SPINSTER'S PLANS GONE WRONG

CHAPTER 7: Yam, Longing

August 30, 2018. Thursday. The lease agreement on the office space had already been formally renewed. The work agreement between her firm and Doña Ofelia had also been finalized.

Over the lunch that they had, their lively conversation went like this.

Doña Ofelia remarked, "Oh, it feels great to be surrounded by two gorgeous and accomplished ladies. I feel like I am just your age."

Kathleen casually said, "Well, you are still very healthy even if you are already in your 80s, Mamu. Lola is also like that."

The matriarch responded, "That is true. It is because we both live a healthy lifestyle. Plus, we also still want to see the children of our grandchildren. She has several great grandchildren from your brothers already. But I still have gotten none. My one and only grandson is still not married."

Julie then said, "Ate Yam is still very single too, Mamu. Uncle and Auntie are actually thinking of setting up a matchmaking date for her but she declined."

Mariam added, "I am occupied with the big jobs that the two of you assigned to me. So how can I even have time for such things? Besides, I already know the man that my parents want to match with me. I honestly do not like him because he has narcissistic tendencies. You do not even have him to be psychologically evaluated because his extreme self-love always comes out of his mouth."

Kathleen reacted, "And you are the exact opposite. You never brag about your achievements. You do not even demand special treatment, even if you are the boss in our firm. You do not like being the center of attention. You also do not lack empathy for others. You actually have the ability to understand another person's thoughts and feelings in a situation from their own point of view, rather than yours."

Mariam remarked, telling the matriarch, "She is the behavioral analysis expert in our firm, Mamu. She has a master's degree in behavioral analysis. Our legal team performs so well because of her brilliant ideas. She employed a team of experts employing psychology, human intuition, and high-tech data to understand judges, jurors, opposing lawyers, witnesses and defendants to help our clients to win, especially during trials. Our elite legal support team included a neurolingustic expert, a former police detective, a computer expert, and a life coach. It is like that of the USA legal drama series called Bull. But we do not have the sophisticated equipment like their ultra-high-tech juror monitoring system with over a dozen LED screens and devices that monitor juror's physiological reactions through palm reading devices. We do not do that. We never take unethical measures that would invade the privacy of the people involved in the trial."

Kathleen added, "They are trial consultants, Mamu. I suggested it to our Boss Lady here and she agreed to employ them. Yam still has the final say in everything, Mamu. But what is good in our workplace is that our Boss Lady has clear command and control over us, her peers, but she also encourages collaboration and welcomes everyone's opinions."

Mariam pointed out, "Still the most important aspect of defending our point is evidence, Mamu. And they also help us in the gathering of evidence and our own private investigation. It is always a team effort."

The matriarch said, "Have you ever defended the ones who are indeed guilty?"

Kathleen answered, "Yes, Mamu. But not the very rich ones who wanted to twist the truth. We have our own investigation team. So we will know if our client is telling us the truth or not. If they are guilty, then we don't promise that we can always win. If we knew that we were on the losing end, we could only aim for less punishment or an amicable settlement if possible."

Mariam added, "We have a code of professional responsibility to follow, Mamu. And we make sure that we do not violate that code even if the client is guilty or not."

Doña Ofelia conjectured, "So, it is also like for doctors, they have their Hippocratic Oath to live even if the one they are saving is a convicted criminal."

With the mention of the Hippocratic Oath, Mariam suddenly remembered the matriarch's grandson - Why can I get him off my mind? There will always be things that will remind me of him. Just like the Hippocratic Oath. He said he is a doctor and Kathleen confirmed that.

Then Kathleen suddenly asked, "Anyway, where does Oliver stay, Mamu?"

Mariam looked at the matriarch, waiting for her answer, which was, "He has his own residence, actually he has lots of properties where he can live. But these past few days, he has been staying in the hospital most of the time. Today, he will start some covert observations in the different hospitals we have here in the state. After that malpractice suit against that incompetent general surgeon that his stepmother had recommended to work for the main hospital, he wanted to make sure that there were no other doctors, nurses and other medical practitioners who were just employed due to the padrino system. He is much stricter than his father when it comes to hiring. He is more like his mother, my husband, and his other grandfather, who gave so much premium to employing only the best. To all of them, saving lives is no joke. Patients should receive the utmost health care and the best treatment, no matter what their social background is."

Julie then said, "Well, in our firm Mamu, we might not be able to hire the best, but we make sure to mentor them so that they will be able to give their best to all of our clients. Ate Yam, mentored me and Ate Kat to our fullest potential. The three of us started the firm with just a few support staff and a small office, and now we are also mentoring our junior associates and our support staff."

Doña Ofelia then stated, "Being with trustworthy, dedicated, hardworking and morally upright colleagues is very important as well. So the two of you are also the best in your own right. You have a Boss Lady who is not selfish in sharing her wisdom.

Mariam stated, "So again, thank you very much for trusting our firm, Mamu."

Doña Ofelia replied, "Don't mention it. Just do your best."

The three chorused, "We will, Mamu."

On the other hand, Oliver had already been traveling the state to visit all of their hospitals covertly. He had requested Samuel to assign a driver for him, but the latter insisted that it would be best that he drove for him. Anyway, he was also in charge of his security.

From the hospital in Madison City, they left after lunch for the hospital branch in Floria City, another city in Los Lillia which was located in the east of the Municipality of Juytan. He had already accomplished all the tasks that his father had left behind from Tuesday morning until the rest of that morning. He had not come home yet to his house in Victory Homes. He just asked Samuel

to park his sports car in the garage of his house. His insomnia had acted up again without his lady love beside him at night time. So he just took naps on the leather sofa in the seating area of the Office of the CEO whenever he felt sleepy. His grandmother made sure that he had a fresh change of complete outfit as well as a healthy and delicious three-course meal during meal times.

On their way to Floria City, they talked.

Oliver asked his bodyguard, "So, how was the comprehensive background check that Lola asked you to order on our intelligence team?"

Samuel knew that he would ask, "Señora liked the results very much. She could not find any fault with your choice of lady. She even hired her firm to do all her accounting and legal service needs because her personal accountants and lawyers would soon retire already. Your grandmother had invited Atty. Acosta for lunch yesterday to formally hire her firm. Then today, they had already finalized the work agreement. Atty. Acosta is with her two department heads, her best friend Atty. Kathleen Dy and her cousin Julie Acosta. They are already probably done having lunch with your Lola."

He remarked, "Lola is really fast. I told her not to meddle, but here she is trying to know Yam more in her own way."

Samuel told him, "At least, she approves of her already."

He said, "But, she has still not approved of me. I have not even started pursuing her formally yet."

Samuel suggested, "Then send her flowers or whatever you would like to send. You need to be the Acting CEO for a while instead of just being a member of the Board of Directors. If you do not act fast, then she might be snatched by some other guy. She is a complete package. She's got beauty, brains, a slim body, a nice job, and a very nice personality, according to Señora. But your lady love is already 30, so you need to act fast so you can still have a child or even more, as your grandmother said," and then he also said, "I got the copy of the results of the comprehensive background check. Her parents still live in their family home in Juytan. Your grandmother just recently messaged me that her parents were trying to match her with someone."

He told Samuel, "Then we might as well schedule a visit to them. I will formally ask their permission to pursue their daughter."

Samuel then asked, "What if they do not allow you?"

He said with certainty, "They would."

That afternoon at her office, Mariam received a large bouquet of white gladioli from the delivery man who had been allowed to enter her office and escorted by her secretary.

Her secretary said, "Ma'am, there is a delivery of flowers for you. The delivery man had strict orders to just give it to you."

She accepted it and then got the small card from the small envelope accompanying the bouquet. The handwritten message was -

Yam,

Gladiolus, your birthflower, for you, my queen. This bouquet of white gladioli conveys your purity, and conveys my deep passion for you.

Your King

She was thinking - Could this be from Oli? He was the only person who called me my queen. But then his handwriting seemed to be a little different from the message that came along with the outfit. Some strokes are similar but some are not. Did I call him my king? I cannot even recall anymore. I just knew that I had a wonderful night with him. Gosh, I am remembering our hot night together, again! I need to focus on my work. All the evidence has been collected and verified already. We can already submit our petition for nullity to the court tomorrow. I just need to finish all the paperwork. Good thing they did not have a Catholic church wedding even if they are both Catholics. We won't need to get an annulment from the Catholic Church because they opted for a garden civil wedding.

Earlier that evening, Oliver went to the family residence of the Acostas. He brought packs of food from the best restaurant in Floria City, baskets of fruit, power tools for his future father-in-law, who was into woodworking after his retirement, and several plants for his future mother-in-law, who was into gardening.

His ladylove's parents were definitely surprised.

Oliver introduced himself, "Good evening, sir, ma'am. I am. Dr. Oliver Del Catillo. But please just call me Oli."

Mariam's father said, "Yes, we know you from the news on the local TV station. You did not cover up for that surgeon who was sued for medical malpractice."

Oliver modestly replied, "I am just doing my job as the Acting CEO, sir. My two grandfathers established Prime Care to provide the best possible health care and medical treatment for all of its patients. So, I do not mind being the bad guy just so our hospitals will be rid of incompetent medical health practitioners. Saving lives is no joke to our family."

Mariam's mother then asked, "So why are you here? You even brought us gifts."

Oliver's response shocked Mariam's parents, "I am here to formally ask your permission as Yam's parents to formally pursue her, sir, ma'am, with the sole intention of eventually marrying her."

Tatay Romeo, Mariam's father, managed to respond, "In all honestly, we just want our eldest daughter to find happiness on her own. And as much as possible, we prefer that she just does not get involved anymore with a rich guy like you. Our other daughter is married to one. Honestly, their marriage is not going well."

Oliver then respectfully replied, "I can understand your misgivings, sir. But I am not like Atty. Carlos Medina even if his aunt is married to my father. There might be some negative rumors about me, but that is not the real me. I can assure you that I will take good care of Yam, I will be faithful to her, and I will support all her endeavors."

Nanay Marina, Mariam's mother, then said, "You just arrived in the country, right, from your gallivanting for nine years."

Oliver responded, "Yes, I just arrived in the country early morning last Monday, ma'am. But the gallivanting is actually just a ruse. I spent the last nine years honing my medical skills and serving patients around the world through the international medical humanitarian organization called, Doctors without Boarders."

Nanay Marina then asked, "What is then the need for the ruse?"

Oliver said truthfully, "You might be aware that my mother, Dr. Odessa Quirino-Del Castillo, died in a tragic car accident. My maternal grandmother somehow believed that it was not an accident, so she has become so protective of me. The ruse was just to see if we indeed had enemies among the Board of Directors of Prime Care."

Tatay Romeo then asked a series of questions, "Anyway, how did you meet our daughter? Will your grandmother not see her as a threat to your security? What do you like about our daughter? We are not rich. Will your father and grandmother approve of her? We don't want her being belittled by your elders."

Oliver answered each of the questions, "To answer your first question, sir, I met her last Monday at the sports and music bar owned by my cousin. I was instantly attracted to her physical appearance, so I approached her. As we talked, I have come to like her even more because of her very straightforward personality. But then lately, I have been moving around the state to visit all of our hospitals, so I was not able to follow through courting her. I was also taught by my elders the old-fashioned ways that if I really like someone, then I have to do the right thing about her. And one of the initial steps to doing that is to formally ask your permission as her parents to pursue her. As for the second question, my grandmother likes her a lot, so she won't see Yam as a threat to my safety. Yam's office space is located in Odessa Commercial Building, a property owned by my grandmother who is also the best friend of Kathleen Dy's grandmother, Lola Carlota . So she knows everything she needs to know about Yam. She even hired her firm recently to handle all of her accounting and legal service needs. I am also a grown man already, sir. I am capable of protecting myself and all my loved ones from people that might harm them. As for your third question, I like all of her, sir. And lastly, she won't be belittled by my elders. They do not look at one's socio-economic background. For as long as I love the lady, then they will respect that."

Nanay Marina then suddenly asked, "I do not think that it should be us you should convince with regards to your intention to our daughter, Oli. We just found out recently that she did not want to get married anymore and just preferred having a child from a random guy that she might sleep with. She did not even go home that night of her 30th birthday. Her best friend, Kat, told us that our daughter said that she had spent the night in a hotel and that she was already at her office the following morning working very early, as if they did not have a clash of points of view regarding her baby plan."

He then realized - So that was your plan, Yam. I knew that you were somehow lying about your last period when I asked you about it, but then I did not mind.

He then decided to tell Mariam's parents, "I think that her baby plan has already been executed, ma'am, sir."

Her parents chorused, "What?! How?"

Oliver explained, "I think I might have been her first choice for the random sperm donor for her baby plan."

Her parents could not believe it. Her mother was so angry, "She actually did it! Is she already out of her mind? What was she thinking? Having a baby as a single mother! We did not raise her that way. Why did she just sleep around with a random guy like that? This is so insane!"

Oliver tried to pacify Mariam's mother, "Please calm down, ma'am. What happened between us was consensual. And I will take full responsibility for what happened, whether or not the night we spent together will result in a baby or not. I am the first man in her life and I intend to be her last. I will pursue her until I win over her heart. So you have nothing to worry about. As of now, she is very busy with the annulment case of a celebrity. Knowing her, she would focus on that and she could not afford any distraction. Be assured that I will not let her sleep around anymore with any random guy. I am staking my claim on her already."