A Second Chance

Part 12 - Charmaine

New characters:

Nidora and Tinidora Zobeyala - twins. Wealthy philantropists. Matriarch of the Zobeyala foundation, a well known foundation around the globe. A foundation that funds a foundation. Known personality but keeps a low profile. They were 10 years old when they lived in the Philippines after World War II when their missionary parents were sent there. They lived in the Philippines for 10 years (1947-1957). Never married but they have five grandchildren (find out how), namely:

Paolo Zobeyala - 29yrs old. Oldest among the brood. He is the Chief Operating Officer of the family owned businesses and manages the Zobeyala Foundation. Closest to Charmaine. Together they co-manage the Zobel university, a school for scholars.

Nikki and Nico Zobeyala - 26yrs old. Yes they are twins but they are like the sun and moon, water and oil. They oversee the family owned charity hospitals.

Coleen Zobeyala - 25yrs old. Part time model. Amabassadress of the Red Cross foundation in Italy.

Charmaine Zobeyala - 24yrs old. The youngest. She acts as her Nonne's Personal Assistant and Secretary. They don't want her to work full time as she is sickly. She sometimes pitch in for Coleen to model when the other is out of the country. Coleen has been encouraging her to join modeling.

Listen to: Charmaine by Jim Reeves (inserted as media above ☝)

(Author's note: I've been mulling over whether or not I should put Italian words/phrases, but since the setting is in Italy, I guess I should. Let's pretend we are in Italy and as the saying goes 'do what the romans do' and I mean let's read and speak Italian (kunwari), capisce? (pronounced as cah-peesh which means 'got it' 'understand') 😆😆 I'll insert random basic italian words/phrases para masaya 😆. Please bear with me, tinuruan lang ako ni mr. google✌✌)

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Early morning. Zobeyala Mansion - Como, Italy - May 2015

She just came from her morning walk with her cane (dog), Lupo, a Siberian husky breed given to her by Paolo when she came home from the hospital a couple years back. Lupo has been her company ever since.

The sound of Jim Reeves singing can be heard even from a distant. Lupo seemed to know the song as he sings with the song or howl, rather. She stopped before she step on the patio. Her Nonne's (grandmothers/singular - Nonna) early morning ritual is listening to their favorite music from '30s to '60s genre. She closed her eyes and listen to the music. It has become her favorite too as it speaks of her name.

🎶'I wonder why you keep me waiting...Charmaine, my Charmaine?
I wonder when bluebirds are mating...will you come back again?
I wonder if I keep on praying...will our dreams be the same?
I wonder if you ever think of me too...Charmaine, my Charmaine?
Charmaine, my Charmaine will you come back again?🎶

The song was titled Charmaine by Jim Reeves. Her name. Why her Nonna Nidora loves that particular song, she wonder. Every day she would hear that song play. It's not that she is the favorite among the 5 grandchildren. Her Nonne Nidora and Tinidora or Nid and Tin to them, equally treated and shower them with love as much as they can, the twins, Nikki and Nico, Coleen, Paolo and her. Maybe her Nonna Nid is fond of her because of the 5 grandchildren, she is the odd man out. Everything about her is diffrent from the rest of her family. She is more on the darker side in a family of blonde beauties and fair skinned and who are all popular. Although they are all blonde, hers is more on the dark ash blonde type of hair while theirs is golden blonde. She's not the fair type of skin. She have hazel brown eyes while theirs are blue gray. She's the shortest, she stands 5'4". If they are the easy outgoing type, she is the reserved one. If they love to party, she would rather stay in her room, read her favorite books or paint. She's different in every aspect and sometimes she thinks she's adopted but her Nonna Nidora made sure she's not. She explained she may have gotten their ancestors' genes who are not blue eyed, fair and blonde.