When He Left

Prologue

Once upon a time, there was a young boy named Sebastian, a cheerful young man he was indeed. He was raised alone by her mother in a small apartment in New York.

They lived a simple life; he goes to school regularly while his mother works in a small office. After their busy day, his mother would pick Sebastian up from school and they would drop by his favorite ice cream parlor before they head straight home.

In the night, he would help his mother prepare a dinner for two. And before going to sleep, he would ask her mother to tell him the story of how she and his father met. It must have been the nth time he heard the story but he never gets tired of it. It was his favorite.

He wasn't able to meet his father but he knew he was a nice man based on the stories her mother told him.

His mother, after telling the story, would put a blanket on top of him and kiss him to sleep while he dreamt of a particular day wherein him, his mother, and his father, would all go together to his favorite ice cream parlor and eat his favorite ice cream flavor.

That was the dream.

On the day of his 10th birthday he received the biggest surprise in his life. His mother's death.

He refrained himself from crying because he knows his mother would not like to see him do so. But he stayed by her side, day and night. When people ask him if he is okay, he would give off a small smile and say, "As long as mama's okay, I am okay too."

And in the last day of his mother's funeral, an old man wearing a suit dropped by. His mother's friend approached the man and lead him to where he was seated. "This is Sebastian, your grandson." The man only stared at him blankly and walked passed him over to his dead daughter.

That was his first encounter with his grandfather. And instead of hating the man because of how he mistreated him, he looked at him with so much awe, respect, and hope. Hope that he still has a family to stay with amidst his mother's death.

The day arrived wherein they were to bid a final farewell to his mother. He put a rose on top of her and promised his mother that he would find his father for her. She longed for that, he knew. He promised that someday, somehow, their family would be completed. That was the dream.

He saw his grandfather seating in a nearby bench, face buried in his own palms. He sat beside him, "Don't be sad, grandfather. Mother won't like that." He got no response from him but he still continued to talk. Hoping that he would comfort the old man. "You know what she would like? She would really like it if we go looking for papa ..."

"Don't speak of your devilish father in front of me, young man!" He was silenced when his grandfather began shouting at him. "You and your damned father are the reason why I lost Melissa! Your father is living a happy life with his family in the Philippines! He doesn't care about your mother! He doesn't care about you!"

In an instance, all of his dreams and hopes came shattering down into pieces like a broken glass. Wounding his skin, leaving him bleeding. All of the tears he held back for days came pouring out of his eyes. He dreamt of completing his family once again without the idea that it was already broken. And the sanctuary he thought he could get in his grandfather's arms was a disaster as well.

Days after his mother's burial, he lived in the custody of his grandfather for a while. He treated him so coldly yet it stung him like fire. He would be his grandfather's puppet in the day, and a puppet of his own sadness in the night.

That was until he overheard his grandfather talking to someone over the phone, "I could not beat the sight of Christian Montenegro's son in my household ... I don't care! Send him to the Philippines as soon as possible! Give him a house, send him to an elite school! Anything would do as long as you get him out of my hands! He reminds me both of my daughter's death and mistake!"

A mistake ... that was what he was, he though. Just an inevitable mistake.

After a month he was sent to live in the Philippines. His grandfather bought him a mansion with drivers and maids to take care of him. He was sent to a prestigious school. His monthly allowance was huge. It was far from the simple life he was used to. It was grand! He had everything he wanted in the mere snap of his fingers.

But he was not happy with all these glitz and glamour. Because he knew he was alone. The family he longed for vanished in a blink of an eye.

He grew up with just himself to depend on. He still tried to be happy, yes. With his friends and classmates. But every time there were school programs, he was envious of them because they had their mothers and fathers to come with them while he had none.

He tried not to lose himself but he knew deep inside of him that the Sebastian he once knew is slowly disappearing. He drank, he smoked, he wasted is life trying to be happy with the money his grandfather gave him. He gave himself to girls that didn't matter because he was trying to forget the only one who did. But who was he kidding? He knew at the back of his mind that the shadows of his past would still continuously haunt him at his sleep.

He had no one else to blame for his misery but the man whose name his grandfather despises: Christian Montenegro. The man who turned his dreams into nightmares. His own father.