Chapter 6 Leaving One Dissatisfied

• Chapter 6 –Leaving one dissatisfied
• (Cullen POV)
• She was already on the kneeler when I turned, hands clasped together in a prayer. I sat on the pew behind her and watched her back heave softly as she breathes. Suddenly I was analysing, noticing the little things about her. Her frame was small like a teenager, skinny but nonetheless with pleasing curves. Her brunette hair fell delicately on her shoulder and ended on loosely tied curls. Her eyes were brown almonds… as I remember looking at it.
• Then she suddenly faced me.
• “Are you done praying?” she asked. I was surprised to suddenly meet her eyes for real. My heart raced in shock, and I hoped she didn’t see me staring. “How was it? Did you feel relieved?”
• “It was fine,” I mumbled.
• “You’re not from this place, are you?” She stood up when I nodded and said her farewell. “It’s getting late. I have to go.”
• “Surely is. Take care,” I replied.
• I wanted to give her a ride home, but it would look too shady an offer. After all, we’re strangers who doesn’t even know each other’s name. How, in such a place, I was still unknown to somebody. She waved goodbye and disappeared as quickly as I met her.
• I remained seated, amazed at how fast my little wish has been fulfilled. For a brief moment, somebody did make me forget. I turned my gaze at the altar and saw the white flowers once more. Soon, I’ll be seeing a bunch of those at my father’s funeral. How funny it is that those flowers will remind me of her and remind me most of him. Those flowers were really his and it suited him perfectly. He’s already been carrying them the moment he was born…
• …the flower of sorrow…
• I stood close to the altar and took one flower from its stem. The flower she intended to give me. I slid it in my pocket, went out the chapel, and breathed in the fresh air for the last time.
• Jeo’s car looked like a hearse waiting to take me back to my grave. I was slowly dying as I am being eaten alive by dread when I came near the Villa.
• Every weight that I though got discarded at the chapel suddenly sprung back. When the gates opened, the lonesome aura of the Mansion greeted me. I wanted peace but the silence inside that cage did the reverse of healing me. It killed me more instead.
• The maids stood in array as they welcomed my arrival.
• “I was told you left the hospital alone,” Maya asked like a concerned mother who’s about to beat her kid for getting home late. She must be worried, apparently because she might have known what I did to dad. The news must have spilled it all.
• “Yes. I just wanted to be alone for some time,” Ironically, it was the least I wanted when I was a kid. I wanted playmates but now all I wanted was some isolation. “Did they get home?”
• “Dr. Cox and Atty. Moss?” she asked back as we ascended the stairs. I nodded. “I doubt they’d be coming home today. They must be busy with your father’s passing.” She looked me in the eye when we reached my room, “All of us here like to express our sympathy for Master Zade.”
• I nodded again.
• “Just wake me up once Atty. Moss and Dr. Cox arrive.”
• Every step that I took felt heavy. I felt so lost once more, worsened by the deafening silence in my room. Sleep wouldn’t come easily but I fought hard to close my eyes and wished for a ridiculous dream to take my reality just that day. Failing to do so, I remembered the flower in my pocket.
• I sat up and watched it with interest and curiosity. Its petals have gradually lost its pure natural colour and was tinged with streaks of brown. It’s has begun to wither. But I suddenly remembered her smile and her crazy optimism.
• I dialled Jeo to ask for his service.A private one.
• “There was this girl I want you to investigate. Get every detail of her for me… Everything,” I said while obsessing at the sight of the flower. “She usually goes at dusk to an old chapel beside an abandoned nunnery. Confirm with me first with her picture before delving in deeper.”
• “Aye sir,” Jeo responded with his youthful vigour. “All noted.”
• “And one last thing, nobody must know about this,” I added before I hung up.
• “Good,” I whispered as I let my body fall back to the huge bed. Enthusiasm sparked inside me again and I was able to close my eyes.Slowly, I drifted to sleep.
• (Maya POV)
• Master Cullen has waited for five long years hoping a miracle will do its magic and revive his father. I know him too well so his face couldn’t lie to me about the sadness pitted within his chest. But he needed to be firm or everything he’s built would crumble to nothing. Master Zade had been in that dilemma too as he had chosen Cullen over Hyacinth in her dangerous labour.
• I still remembered the hushed conversation between the couple before that fateful day. Miss Hyacinth herself said that if ever a complication would occur in her birthing, Master Zade must choose the child in her womb over her life.
• The doctor gave him a measly two minutes to make the decision. Hyacinth pleaded in between pangs of extreme muscle contraction that Zade must do what they initially decided. He must choose Cullen no matter what.
• “I love you very much,” Zade sobbed excruciatingly as he held her hands tight “But if this is what you want, I will.”
• Miss Hyacinth turned to me. Never in my life will I forget how her eyes brimmed with sadness. “Maya, please look after my son and make him feel a mother’s love. Remind him every day how much I love him.”
• “Do it,” Master Zade’ voice broke as he spoke to the doctor. “But I could pay how much it would take if you could save them both.”
• He turned back anxiously from his wife as the doctors moved on with the delivery. It was erratically noisy; the clanking of medical tools, the medically related mumbling of the doctors, the beeping machine, and his wife’s wailing which then eventually stopped. …He listened for it all at the corner of the room while his eyes remained closed. Then finally…
• …the cry of his new-born baby.
• He didn’t turn at the sound of it, still patiently waiting for the doctor to confirm both was alive.
• “I’m sorry Mr. Dela Ventura.”
• It was all he needed to hear to know they weren’t able to save his wife. Strength escaped him as he felt heartbroken on the chair. It was the first time I saw him weep that much. I couldn’t hold my emotions any longer, so I let myself cry at the loss. Miss Hyacinth was a very kind person, and her presence would be sorely missed by the household.
• After that, Master Zade threw all his time to work. He wanted to avert his grief to something beneficial rather than being eaten by it. All the while his son, Cullen, grew up reticent from the lack of his father’s attention.
• Heeding the words of Miss Cullen before she died, I took courage to speak to Master Zade. He noticed me and let me in his study room that day. He looked busy as he gathered his things for work whilst sparing some time for what I have to say.
• “Oh. How’s Cullen?”
• “He’s good. His tutorial class has just begun.”
• “I see” he said detachedly. “Tell my executive secretary if he needs something.”
• He was about to leave so I willed to say what I came there for. “Cullen needs you. He needs a father to grow up along with. Please do consider having some free time out with him.”
• “He’s a smart kid. He should be able to understand my reasons.”
• At loss for words, I wasn’t able to hold myself back. “But it wasn’t his fault…”
• He knew exactly what I meant so he looked at me with such cold intensity. I was surprised when he raised his usually monotonic voice.
• “Enough! I’ve been slaving myself already with work! Don’t you think I also need some time to rest by myself?”