Tú Eres Mi Sol

XXX

After reading that letter, it seemed that he lost strength in his legs and slumped on the bathroom floor. He could see that there were tears drops in the paper. He couldn't understand what happened. He was stunned.

It would be how Sam would find him after a few hours and it would be around midnight that Richard realise that Sam was sitting next to him.

When Sam asked him what happened, he gave Sam the letter. Sam himself was very confused at what happened.

"Teka, bakit ka nandito at paano ka nakapasok" Richard asked Sam

"Bukas yung pinto mo. And kung bakit ako andito, medyo long story."

Richard looked at him.

"Kasi ganito, about a month ago, Camille went to the restaurant, saying na she wants to surprise you. She said that it would be nice kung lahat kami andito. She'll pay for the tickets daw. She really wants me to be here. She said na baka sawang-sawa na yun si Richard sa akin. I'm sure he'd appreciate it if he saw other familiar faces. Let's surprise him para ma-inspire siya, she said. Sina Rodjun, Jerald, Tuns and Mark kasi hindi pwede, she asked all of us. Ako lang yung free. So I said, okay, nang mabisita naman kita dito."

"Kumusta naman siya when she visited you?"

"Okay naman, you know still bubbly. She came in one day and gave me a ticket, sabi niya eto daw kasi yung nakuha niya. Different days daw yung flight namin, so okay. Until"

"Until ano? Samuel, wala akong pasensya ngayon."

"When I landed earlier, I got a message from Camille." Sam shows Richard the message

Camille:  Please can you make sure Richard is alright? Please tell him I love him and that I'm sorry.

"I thought we were okay, Sam. Ang saya pa nga namin these past few days. You know she cooked for me, we woke up next to each other and I was thinking na baka eto na ata."

"Akala ko din okay kayo. Excited pa nga ako sa surprise na ito e."

Richard, all his friends, family and even Dei, helped him looked for Camille but he knew that Camille was a good at planning. She always had fool-proof plans that sometimes scared him. She thought of scenarios that was wild beyond his thinking.

No one knew where she was.

It would be a few months after, that they would learn what happened, when Sam and Richard were grocery shopping in one of their out of town trips in the North, they bumped into Camille's former nanny.

When they asked her at first, she stayed quiet like she was scared. They asked again and she suddenly burst into tears. They brought her to Jerald's family vacation house where they were staying.

There the old woman narrated that she has been taking care of Camille and her siblings since they were born. Camille, middle child was a shy one. That the first time Camille met Richard she immediately had a crush on him.

Camille and her siblings were raised in a very traditional Chinese family so when they learned that Camille was dating Richard, even though he was a Faulkerson, it was still a no-no in the household. She had to marry someone who was Chinese. They warned Camille but she was young and in love, so she ignored it.

The nanny asked Richard if he ever wondered why he hasn't stepped inside their house or ever met anyone from her family, Richard didn't realize it until now. Camille would always make excuses when he would say that he'd like to meet her parents to tell them that he'd take care of her, that he's a decent guy and to put those rumors of him being a ladies man to rest.

When her parents learned that she met up with Richard she would be banished from the dinner table without having anything to eat or locked in her room. When he heard this, Richard cried. Asking himself how come he didn't see any of this, that when every time he met with Camille, she was always jolly and full of concern for him.

The nanny said that despite what they did to her, Camille still wanted to meet up with Richard, there was a time that they didn't give her money, so she would ask her nanny to pawn her jewelries or designer bags that were given to her as gifts.

When Richard thought about it, whenever they'd celebrate birthdays or special occasions, Camille didn't want any material gifts, she would balk at Richard when one time he gave her a bouquet, she said it was a waste of money. She wasn't a fan of going out, now it made sense, she didn't want to be seen with him by her parents or people she knew, they were always at the Faulkerson mansion. 

Richard was now pacing in the room, thank goodness there was a punching bag in the side of the living room, he threw a few punches in frustration, else he would surely be punching concrete walls.

The nanny said that Camille's older sister, Tina, fell in love with a non-Chinese. She was stubborn and would not break up with the guy, so their father had the guy kidnapped and beaten to a pulp, then showed him to Tina. Tina was distraught, she didn't know that they would actually do it. She broke it up with the guy right then and there, but the beautiful Tina was never the same again, she was never seen smiling or laughing again.

They gave Camille the same threat if she didn't breakup with Richard. Camille didn't give in until they showed her videos of him in school and near his house, then she knew it was serious. The nanny said she'd never seen Camille stand up to her parents until that time, she was always the meek one in the family. Then she negotiated, two months with Richard until it went down to a few days, then Camille would be sent to overseas and no contact with Richard and Richard won't be harmed.

After all these months, he thought he was alright, that he had accepted what happened but hearing all these revelations, hearing how much Camille loved him, he was clearly distressed. 

Richard went back to Singapore a week after this, he still had school.

Rodjun, Tuns, Jerald, Mark and Sam didn't know what to do and if they weren't with him when this was revealed, they would never know what happened. Since they were older than Richard, they finished school a year ago. They wanted to make sure Richard was alright, they tweaked their schedules and one of them would stay with Richard every two weeks.