Courting Courtney

1 --* Courtney's past

She was such a cheerful and sweet girl, everybody knew it. Not until the death of her mother.

Everyday whenever she went back from school, she will go straight to the hospital where her mother was confined. She never knew her sickness so she thought it was just a minor thing like fever or stomachache which her mother always complain to the nurses. She loved her mother so much more than anyone else in the world.

Until she realized the changes in her mother's body. Her skin turned pale, her body got thinner and she was starting to have hair loss. 

"I'm sorry Mr. Villegas, she only have two months to live"

That's when she knew that her mother's sickness was not just a typical stomachache but a stomach cancer. She was eavesdropping to the discussion of her father and the doctor. It was summer time and instead of having fun under the sun, she decided to stay by her side. She will tell stories about her past activities in school and her friends. She never missed a day making her mom laugh just to make her happy.

Two months have passed and as if the doctor was a fortune teller, her mom died. It was as if they really have predicted it already.

Too soon. It was too soon, she thought. She was just eight years old back then. How could an eight year old girl handle this kind of pain? Just then, she became sad everyday. Emotionless. She experienced trauma and she never spoke to anyone. Not even to her dad.

It was a great loss for her, an incomparable loss that truly broke her heart. She will just sit at the corner of her bed, or will just stay in the garden alone, staring blankly at the flowers. Even though her cousins or even the maids will try to talk to her, she won't respond. She was even brought to a specialist and psychiatrist just to cure her. 

Mom.

I want mom.

That's what she will always write in her mini whiteboard whenever her doctor asks her something.

After a year, still, there were no progress in her condition. Not until one day when she finally spoke the word "Mom"

Mom.

Mom.

And this time his dad knew that she needed a mother. 

--------------------------xx*♥

She was sitting at the couch in the living room. It was a fine sunny day and just like any other typical day, she spoke no word or didn't even make a single noise. She was surprised when she saw her dad with a familiar woman entering the house. She sat still while staring at them.

"Courtney, she is Tita Jessica, remember?" her father introduced. 

Her father had a girlfriend after six months of her mother's death. Jessica was her father's long time friend and she was also a widow for 5 years with a son. Her father wasn't even sure if Courtney liked the idea of him having a new girlfriend. But he knows that she needs it for her fast recovery now that she is looking for a mother.