The General's Wife

Kabanata 3

Cold

After his call, I heard the small snoring of my baby. Mukhang napagod ito sa paglalaro kanina kaya naman tulog na tulog na ito ngayon. I put my phone on my desk and went back outside.

Hindi ko na muna siya tinabihan at kinumutan na lang. Nawala na kasi bigla ang antok ko dahil sa dami ng iniisip. Isa na kung paano kami napunta sa ganitong sitwasyon at kung paano ko sisimulang sabihin sa anak ko ang tungkol sa tatay niya.

He knows that he has a daddy and he's alive. I didn't keep it a secret from him. But, I told him that his father is far away dahil sa trabaho nito.

And as young as five years old, my baby understands why his father is not here with us. I feel sad because even if he understands, I can still feel that he longs for his father especially, every time he sees his classmates being picked up at school by their fathers.

Every time I saw the envy and sadness in Rau's eyes, I hid my tears. I feel bad for my baby. But I rather kept him away from his father than put his life in danger.

Marco won the election two years ago. It was a landslide win. But every time I heard the news about how dirty the election went, I felt relieved that we're away from him.

Although it's sure that Marco will win, the way to get to the highest position in the government was not easy. It's dirty. And if we are together at that time, I don't know what will happen to him, to us, and to our child. Politics can be really dirty. A person can do anything, even put blood on his own hands, just to get the position he wants.

I'm not ready for that kind of drama. While Marco has been accustomed, perhaps molded to be a politician ever since he was a child, I was not. Bata pa lamang lumaki na si Marco na nasa mundo ng pulitika ang kanyang pamilya so sanay na siya sa mga isyu at pangha-harass, lalo na ng media. Pero ako hindi. Maybe that's one of the reasons also kung bakit kami natapos. I don't fit in his world.

Instead of sleeping, I went to my office to check my emails and schedule for tomorrow. I work as the HR Manager of Azure Hotel which is one of the few five star hotels in the country. We have a lot of branches in Visayas and Mindanao but I'm assigned to our main branch in Makati.

I was wondering how Marco got my number since I've changed it five years ago. But then I remember, he's friends with one of the sons of my boss, Rio Alcaraz.

Marco and Rio are in the same frat back in college. So no wonder, he can just dragged me from my office, aside from the fact that he's the f*cking president of the country.

Although I'm not really hiding from him since siya mismo ang nagtulak sa amin palayo. He knows where we live, and even who and where I work.

Not until five months ago, our paths crossed again at an auction event held by Azure. Noong panahon na iyon ay hindi man lang ako tinapunan ng tingin ni Marco. That's why nabigla at natakot ako nang puntahan ako ng mga alagad niya kanina sa opisina.

Napabuntong-hininga na lang ako. Sumasakit ang ulo ko tuwing iniisip ang sitwasyon namin ngayon ng anak ko dahil sa tatay niya.

I'm going to meet him tomorrow to discuss our setup. He wants us to be safe. Well, our son. And that's what I want too. That's why I will cooperate with him kahit hindi pa siya kilala ng anak namin.

Well, they haven't met yet but Rau knows him not as his father, but as the president of the country. May malaking larawan pa nga ni Marco sa classroom nila. So it might come as a shock to Rau if he found out that his father is the president.

Marco didn't really talk about when and how we were going to introduce him to Rau. However, iginiit ko sa kanya na hindi namin pwedeng biglain si Rau. I insisted that we will take it slow, and plan carefully how we will say to Rau about him.