Ms. Writer and the Billionaire Playboy

Chapter 13

Matt

He looked back and forth to the woman in front of him, to the dog barking at his side, and to the picture now laying flat in the floor. Basag ang salamin ng picture frame. And it transported him back in time when everything was still beautiful.

******

It was one of their family gatherings, his dad liked inviting his business partners and friends at the end of the month, and it was supposed to be an ordinary night, but one of the kumpadre of his dad from America came back to the Philippines, and in that night, the eighteen year old Matt, met the beautiful twenty year old Sofia Fernandez.

He was alighting from the stairs that time, palabas ng bahay. He hated those parties, it was not his thing, at naiingayan siya. So that night, he wanted to escape. To spend the night listening to music, or playing basketball with his friends.

Ngunit noong pababa na siya sa hagdan ng magara nilang mansion. He can see from his peripheral vision, a young lady, who is currently smiling wide to his father, katabi nito ang lalaking mukhang ama nito. He saw his father point at him, na para bang gustong tawagin ang atensiyon niya.

But it was a blur, his face zoomed in more to that face, whose smile has remained plastered in her face. She was an angel and danger combined into one.

“Hijo,” his father called unto him. Wala siyang nagawa kundi lumapit ng saglit.

“Sorry pa, I have to go somewhere,” he aired, incase his father will hold him hostage for long for awkward conversations.

“I know,” his father laughed a little. His father, as he remembered him, was a cool father, he was never pushy or anything, infact, he was known with his colleagues as a very kind and gentle man. And this will lead to the incoming betrayals that will come their way, because of his father’s blind trust and kindness.

“I would love you to meet the Fernandez, they were awhile in the US. But my friend here is staying for long, and will establish a hotel business.”

And his father motioned to the lady standing in between them. “Zoren,” tukoy ng papa niya sa kumpare nito. “Your daughter here, has grown so lovely, Matthew shouldn’t miss a chance meeting her.”

“Of course,” his father’s friend seemed delighted.

“Sofia, meet my friend’s son, Matt Vallejo.”

And the lady nonchalantly, still a smile in her face, waved her palms up in the air, waiting for him to meet her in a handshake. Inabot niya iyon. It was quick, but it gave him a different chill or warmth in his body. How could he forget that moment? It felt like she was shining, and he cant whisk away his stare at her. But he has to control his self, and exit the situation.

“Nice meeting you sir, Sofia, and I need to go.”

He strutted at the door, he can still hear how his father was explaining what he took in college, and when he will graduate. His father seemed proud of him, like he was the well balanced son of his three sons anyway. That night, the younger Logan was locked in his room watching a documentary and Carter was out partying in a bar somewhere, and maybe smoking too.

But for Matt, he will play basketball, or do something fruitful and his father was pleased by this.

When he was outside, in their vast parking lot under the tent nearby a garden, narinig niya ang mabilis na mga yapak ng paa. Someone was calling unto him.

“Matt, wait!” napalingon siya. It was that lady. Parang humihingos ito, pero napangiti ito ulit ng makita siya, sapo ang dibdib. She looked flushed.

He looked so puzzled and waited for her to say something.

“I’m thinking if pwede akong makisabay? Ours is just nearby, pumayag naman si daddy. I mean, can you drop me in a bit, if that’s not a hassle? I asked dad if I can go home, because they’ll stay late.”

Things started to run in his mind, but the first thing he asked is, “You don’t know how to drive?”

I mean, yes that was kind of stupid. But it already signaled his hesitation for the request.

She pulled her arms in the air a bit. “I can take a taxi too,” her smile became off.

“Oh no, I mean…”

“I just came here, dumating lang kami kahapon, so things have not been settled-“

“I will drive you. Hop in.”

He saw that gleeful smile again, something that will snatch his heart. Sofia was like the ocean, cool and calming and just so beautiful in his eyes. He cherished those first night, their first long talk, that he ended up not playing in the basketball, and she ended up not going quickly back in their home. They ended up sitting in an empty beach lot, in which years later, bibilhin ni Matt ang lupa at magtatayo siya doon ng isang beach house. Which was the current beach house that is now built.

In that beach lot, just overlooking the sea, talking about their lives, and how their conversations melded, it felt like he has found his soulmate. Sofia and his dad went home because her mom died, and that grief was still evident in the croak of her voice. It was in the tears in her eyes that he wiped.

It felt like they have known forever.

Those are the days, the weeks, the months that passed by before his eyes. They secretly went on dates, until time came, that they were official. Their families were happy, and they can openly show their love. Sofia worked on for his father’s business, building it from scratch with him, they started with one medium range hotel.

While Matt, two years to go, toiled hard and graduated with one of the highest honors. Sofia was there, in his graduation, planting a kiss in his lips.

They had intense lovemaking after the ceremony. Even they were both busy, they have been very supportive with each other, through ups and downs. Kilala na rin sila ng mga kaibigan ng isa’t-isa. Their world melded, and it was beautiful and perfect. Everyone already predicted that they will marry and have beautiful babies together. They were the perfect couple, both beautiful and have big goals in life.

Matt was stationed by his father in one of the offices of his business to train him, it was two years already, and he got promoted to a higher position. His father, as humble and kind, never spoon fed him in silver or gold platter. They were made to observe and train like normal people, he has to go through the process of learning everything from scratch, and this proved to be helpful to him in the long run, especially in the upcoming time of chaos.

Two year has passed more, and Matt was a manager, and Sofia’s family business was growing as well, into more branches.

It was the perfect time, he maybe still for some, quite young, as he was twenty-four, but he was sure of it. He was sure that Sofia was the person he wanted to spend the rest of his life. And he dropped his one knee, and proposed to her in a family joint dinner. Everyone was so happy, his mom even wiped a tear dahil naging sobrang kaclose din nito si Sofia. Even his younger brothers clapped and congratulated him.

The kumpadres was so gleeful, even discussing baby names.

Everyone was so supportive, and in a heartfelt yes, she hugged him, saying that she could be his partner, his wife. To infinity.

But two months after that, one normal family dinner, his father got a phone call, which lead him to a heart attack. It was a financial chaos, just looming under them, and took them like a bomb. His father trusted some few so-called friends, which embezzled a large sum of money, even more, took away some finances from the business by sheer underhand contracts and thief.

Their supposed happiness was marred, and he was put under a microscope, a world of pressure and problems along the way. He has to be in charge, while his father was almost breathing for his life. To put a candle on fire, his father survived this heart attack but was pronounced having a more deadlier disease- a cancer that would take away his life in a few months time.