Lumayo Ka Man Sa Akin

Chapter VIII

50% of ownership to Lillian, 25% to Paolo, and 25% to you Hugo. Also, your father is naming Hugo as the co-guardian of Alejandra Madrid Valdez Berenguer.

Hugo sat outside the balcony of his room,  contemplating about what the meeting they just had with Attorney Salcedo and what he is going to do next.

It is safe to assume that Alejandra mentioned during the meeting is his father and Lillian's daughter, his half-sister and he absolutely cannot believe his father made such decision. 

He didn't exactly know how he felt at that moment. It was all a blur: first of all, he can't believe his father is giving 50% of the ownership to Lillian and only a quarter to him and Paolo. Second, how does his father expect him to take care of a young girl he doesn't even know nor have met before?

He hasn't spoken with Lillian since the night they made love. Or the better phrase might be the night they had sex.  

He saw her during the meeting with Atty. Salcedo but she did not say a word nor acknowledged him in any sense. Not once did she look at him nor glance at his direction. It was as if he did not even exist at all. 

Although Hugo did not want to admit it, Lillian's coldness bothered him. It bothered him more than he wanted to admit.

After the meeting, she walked out Atty. Salcedo, talking to her the entirety of the time, maybe to avoid having to have conversation with him. Once Atty. Salcedo left, she immediately went back to her room, not leaving ever since. 

He really had the urge to knock on her door and check on her, see if she's okay and even apologize for what happened the night before.

For some reason, it frightened him and he absolutely had no idea why.

...

It has been two hours since Lillian decided to lock herself in her bedroom after the emotionally heavy meeting with Atty. Salcedo. 

Just as she got in her room, tears started flooding and all her emotional burden just came out.

Why did you have to leave me, Armando?

Lillian has not really had the time to contemplate on the small things that have been happening since Armando's death. She had a business to run, stockholders and stakeholders to satisfy, a daughter to take care of (although thank goodness for summer camps), a farm in Batangas to check up on among other things that she has not had time to take time for herself and breathe.

Since Armando's death was quite unexpected, Lillian did not have time to even ask herself How is Lillian Valdez Berenguer doing?  She was too busy pleasing other people that she forgot about herself.

And finally, it all came out, the burden she was feeling all came out once the door of her and Armando's room, now her's that he's gone, shut.

If Armando didn't give her 50% of the shares, she would have thanked him. She wanted to escape. To leave everything behind and take her daughter somewhere, maybe to the US because she has some relatives who live there or maybe Mexico. Thanks to Armando also being a Mexican citizen,  she and her daughter are also citizens. At least over there, she can really start over since she doesn't know anyone there other than her late husband's carnales and compañeros.

However, the more she thought about it, the more she pushed the idea away.

She has always been a firm believer of the cliché "everything happens for a reason" although she doesn't know the answers for now.

She can't just neglect the empire Armando built which, also through her hard work, she helped him grow and maintain.

Of course she should take the credit! She has given up so much in order to achieve success.