexic na ang kanyang ina noon pa man. Lumala pa iyon nang ma-depress dahil sa pagkamatay ng asawa. Hindi kasi ito maayos na kumakain dahil takot itong tumaba. Baka maghanap daw kasi ng ibang babae ang kanyang ama kapag nasira ang figure nito. It turned out that it didn't stop her father from having an affair with another woman. Na ikinasira ng buhay ng kanyang ina. 

Her mother's health suffered from complications. Sunod-sunod ang pagkakasakit nito. And one day, her world was shakened when she saw her mother's body hanging in her room, a rope was tied around her neck. 

A tear dropped from her eye and she wiped it with her finger. Her parents married out of love, but it ended in a tragedy. At ayaw niyang maging ganoon din ang kahihinatnan ng kanyang buhay. 

The most valuable thing that she had learned in the corporate world was that the most stable form of partnership was business. People work together to make companies stay for long, even for hundred years.

"I'm looking for a commitment, Rohan, and a business partner," pagpapatuloy niya. "Someone who's easy to get along with, who will respect me, not necessarily love me, and who will give his commitment to make our marriage work. Marriage as I understand is a lot of work, just like keeping a business stay afloat. And I know that it is you, Rohan. Don't you know that I even went to Temptress Resort just to get you?" She pulled a smile. "I embarked on a mission to get the man of my dreams. You're the man of my dreams, Rohan. But your heart belongs to someone else."

"Diadem," he painfully whispered her name. "You're basically my dream girl. Who wouldn't like you? You enamor me with your personality, with how you look on things. I really like you a lot. I am banking on that to make this work between us. I lost my faith in love, too. So does that make us soulmates? I'm not sure, but all I know is that I still want to marry you. You need me and I need you. We can make the best business partners. That's all that matters, right?"

She looked hardly at him. She didn't know, but she wasn't fully convinced. Pero iyon ang gusto niyang marinig. Maya-maya ay nagpakawala siya ng isang malalim na buntong-hininga. "Okay, let's try to make this work between us. So it's a deal, then?" She was really hopeful.

"It's a done deal, Diadem," maigting na sagot nito.

So now they just have to agree on the date of their wedding. The soonest time possible, the better.