Romantic Short Stories [DUBREDO]

IV. Afire Visage

Elise got fired from work after consecutive absences, she isolated herself in her small apartment and got drunk despite that she wasn't really a drinker.

The way the alcohol burned her throat felt so satisfying and the way it put her to sleep so easy is exactly what she needed. She never stopped crying, pitying herself and it went on like this for months, she was outworn and declining. The betrayal of Rodrigo ruined her.

As she was lying on the floor reaching out for the bottle of beer on the desk, some things fell down on the floor. "Damn it!" She groaned as the small box of paper fell down to her. She struggled to get up and place it back to the table top. While she was picking up the scattered things, she saw the calling card of Dr. Angara making her recall his offer long time ago.

She stopped crying for a while and thought about considering his offer but the only thing she could do is hope that he is still open with the offer when it's been about two months since he asked her for it. She grabbed her phone and dialed his number.

"Hello?" He picked up, Elise panicked for a moment. "Hello? Who's this?" He asked, her jaw dropped in panic.

"If this is a prank call—"
"No, no. It's not." She finally spoke. "Who's this?" He asked. "I'm..." she gulped. "I'm Elise, if you remember the girl you talked to in Luneta. You were offering me something about the free plastic surgery for your experiment." She tried to make him remember, he never forgot her.

"The girl with a burned face, distorted face." She kept reminding him, "Yeah..." he replied making her feel relieved. "Yeah, I was wondering if your offer is not yet expired?" She hinted, it was exactly what he wanted to hear.

"Of course, Elise." He replied feeling thrilled by her unexpected call. "I'm taking it." She replied.

He gave her the directions to his clinic for further discussion about the deal. She got herself sober before she finally visited his clinic.

"So the operation will be free of charge, inclusive of the post meds, check ups, I will be shouldering the fees for the the surgery room, confinement and everything else. All you have to do is be there and make this operation successful." Sonny recapped.

"Okay," she replied certain about her decision in accepting the deal. "Well, see you on Friday for the surgery then. Have some good sleep and prepare yourself for the operation." He replied. "If I die in this operation, just cremate me, okay? I don't care. That's all I want—"

"You're not dying, Elise." Sonny interrupts. She exhaled heavily, "But just in case." She insisted.

She was about to leave but she went back to her seat and looked at him.

"Why are you doing this?" She asked. Sonny just smiled, "because you deserve it." He replied briefly. She doubted his pure intentions but then she no longer cared about it.

"What do I have to lose?" She uttered and left.

Finally, the surgery day came. Elise prepared herself and arrived at the operation room on time. Before the operation started, she opened up to Sonny something that came to her mind last night.

"I don't wanna be Elise anymore. I wanna start a new life." She told him. "I'll do anything to help." He replied and smiled at her. "Thank you." She laid her back at the bed and then the operation began. The operation went for a couple of hours, every minute passing by, Sonny worries for Elise. He wants her to be safe until the operation was finally over.

Her face was wrapped in bandage and will remained covered for about a week until the incisions heal.

Sonny made her stay in his place during her recovery period. He isolated her and made sure nobody would bother or stress her out.

One evening, he handed her a folder with some documents to sign. "What's this?" She asked. "Read it." He demanded.

She opened the folder and saw an empty birth certificate form and some documents for name change. She looked at him in deep startle. "You said you want to start anew, so there." He stated.

She had the free will to choose her new name and signed the papers afterwards. She handed it to him after she filled out the blank spaces.

He browsed through it and smiled. "So..." he uttered.

"It's nice to meet you, Leni Gerona." He stated, a small smile grew on her lips.

He placed the folder back to the desk and went back to her. "I think it's my obligation to finally introduce myself to you and explain why I am doing all of these." He began, she listened with anticipation.

"I am Sonny, I didn't come from rich roots, I was just lucky enough to be adopted by a rich couple and now I am a licensed plastic surgeon." He introduced. "Good for you." She smiled softly.

"I wouldn't be all these if it wasn't because of you." He stated causing a slight confusion. "Me? Why? What did I do?" She asked feeling so lost.

"You really don't remember?" He asked, she shook her head trying to recall any instance of him in the past.

"I'm your foster brother. The one you saved when during the fire accident in our area." He reminded her, she started to feel perplexed as she hardly recalled everything that happened during that time.

"I was the one stuck at the comfort room, the burning debris fell on you because you saved me." He continued, finally she recalled him.

"Sonson?" She asked, he nodded. She couldn't believe it was him. She never heard about him after that tragedy.

After the accident, she woke up alone in the hospital and only the nuns took her and kept her at the orphanage since her parents didn't make it through the disaster. She ran away from the orphanage when she turned fifteen and started to live on her own.

"And I did these to make it up to you because I owe you my life, Leni." He explained further making her understand everything.

"But you can't just help me forever. I have nothing to offer you." She hesitated. "I'll help you finish college. After that, you're free to go. I just wanna make sure you'll have something to survive and live on your own." He replied. "But nobody would hire me, I'm horrible." Her voice fainted.

"Not anymore." He stood up and began to frantically unwrap her face from the bandages.

He exhaled heavily and stared at her healed face with a soft smile. "Everyone's gonna love you now." He complimented and made her turn to the mirror.

Leni was completely staggered to see her new face. She looked so fine, the symmetry of her face manifested how careful Sonny was with her surgery. It was the look she never imagined of having again.

Using her childhood photo, he studied her facial structures and drafted the plausible face she would have at her current age and it was exactly the face he gave her during the surgery.

She turned to him and requested for one last thing. "Don't tell anyone about this."

"Tell them Elise Sto. Tomas is dead." She dropped.