Highest Rank: #1 in Romance, #1 - painting, #1 - heartbreaker, #1 - one-sidedlove, #1 - unrequitedlove, #1 - engagement
***********************
Still not satisfied with our physical contact, he leaned his face down to meet mine as his fingers grippe...
"Let's go to the cemetery today," Mommy Carol announced as we were treading the hallway situated in the second floor of the palacio. It was one silent morning and the sound of our footsteps reverberated the floor.
It was Annie's death anniversary, exactly three weeks before my birthday.
"Will Nigel come home today, mommy?" I still bothered to ask even if I knew the answer already. It was all the same since he moved out to the city. He never came to The Fields every death anniversary of his sister.
"Like we wait for a miracle?" mommy gasped. "It was so hard for him when he lost Annie. He couldn't accept it. Until now, I can still feel the remorse in him. It isn't easy for him to be reminded of his sister's death."
I sighed.
It was definitely not easy to be reminded of your loved one's loss... like how I felt when my parents were gone... At first, I was mad with the whole world. The acceptance process had been one heck of a roller coaster ride. It was terrible. I was thankful that Mommy Carol and Nigel, of course, made the process bearable...
"What was that for?" mom asked about my deep sigh.
"Uhm, nothing... I just feel his pain," I partially lied. I didn't want mom to know that I was still grieving for my mama and papa. "He really loved her so much."
"Yes. That's why when our Anita died, he started to become aloof. He started to make a world of his own. Somehow, I've come to think that I've lost my cheerful Nigelito. You should understand why he's like that, darling."
I nodded.
"It was hard for Nigelito to grow up without a father, too," she ceased walking and gazed at a large framed picture hanged on the wall. It was actually one of the several pictures of the great ancestors of the Sarmientos lined on that wall. I made a stop as well.
It surprised me to hear what mom just said. This was the first time she talked about Nigel's dad.
I followed her gaze and learned that she was looking at a picture of a man who had almost the same facial features with Nigel. It was the picture of Nigel's father, the late Señor Federigo Sarmiento and the original owner of The Fields.
Looking at his picture, I recalled mama's story about him and Mommy Carol. According to my mama when she was still alive, her best friend, whom I now called Mommy Carol, married one of the wealthiest men in the country. It was an arranged marriage. At first, Mommy Carol was not agreeable to it for Señor Federigo was twenty-two years older than she was. But his persistence and love won her heart eventually. Señor Federigo died, however, leaving her two young children, Nigel was still five years old then while Annie was one. He died of heart stroke. He was fifty-four.
