The Royal Contract

“Marietta and Joaquin ended up falling in love with each other.” He related to the two who were listening intently to his story.

He was happy for them. But at the same time, he was also heartbroken, thinking that he was also in love with her. He had secretly hoped that Marietta would love him back, but her heart belonged to his friend.

“Did he get her pregnant?” Alex asked the question, anxious to hear the answer.

Somehow hearing a few backgrounds of the man who used to run the operation of this organization was shedding some light on their case. But he had to know more.

“It is not that simple.” He looked into his wife’s eyes, wanting to draw strength in her. “There was another part of the story that you are still now aware of, another secret that we decided not to tell you.”

He suddenly found himself reminiscing the past. A moment that he thought he would never try to recall again. A memory that he promised everyone involved that he would never mention again.

.....

He found her crying in her room. He had been trying to contact her almost all day, but she had not responded. He was worried, so he hurriedly came to her apartment to check on her.

“What is going on?” He asked when she finally looked up to see him. He remembered how distraught she was, but he still did not understand what had gone wrong. “Why are you crying?”

“I found him cheating on me.” She finally voiced out in between her sobs. He remembered how he almost did not understand what she was saying. Her voice was barely audible.

“Who?” He was slightly confused. “Joaquin?” He asked, but he knew it was impossible. His friend was madly in love with her. He could never cheat on her.

“Yes, your friend. He cheated on me.” She said as her words slightly slurred. That was the time that he saw the bottle in her hand.

He realized that she had been drinking. He had come closer to her when he had finally smelled the stink of the alcohol on her breath.

“I think you have enough of drinking for tonight.” He tried to take the bottle from her, but she slapped his hands away.

He could see that she was not in an accomodating mood. If he pushed her too much, she might see him as hostile and force him to leave.

“Why don’t you join me instead? Drink with me through my misery.” She said, stammering in her words.

“If I help you finish that, would you finally agree to rest?” He knew how Marietta could be stubborn, just like him and his friend, Joaquin.

However, he knew he could not leave her in such a condition. He had to find a way to calm her down and force her to rest. But his mind was still thinking of the accusation she had just told him.

“Fine. You promise.” She pushed the drink in his direction. Suddenly he realized that the bottle was still more than half full, but she had already consumed a lot for her capacity.

She was not a drinker. Therefore, any alcoholic drink would have an immediate effect on her. Right now, he could see that she was drunk.

“I promise.” He took the bottle from her hands. Then, he sat beside her on the floor before chugging a mouthful of the wine she was drinking like water. “Tell me.” He encouraged her to confide in him.

“I saw a girl sitting on his lap while he was entertaining some clients in a bar.” She calmly said as tears still flowed down her cheeks.

“Maybe you were mistaken.” He still wanted to defend his friend, but he could not deny that his friend sometimes did have women flocking around him.

“No.” She hissed at him, mad that he was taking Joaquin’s side. “Let us just drink because you are too loyal to your friend.” She said, grabbing the drink away from him.

Then, he found himself talking to her about something else. They laughed while recalling their childhood memories as he emptied the bottle by himself.

It was one of the best conversations the two of them had. But it was also the worst night as they committed the biggest mistake of their lives.

“What else are you keeping from me that could be worse than this? Whatever it is, I assure you, I can take it?” Dani said, waking him up from his reverie. She was confused at the way his father was acting.

“Marietta had a child but not with Joaquin.” He admitted, shifting his eyes to his daughter, then at his wife, who nodded again, giving her blessing for him to continue.

“Joaquin claimed the child to be his to some people. He raised the child with Marietta, but he never married her.” He explained further.

He remembered looking for them, asking him about her whereabouts. But his friend was too mad at him. He would not reveal where he had taken them.

He said that Marietta chose to go away as far away from him. “He hid her and the child from the world, saying he only wanted to protect them from his enemies.” Meaning him.

When Marietta never tried to contact him, not even once. He knew that he had to stop looking for her. At the time, Joaquin also cut off their ties. They went on their separate lives.

One day, he received a letter from Marietta asking him to forget about her and whatever happened. That day he decided that was the last time he would think about her and their child.

“You said Joaquin claimed the child to be his. Who is the father?” Alex was afraid to ask, but he had to know the truth. If his suspicion was correct, Dani also deserved the truth.

“I always believed he was mine.” He knew then that he should have looked for them. He should have taken responsibility for what happened, but he was a coward then.

He took the easy way out and moved on with his life. He never looked back and never bothered looking for them. Then, he met his wife and fell in love with her.

This time, he realized that what he had with Marietta was a friendship he had tainted with his false interpretation of love. But what he had with Laura was pure love. He learned there was a big difference.

“You have another child that you never mentioned once to us.” She shouted, unable to contain her shock. “Did you know about this, Mom?” She asked her mother, surprised by her father’s sudden confession.

“I know all about it, Dani. Your father had told me all his deepest secrets from the start of our relationship.” She confided to her daughter, not wanting her to think that her father was as bad as it sounded.

It was not only his decision not to tell Dani about his past but also hers. They thought it would never come out again. But it seemed it was starting to slowly creep into the surface, unraveling in front of them.

However, she could see that it was a relief to finally unleash the heavy burden they had carried with them through all these years. She and her husband were now free from the cage of the past.