Fausta felt the stimulating rush of nicotine into her lungs, and instantly she felt relaxed after a big puff at her Menthol cigarette.
Satisfied, she proceeded to inhale a longer puff.
She stepper out into the wide ancestral balcony, the sweet smells of Kalachuchi or Frangipani assaulted her senses.
" I hate flowers! Specially fragrant flowers! They trigger my asthma attacks. Hmmmp!" She mumbled to herself.
" ... plus they never last... I prefer artificial flowers, they can last forever!" She added and stabbed out the cigarette butt upon the thick cemented balcony pavement.
As she leaned down, her gaze fell upon Yaya Metring and Martina below, within the orchids garden, that was personally cared for by Dona Rosa when she was still alive.
Fausta sniffed a scorn at the sight below.
" That Yaya Metring is babying Tinang again. She passed on to the child bad manners and working class values.
I really must try to put an end to that!"
She made a mental note to herself and proceeded to suck on the tar once more.
Fausta was the only child of Don Mariano and Dona Rosa Nunez Arcillas De Gracias.
She was born Maria Fausta Nunez Arcillas De Gracias on a cold December morning and was baptised a month later at the ancestral church in the poblacion, San Sebastian Iglesias Catholica, a few days after Christmas.
Blessed with the Spanish mestizo look which is a Spanish word derived from the Latin, "mixtus," referring to a person who is of mixed origins, Fausta or Ustang as she was at times called by close friends and schoolmates, had aristocratic beauty. Fausta was named after Don Mariano's grandmother, Dona Fausta Ricaflor de Gracias, landowners of the huge Sugar Plantation and Azucarera De Central.
She studied at the exclusive Colegio San Agustin in Bacolod and she grew up pampered and spoiled by her dad, Don Mariano before he died, and shortly after, doted on by the two spinsters sisters of Don Mariano; Ester and Escueta De Gracias.
The prominent and wealthy De Gracias clan were rumoured to have been amongst the early settlers of Bacolod.
During the early years, Bacolod was a mere small settlement by the riverbank known as Magsung̃ay or Magsungay.
The early missionaries placed the village under the care and protection of San Sebastián or SaintSebastian sometime in the middle of the 18th century. A corregidor or magistrate by the name of Luis Fernando de Luna, donated a relic of San Sebastián for the growing mission, and since then, the village came to be known as San Sebastián de Magsung̃ay.
Sometime in 1750's, Datu Bantilan of Sulu attacked and invaded the small village, thereby forcing the villagers to transfer from the coast to a hilly area called Bacólod (which is now the barangay of Granada) during this period, slave raids by the Moro pirates are not uncommon and it was rumoured that Don Mariano's initial wealth came by this profitable yet questionable slave trades.
Fausta looked up at the darkening clouds and called out below.
" Yaya Metring, I think a thunderstorm is forming, better bring Tinang in now...anyway, it's almost supper time!"
Her eyes still focused at the darkening horizon, the Majestic Mount Kanlaon a foreboding shadow, voices from yesteryears came flooding in...
" Ustang... Fausta..."
" Ustang... Pssst, Fausta! Am here now!
Dali na ... Come on down!" Armando's voice quivered with anticipation.
Proud of his new trousers, bought recently by his father, Miguel at the market in Poblacion, he was too eager to show it off to Fausta.
"Surely she would appreciate my new long pants, it does makes me feel like a man, wiser and older" He thought to himself with a sheepish smile.
" Ustang! I'm down here... amongst the orchids! " he reiterated.
Minutes later, from amongst the many poinsettias shrubs, under the glow of the full moonlight, Fausta appeared.
" Ay... Hush! Keep it quiet Armando, or you will awaken Mama Rosa!" She said with a glimpse of naughtiness in her eyes.
Fausta loved these trysts.
She enjoyed a bit of danger.
As a spoiled only child, she has taken to wanting things that are forbidden and seemingly unreachable.
This was the reason why she conceded to Armando's amorous pursuits; that and the fact that he was the son of their encargado, the hacienda De Gracias's chief in command Mang Miguel, made Armando more forbiddingly exciting to the 15 years old lass.
"Wait! Stay there!" Fausta commanded. She noticed Armando's long pants, but decided to not comment about it. Instead she said.
" Turn around...yes, slowly!"
She inspected him under the moonlight and from the glows of the nearby fireflies. He seemed to had added more muscles around his arms. His plaided short sleeves shirt rolled up to his armpits defined his firm biceps. She liked what she saw.
" Where are we off to?"She feigned innocence.
" To our usual spot of course, by the Mambukal River near the foot of Mount Kanlaon! He promised.
" and I... brought Lambanog, coconut wine with me. Tara na! Let's go!"
YOU ARE READING
FOREVERMORE ( Simula Ng Walang Hanggan)
Ficción histórica" According to stories, which may or may not be true, this was half of a whole. This used to be a tiara, a mini crown when Nana Sepa got it. She was awaken one midnight by a voice calling her name...Sepa! Sepa! So she followed the calling, well thr...
