Lauro Jose D. Macalajoc was a very bright 16-year old boy with a very bright future. He was accepted in a prestigious college, he is the class valedictorian, not only that he won awards ranging from spelling bees to sports fests trophies.
It was during their high school graduation did he met the girl that would change his life forever. She is Marla Karylle P. Rejas, a top student who boast both beauty and brains. He made the worst decision in his life of asking her to be his girlfriend at the eve of their graduation. Little did he know that that mistake will soon have its consequences.
Lauro, or Larry to his friends and family, gave the biggest surprise to his family. Right in the middle of his first year in college did he told them that something happened between him and his girlfriend Marla. He told them that she’s pregnant and that he’s the father. This little piece of news shocked the family and asked why they did it and why they did it on such an early age.
And this where our story begins.
A little after 5 years, Larry is now a general manager on a car company in EDSA. He earned this after he sold ten of their models to clients in a record of just two months. Higher job means higher salary, he thought.
He said to himself that his family would be glad by this piece of good news. He came home that night and told to his two kids, Yuichi and Karla, and they congratulated him with kisses and hugs. Then, eager to tell his wife, Larry asked the kids where their mom is. She went out to buy groceries, they said. Disappointed that she wouldn’t be able to know about his promotion, Larry decided to prepare dinner for the while family so that Marla wouldn’t have to do it. Besides, he is in a good mood after being promoted.
Around six thirty in the evening, Marla came home with a bag full of groceries. She was surprised to see her husband home very early and had dinner made for her. She asked if there was a special occasion. Larry then told her about the good news. His wife just smiled and congratulated him. She called on the maid to take care of the groceries while she and the rest of the family begin to eat supper.
As they were eating, Larry can’t help but see something in Marla’s eyes. Her eyes looks sad, he thought. It’s been like that ever since they were married. Even after they were married, both of them continued their studies although Marla had to put hers on hold to focus on her pregnancy where she gave birth to twins. Larry finished earlier but Marla was able to finish hers a semester after. they never had any marital arguments but Larry can still feel the awkwardness that they both feel with each other. Both of them have respectable jobs, he as a car company general manager and she, a realtor. Both of them shared responsibilities over their two kids, often bringing them to out-of-town trips and attending to school events together. But yet, he thought that something is still wrong and that he fears that this would grow into a large problem if they both ignore to face it.
One day, Larry told Marla and the twins that he’ll be gone for an overseas trip to Japan with representatives of the car company he works with to attend a seminar with of other car company representatives. He said he’ll be gone for at least three weeks, and to ensure of his return, he promised his kids on buying them toys made from japan and Japanese novels translated into English for his wife. The following day he left the Philippines and prayed that when he comes back, his family would welcome him with open arms. It didn’t.
Three weeks after, he came back with lots of presents that he would give for his twins and to his wife. He arrived at their house that night and with full glee, he opened the door and came looking for his wife and kids. He saw the maid crying, he thought something was wrong. He went upstairs and saw his kids, Yuichi and Karla, crying. The twins saw their father and ran toward Larry to hug him. He asked if there was something happened. Karla was too scared to tell so Yuichi told Larry the bad news: Marla just left the house.
Larry was shocked, surprised and can’t think what he would do next. He never thought he would see this coming so soon. they never fought, they never argue over anything, they honest with each other. “But was she?”, he said to himself. Was his wife dishonest all this time. What was the reason why she left him, and their twins. What can he do to fix this? Is this the start of their marriage’s total collapse?
To be continued…
