Deep Wells

ETERNAL

– PAST IS PAST –
"That's it," Emily sighed heavily the next morning. "I'm done. I'm going." She quickly grabbed her suitcase and opened her closet. Without further ado, Emily started to take all her clothes and personal items, shoving them straight to her bag without folding them. "James, book me the earliest flight back to Milan."

But Merkel and James just stood in front of Emily, watching her as she panicked inside her room. The two assistants were too astonished to move, quite surprised of her compulsiveness to leave so suddenly. "What!?" She viciously stared at James.

"Uh-oh, sige Senyora." Just when he was about to leave the room to arrange flights, Stanley fortunately came in.

"What on earth are you doing Emilia?" Emily turned her back away from her stylist and continued to fix her belongings. Stanley asked Merkel and James to leave and close the door of her room before he took a heavy breath and said, "You're leaving."

"Isn't it obvious?" Emily did not dare look at Stanley and decided to get her other suitcase. "I came for the sole purpose of visiting my son and my father. I have no intentions of seeing a man so clueless that I do not like him. And certainly, meeting the Montenegros are not part of my itinerary." She frustratingly explained.

"Well," Stanley sighed again. "Why not calm down for a second? And tell me what's happened?" Emily finally turned around.

Her eyes were almost in tears but she gulped, forcing herself not to cry. "It still hurts." Emily swallowed hard and looked away from Stanley. "I've forgiven them. Yet seeing them again brings back a lot of unforgivable memories that I can't forget." Stanley nodded as if he understood. He then stepped forward and took the piece of clothing she held to set aside.

"Look, I understand. I mean who wouldn't feel the same after all the things they have done to you? But you still have a fortnight to stay here. And again, as you said you came for the sole purpose of visiting your son and your father whom you never get the chance to visit for more than twenty years. Spend the rest of your stay away from Manila and just you know, relax. Don't respond to Henry if he's giving you too much pressure. And work wise, well, I guess that can always wait when you come back to Italy."

"Then what am I to do?" She croaked.

Even Stanley was almost surprised to see Emily this vulnerable. She was not normally this affected except when it came to her son and father, which of course, made a lot of sense. She spent more than half of her life grieving, never stepping a foot to her homeland to avoid the pain, the sorrow. The melancholy.

"You've been working so hard for years just to get away from poverty. Give yourself a break. Spend the rest of your fortnight to find a closure. Mourn as much as you can." Before she could even say a word, her friend already embraced her. Emily had no choice, though she did not shed a tear to hug Stanley back and whispered, "But my father is buried in Olivares. And so is my son, just a few towns away from that place."

"Deary, even though it's painful, you just have to face it, till you make it." Emily finally laughed and let go.

"But isn't it fake it till you make it?"

Stanley chuckled and straightened his blue suit. "Nope," he chuckled popping his letter 'p'. "Not this time. Now, call James and instruct him not to book a flight back to Italy. God, I hope he hasn't peed his pants!"

***

"So, Madam Margaret, Marco, how did the meeting go with Emilia Guidotti?" One of the board members asked during their board meeting. Marco was forced to look up and stare at his mother. "A report from our company secretary, Mr Tolentino, is not looking quite good."