As soon as Randell arrived at the mansion, he did his job again. Martina left him at the resort without saying goodbye to him. If he hadn’t looked at the cellphone he also wouldn’t have known it was gone. Martina also reminded her of the things she has to finish in her office because she is said to be piled up and all the unfinished paper works are urgent. Randell let out a deep sigh as soon as he entered the office and examined Martina's desk first. Maybe it still had a hangover last night so rested first. It was as if something heavy had hit her chest, especially since she thought that Martina might have remembered what happened last night and that she hated him.
He shrugged when he realized that he should start to work, wasting his time thinking. If he had the papers in hand, he might have had to take care of them.
“I feel like I don't have the face to show to Martina. She might think that there's really something happened between us and she might also think that I left her just like that. But, maybe she saw me on her car and she might got hesitant to wake me up.” He shook his head several times and will about to rehearse his apology.
****
"I was just thinking, my 70th birthday is coming up. Maybe you want to take me for a walk at the beach, what do you think Martina?"
Martina stopped eating because of Nanay Remmy's inquiry. Earlier she was quiet and had no appetite but she just insisted because she didn't want her grandmother to sulk. And about her birthday, she never forgot but as usual she doesn't go on outings. That's why Nanay Remmy is still expecting her to be killjoy and didn't even change her demeanour prior to family outings.
"It's up to you grandma, where do you want?" She tried to raise her voice when she looked at Nanay Remmy as well as Alina, Yayo and Kikay. Only then did she realise the reason why she had no appetite. Randell didn't have dinner. She also did not inform her that he had returned to the mansion. If she hadn’t seen the car parked in the garage, she really wouldn’t have known.
"Yayo, by the way, why isn't Randell eating yet?" Nanay Remmy turned her attention to Yayo before answering Martina.
"She seems to be busy, Maam Martina is supposed to finish her pending paperworks. She says it needs to be tomorrow. When she returns, she hurries to the office," Yayo explained.
Mother Remmy was silenced. "Tomorrow? Tomorrow is sunday. Randell is supposed to rest like Martina."
"If she doesn't finish that, he'll be more pressured so I said tomorrow that I need him to finish his paper works," Martina retorted and resumed eating.
"Is that your challenge?"
Martina almost choked when Nanay Remmy spoke again. There was a hint of irritation in his voice. "Why? What's wrong with what I did?"
"Martina, you haven't even let him rest and have dinner. Randell is human and not a robot. When I'm bored, I'll tell you Randell that you like him!" Nanay Remmy's threat shocked the three housemates.
"Oh my gosh! Say it, we're really right Kikay, Maam Martina likes Randell!" Alina exclaimed. He had always noticed Martina, because he often caught her glancing at Randell and then suddenly smiling.
"Alina said so! Randell is so handsome, even if I don't have a boyfriend!" Kikay agreed and slapped Alina's arm because of the excitement for Randell and Martina.
"Stop it! You don't want me to give you my gift anymore?" Everyone stopped giggling because of Martina's irritability before she stood up and walked out.
"Did you hear that? We have a gift. It's a pity," Yayo replied. "Yes there is. I already have it and I'll just hand it over to you. Let Martina and she fix her problem with Randell as long as she admits it. That's okay," Nanay Remmy replied with a smile.
“Ma'am Martina doesn't need to hide what's obvious. The affection she had for Randell was too obvious in her eyes,” Kikay Remarked.
****
It's already 11pm but Martina notices that the lights are on inside the office. Randell took her command here seriously. Really never left the office and got busy with his task. She slowly went inside and when she turned on the light she saw that Randell's head was already on the desk. Probably he fell asleep. But how long?
She was found guilty of torturing Randell's welfare. She glanced at its time in the bundy clock.
He arrived at 12:30 pm, which only means that he worked for almost 10 hours. She looked at the finished work that was already on his own desk. He could tell Randell didn’t rush the paper work, it was all fine. He went right in front of Randell's desk again. He touched it twice but he still did not wake up. So he decided to just lift her head that was lying on the desk and lean her back on the chair. Now she was free to look at the young man again.
‘You are not unlucky, you are just lucky in my life.’
Indeed, Randell is like an angel sent from above. Besides hard work there has been a revival in the mansion since it arrived. And it wasn't just the mansion that gave her energy, but also her languid heart that she had no intention of falling in love with. She couldn't help but caress his cheek. This made her heart rumble even faster especially when she was staring at Randell's lips again so she remembered again how good it felt to be kissed by him. She seemed to want to do it again, if only she could.
But she recoiled at the thought. She knew in himself that Randell would not like her and he was sure that he was completely angry with her for the task he had done. She made things more complicated. So he decided to lay down her gift tuxedo with notes on his desk before leaving it at the office.
She left and the lights are still on. He was immediately grabbed by his chest when he returned to the room. She turned around again and again but drowsiness couldn't really visit him. It was only a few minutes before it was midnight again — Randell was running through her mind every midnight. He wanted to admit but she was preceded by fear.
‘Martina, you are such a cowardly woman.’
Moments later she heard a soft knock on the door. The pounding in her chest grew as if he was deaf in those moments. Before opening the door, she prayed that Randell would open the door for her but he was stunned when he saw Alina knocking.
"What's the matter Alina?"
"Maam, Randell just left. Don't hold back," Alina replied worriedly.
Randell why would you leave me when I haven't admitted to you that I love you?
***
Martina recognized the call but Randell still did not answer the phone. There was no room for his apprehension at this time. Maybe she put too much pressure on the young man because of her work demands. She should have been glad to know that Randell finally gave up, but she felt differently now. It's clear as crystal water— that she didn't want Randell to leave. She wants to see him every minute and every hour.
All she could do was go back to the bedroom and spend the night even though it was hard for him to sleep because of the thought of Randell.
‘I hope you even said if you don't want to be with me anymore. It's not like you're leaving without notice!’
She was dilated and in pain all night.
***
Nanay Delia welcomed her son, Randell in her small house. She didn't hesitate to hug her son tightly. She missed him a lot.
“I'm sorry that I only called you just once. I can say that you still cared for me even though we're not on good terms after me and your father got separated,” Nanay Delia recounted.
Randell faked a grin on his lips and instead of answering his mother, he looked around the messy arrangement of Nanay Delia's house.
“Last time I knew, your boyfriend is earning decent money. But look at the roof of your house. It's almost collapsing,” Randell commented in disgust.
“Just buy a new roof and I'm gonna be the one to fix it for you,” he added and averted his gaze back to his pathetic mom. He also sighed upon realising that his mother seems not doing well like he expected her to be.
“Son, why are you looking at me like that? As if you're judging me? I know I was wrong. I have to fulfil my duties to you as your mother—”
“Hush, ma. I'm not asking you to do that. What I want you to do is to love yourself. You forgot to do that when you loved that man a lot. You're not that pretty like you used to be. Please don't get offended by my words. You know how much I care for you as my mom. It hurts me that you have to live like this so you can feed that moron. Don't hesitate to tell more about him. I'm gonna hunt him even after his death,” Randell yelped and reached his mother's hands. The agony reflected in his eyes shows a lot of his anger towards his mother's beau.
“Don't look after him. We already broke up. I let her live with the one he loves,” Nanay Delia lamented.
“Seriously? You're allowing him that easy? He left you suffering while he's enjoying his life with another woman? I bet he's the same age as her. Nevertheless, I will still search for him and let him taste what he deserves for cheating and scamming you,” Randell insisted, implying how much he detested the guy who hurt Nanay Delia.
“That opportunist guy didn't deserve to live a happy life,” he continued while clenching his fists.
“Son, please calm down. Don't ever do that. You might put yourself in trouble. Dave has many peers who were troublemakers and notorious for violating laws. Once you mess with Dave, his friends will surely look for you and will never let you in peace,” Nanay Delia solemnly advised.
“I'm not terrified. I've gone through many obstacles. I endured a lot since I used to live alone. He never knew what I could do once I saw him. I'm gonna crumple him like a piece of paper.”
“Son, before trying to get revenge, let me cook something for you, huh? Maybe you are saying that because you're just hungry,” Nanay Delia giggled. She couldn't help not to feel grateful for her son.
“It's not hunger. It's anger,” Randell corrected and then flashed a smile. “I also missed those times that you're going to cook for me whenever I just got home from school. By the way, once I earn some money, I'm going to take you out from here. You need a good space to live too so it won't affect your health.”
“Randell. I'm out of words with your kindness, thank you for being like this. Huh?” Nanay Delia also smiled.
The two of them spent their time talking about their lives when they're away from each other.