When Bad Girls Fall In Love

Chapter 20 --- It

"Hello, there,"

He pleasantly smiled showing a tad of wrinkles just at the side of his eyes, The words echoed as my mind was in turmoil. I did not expect I'd ever hear anything from Jose again, and my heart was beating a tattoo against my ribs at the idea of meeting him.

"You must be Margareth." I was puzzled the moment he mentioned my name. He never called me Margareth. It was Meggy

"Yes, ...Father," I hesitated at first to address him that way but I gave my best to politely reply, "I am."

"I wouldn't expect less from my nephew," He sweetly grinned. Nephew?

To my delight it became clear to me straight away that this man is now who I thought he was. It was a different person and by the looks of it, He's Patrick's uncle

"I'd just brewed a fresh pot of tea only moments before you arrived", and while the priest was filling our cups, I took a moment to get a good look at him.

I noticed how he and Jose shared their interest in tea, especially green and flavored teas.

Julian Manolo Villanueva SJ was a man in his early to mid forties, with a dark hair which was the same color as Patrick's, only his had a touch of gray at the temples, but he had those deep onyx eyes.

He stood roughly the same height as me and probably weighed maybe ten pounds more than I did, but my gut instinct told me that while he was a different sort of man, I would at least enjoy his company

"Really?" He chuckled, his chest rising as he did. He laid his mug on the center table and began to look up again "I wouldn't be surprise, Hija if you thought I was Jose. We're identical after all. Almost"

All through out our conversation, I discovered that Father Manny is actually 4 minutes older than Jose and is closer to Patrick than his brother had been.

"You know this is the first time JP brought a girl here" He said casually sipping on his cup of tea

I looked at Patrick just beside me who seem unfazed nor does he have any plans on denying anything from what his uncle mentioned. Somehow, hearing those words made my tummy flutter and my ego to bloat with my pride

So Carina never had been here huh?

The leaves were already beginning to turn. Some of them were even falling. Not a lot, but enough so that occasionally one went skittering by when the wind blew. It was a nice breeze, actually, warmer than what they'd been having the last week or so.

"I'm asking for your blessing to court her"

My eyes went wide the moment I heard those words coming from him personally. I nudged him as I looked up into his eyes to find any trail of humor on what he just uttered

"See Uncle? She wouldn't take me seriously everytime I tell her, I'm going to court her.. in an old traditional way"