Stepping into the Horizon

Prologue

"Do you really need to buy a land today talaga?" I sarcastically stated habang nagdadrive si Henry sa rough road in the middle of nowhere. He insisted that I should go with him para hindi siya mag-isa sa byahe, pero hindi naman niya aaminin iyon.

"Ang dami mong reklamo, I told you Nadia this is an investment. My friends from The Capital already told me, this is big money Nadia, and it will benefit you someday, when you marry me," I rolled my eyes at his response.

"What are you gonna do, bibilhin mo then after tumaas 'yung presyo ng lupa you'll sell it again? That's a bullshit idea, especially when you don't even like the province, how would you even market the lot," Henry is a city kid, he never even stepped foot in a place in a province that doesn't have pools or 5 stars rating on the internet.

"No, silly, look around," I looked at the environment from the car window and saw mango trees with small white bags on them, a couple more vacant lots where there are rigged soil for planting. Nakita ko ang hectares and hectares ng mga tanim, different trees and plants, an irrigation system, everywhere was private lots but there are no houses, only planted seeds sprouting.

"You'll plant a garden? What?" I asked with judgment. I got nervous, plano ba niya dito tumira pagkatapos ng kasal namin? Lilipat ba siya from the city to this province? Dito ba kami magpapalaki ng anak? How will I benefit from this when we get married? Questions flooded my mind.

"Farmers, Nadia. We will hire farmers, and look at all those mango trees, lahat 'yan may kontrata na, and think about how huge the money is when we sell this in the city, according to my friends sa Capitol we can sell fruits and vegetables for 50% more in comparison to what we'll pay and invest here,"

Oh okay... no plans after marriage, PHEW!

But...

He said what?

"Anong sabi mo? You're acting like a jerk Henry, ang tanga ng plano mo. Napakaprivileged ng thinking mo and your friends also. You're already rich, ang dami dami na nating pera, why the fuck would you want to do this?"

"It's easy money, babe. It's all about making the money enter without doing the work, maging praktikal lang tayo,"

"Tingin mo praktikal 'yon? Kaya mo ako isinama rito para suportahan kang manggamit ng mga tao?" I rolled my eyes at him and instead stared through the car window. Maraming mga tanim pero may mga kubo rin na mukhang walang tao. Sa bungad ng tinahak namin may ibang mga kotse mula sa mga may ari ng mga lote, pero sa daan kung nasaan kami ngayon, nalapagpasan na namin 'yung lugar na may mga tao.

We are in nowhere and now we're fighting because Henry's pride and ego was hurt with what I said.

"Nadia," he turned the car to the middle of nowhere still, "Stop acting like an ignorant bitch, they'll get paid, they'll do their jobs,"

"Henry! Can you even hear yourself?! Ako pa talaga 'yung ignorant bitch sa plano mo? You also studied in a prestigious school talking about how farmers are being abused by landowners, talaga bang isasama mo 'yung sarili mo sa mga ganong klase ng tao?"

"Listen to me," Henry stopped the car.

I looked at the surroundings instead of looking at his ugly face. Henry turns red when it's hot and he's mad. It's already noon and even with the AC on, the hotness of the sun hits the car strongly that it overwhelms the AC. Pinunasan ni Henry ang pawis niya mula sa noo. Basa na rin ng pawis ang polo shirt niyang checkered, I don't even know why he wore a polo shirt going to the province. Hindi ba dapat t-shirt lang tsaka shorts kasi malapit 'to sa rivers and ocean? Para makapagresort naman kami after this? O wala kasi sa plano niyang mag enjoy, gusto lang niya pera pera per—