BAD NEWS

"And there is me. Another burden that my father has bestowed on you." I speak that out for him because he might be finding it hard to say. He perhaps does not want to slap it in my face that I am yet another burden on his loaded shoulder.


He shakes his head, chuckling at my statement off. "You are not really a burden to me in any way, and you know it. But your stepfamily is."

Jeez! The poor guy is swimming in this quagmire with me. Why did my father do this? Why entrust me and his empire to this guy? We should be named "the Miserables" for real. Now, on top of his overflowing cup, he also has to worry about those witches.

"I am sorry if my father laid a hefty burden on you, Damian. I honestly don't discern his actions at all, but I know he has a valid reason," I say. I may not understand this act of my father, but I know he is one man who doesn't do things anyhow. He must have a valid reason for doing this. And I know he will tell me all about it when he feels better. I am so dying to know.


"You are not mad?" Damian asks.

"Mad? No, because I know Papa doesn't make hasty decisions unless there is really a good reason. But I won't lie, Damian. I have a thousand questions about his actions. Something doesn't make sense, and I am determined to find out what that is," I say.


"And presumably, to you, that has something to do with Gracia and your sister, Nelly?" He asks with concern, his thumbs doing their usual thing on my hands and thighs. He isn't driving at anything. He is just lost and doesn't know what he is doing.

"Do not regard that bitch as my sister, but yes. Something tells me they are the key to unlocking the secrets to these decisions that my father has made. And I will find that out!"

"I will help you," he says.

I snap at him with a revolting expression. "No, Damian! I don't want you to get involved."

"I am already involved, Ellie. Maybe that is why your father has put you under my care. I am not asking for much, Ellie. I just request that you not push me away, because I am bound by a thousand things to you."

"So you are with me just because..."

"I am doing this with an amalgamated will of free will and the will to honor the obligations to you as bestowed upon me by a man I deem my second father, Ellie. Give me a chance to do this for you. For your father, and for...

"ELLIE!!!

Lemuel badges in, his utterance emitting nothing but worry.

Fear.

Pain.

With trembling legs, I spring to my feet with Damian's aid. "Lemuel? What...where...it... It was a success, right? Can... I see Papa now?" I force words out with so much struggle.

Lemuel looks away, beads of sweat dripping down his sweat, a show of the hard work he was buried in for so long. But work that he is not proud of?

'Speak to me, Lemuel. Can I see my father?" I implore in between the trembles.

He shakes his head in such a swift way that I thought it was all in my mind. Silence cuts through the air with a screaming lull. A dagger pieces through the delicate walls of my heart.

My cheerful doctor friend has no words for me. He can't even look me straight in the face.

"I am so sorry, Ellie! We did all we could. I am sorry." Lemuel finally finds his voice, and I had to glue my eyes to his to search for any sign of jokes in them.

Sorry? He must be joking, right?

Then again, not even a mad person would crack such a joke, much less a doctor. He is serious, and I feel a wrenching pain go through my heart slowly, ripping it into pieces and leaving them floating in blood. I face-palm my face, feeling the painful, clear liquid wash my face. I thought I was brave, but when I feel my legs mercilessly giving up on me, I realize I wasn't, or that this was beyond my strength.

Damian helps me to sit on the swivel again, and I slam down on it.

My father is gone. Just like that? But Lemuel told me all would be fine. That is what even Damian told me too. It is what I believe. So what in God's name went wrong?

I brush some of my tears, peeling my palms off my face, and leave Damian to work on the vast, surging tears. Everything seems blurry, but I force my sight on Dr. Lemuel.

"What happened?" I softly whisper between sobs.

"A sudden heart attack," he explains.

What?

"Heart attack? He was undergoing an operation, so how could he suffer a heart attack?" I query.

"It is a common case in open heart surgery. It is a result of excessive bleeding during the surgery. We could not control the bleeding, no matter how much we tried. I am so sorry."

At this point, I let the tears flow freely and let my mind wander in the stinging blankness and cruelty of this life.

How can things happen in such a flicker? It was just the other day that I was paddling in an ocean of pain and agony. At that time, I made a hasty decision that I thought was the best in my whole life. It seemed so; it felt like the most beautifully sane thing that had happened when I crossed paths with my knight in shining amour. Despite the simultaneousness of the predicaments that I faced after running away, he had my back. He was with me every single step. He became my solace, and soon enough, he pulled me out of the misery of betrayal and drew me into the wild world of immense pleasure and joy.