Cognizance

Chapter 1

                   

It's been two months since Eduardo left. Two months since he took off without another word. Two months since they went on that date—yes, it was a date, as much as she would like to think not. Two months since they ran into each other in Salcedo Market, in what was supposed to be the start of something new. And two months since Eduardo saw James Powers, her ex-boyfriend and the father of her son. Two months since Eduardo got on a plane, and decided that a life in the Philippines and a life with Amor wasn't something he exactly wanted.

            Life has been different since Eduardo left. He was only in the Philippines for two weeks, but those were two weeks that both Amor and Betty Mae considered somewhat fateful. And perhaps now, in retrospect, it would something that merely passed the time. For those fourteen short days of Eduardo Buenavista, Amor had actually thought that her life would be different, that love was possible again for someone like her, for someone like him.

But alas. Off he went. Even David was jostled by the departure. With Mark gone by that Friday, David had lost someone he could play with. And with Eduardo gone by the weekend, he had lost completely all male role models in his life. He doesn't say it out loud, of course, and doesn't bring up Eduardo and Mark anymore, but in the beginning, it troubled Amor. It truly was hard with the case of her young son, who didn't exactly understand the ephemerality of the people around him.

Although now, two months later, Amor could say that she thoroughly loathed Eduardo. It took her a while to acknowledge this, or to label the feeling of dread she would feel every time someone would mention the boss at the office. There would always be that overwhelming flow of emotion that went through her when Betty Mae would raise the Buenavistas in conversation, when Claudia would bully her, when her officemates would give her an empathetic pat on the back when they'd see her.

But that feeling of unadulterated hate isn't borne from his sudden leave. It's because of what James had told her, the real story as to why he and Eduardo hated each other to the core.

"What's the deal with you and Eduardo, once and for all?" Amor had demanded from him.

They had been seated at James' couch, catching up. As much as Amor would like to keep the fact secret, she and James did try to give it another shot. They had gone a few dates, tried to rekindle what they had. Even David, who knew very well at certain point that James is his father, had gotten used to the American's presence.

What James told her was damning. And it really was what converted Amor from admiration, and dare she say—love—to hate. Hate, because such a man had the audacity to make up a story, and dirty the name of another. Hate, because she actually believed in everything Eduardo had said about James Powers, to the point of even siding with him in this debacle. Hate, because Eduardo managed to manipulate her like he manipulated many. Amor couldn't forgive herself, much less Eduardo, for falling in love with a man like that. Perhaps the disillusion she had of him never went away. Eduardo, the kind of Eduardo Amor thought he was, has always been a figment of her imagination.

James said that Eduardo's mother, Benita Buenavista, had a bursary fund for the fortunate few who were smart enough, willing enough, deserving enough to receive it. James was one of those people. So Benita, the philanthropist she was, sent him to graduate school with Eduardo. The two got along perfectly, up until they both finished their studies.

James, eternally grateful for what Benita has done for him, asks for a bit more money to start a company. Benita grants him what he needs, and he goes off to Maryland to make Powers Solutions. But for some reason, Eduardo has twisted the story around to make people believe that James had everything Benita could give, start his own business, and not even repay the woman he owes so much to. According to him, that is all false.