The Playboy and The Primadonna

CHAPTER 1: The Replacement

July 23, 2016. Saturday. Lolo Delfin and Lolo Crisanto had a meeting at the latter's residence. Their private conversation in Lolo Crisanto's study room went like this.

Lolo Crisanto vented out, "Kelsey has already been complaining lately. Her pride is heavily bruised already with what happened these past few  weeks. She also wants to find love and happiness on her own. My daughter-in-law also suggested that we also give up with Zach's match to Kelsey," and then he asked his best friend, "What do you think should we do next, Delfin?"

Lolo Delfin answered, "I am also out of options on how to break Zach and Bri apart. Even Armina is supporting their relationship and threatening on leaving me if I don't accept the relationship of the two. But then I don't want to undo our pact," so he had decided to suggest, "So what do you think of changing the groom? Or having Kiel matched in any of my single granddaughters?"

Lolo Crisanto was curious, "Who is your grandson that you will replace Zach with?"

Lolo Delfin divulged, "Dylan, the eldest son of my youngest son Junie, who passed away years ago when his children were still young. Junie's wife had remarried after sometime. So Armina and I have taken charge of looking after him and his sisters, Darlyn and Dianna, with the help of Lex and Vi. Dylan is as old as Kelsey and he will already be on his second year in Law this coming school year. They were actually classmates from pre-school up to senior high school and I once heard Dianne teasing Dylan having a crush on Kelsey."

Lolo Crisanto wanted confirmation, "Is this the playboy grandson of yours?" 

Lolo Delfin admitted, "Yes, but I am planning to put a stop on it already. I will also be grounding him just like what you did with Kelsey.  I will only provide him with a debit card for his allowance and he will always be followed by a security team.  He will only be allowed to go out if it will be about his studies and his dates with Kelsey."

Lolo Crisanto was a little unsure, "Do you think it will work?"

Lolo Delfin stated, "We will never know unless we give it a try. Dylan is doing well with his studies. He is just a little bit happy go lucky but I guess being in a serious relationship with Kelsey will do him good."   

Lolo Crisanto asked further, "What if it does not work out then?"

Lolo Delfin responded, "Then Kiel can choose anyone to pursue among my single granddaughters. Actually, we can already do it with Kiel. He can already choose among my granddaughters as early as possible. But then I am quite positive that it will workout with Dylan and Kelsey."

After that meeting, Lolo Delfin also had a man-to-man talk with his grandson, Dylan, at home inside his study room.

Dylan asked his grandfather, "Why do you want to talk to me alone, Lolo?"

Lolo Delfin firmly said, "You should already stop with your playboys ways. I want you to formally court someone, try to win her heart at all cost, and then eventually get married."

Dylan said, "Lolo, you cannot do this. We are already now in a postmodern age. Matchmaking is obsolete already. It might have worked with my other cousins but it will not definitely work on me. It didn't even work with Kuya Zach. He has chosen the one whom he truly loves. He and Kelsey are not the right fit."

Lolo Delfin asked his grandson then, "And who do you think is the right fit for Kelsey?"

Dylan confidently said, "Me?!"

Lolo Delfin then stated, "Excellent! Then I'm now giving you my blessing to pursue Kelsey."

Dylan was surprised, "Is this for real?! Are you not sick, Lolo?"

Lolo Delfin responded, "I am not sick. This is for real. But you have to treat Kelsey very well, and prove to her family that your playboy days are already over. So please  just get you act together and be serious about your future relationship. Do not fail me."

Dylan had acknowledged such, "I will try my best, Lolo."

Lolo Delfin said, "You should not just try your best. Please stop toying around young ladies' feelings already. If you don't become serious about your life, then I will ground you. and cancel all you credit cards. I had put up with your misbehaviors for quite a while already. These misbehaving must stop now!"

Dylan raised his right hand, "I promise, Lolo. I behave well from now on."

Lolo Delfin responded, "Good! I will be watching over your every move this time, Dylan. You will have my utmost support in wooing Kelsey but once you reverted back to your playboy ways then expect me to discipline you strictly."

Dylan said, "I fully understood, Lolo. Now that you will support me when it comes to Kelsey then I will not misbehave anymore."

Lolo Delfin was surprised, "So all these acts of misbehaviors are due to the fact that I matched her with your cousin?!

Dylan affirmed, "Yes! I have liked her since we were young. And then all of a sudden, you matched her with Kuya Zach. I took law because that is what you want for him. I am trying my best to show you that I am much qualified for Kelsey but you cannot recognize me. You have been obsessed into their match even if Kuya Zach is very much against it. Kelsey is not really bad at all. She just felt very trapped."

Lolo Delfin informed him, "But let me remind you, she has been throwing tantrums whenever she didn't get her way. How will you handle her?"

Dylan answered the question, "I have my ways. I am not like Kuya Zach, who will just try to ignore her. She has just been rebelling against her elders because they didn't support her dream of becoming a professional dancer. She had did well with her studies once her grandfather allowed her to establish her dance academy. As for her rude behavior, let me just have my way of fixing it."

Lolo Delfin was curious, "How will you fix it?"

Dylan's answer was, "I will fix it with tender loving care." 

Lolo Delfin reminded her, "You must never ever disrespect her."

Dylan stated, "I have never ever disrespected any lady, Lolo. They were the ones approaching me and so I am just trying to accommodate them all. They knew that I don't do serious relationships and so they are just fine hanging around with me. They were all game so we just tried to enjoy each other without any strings attached."

Lolo Delfin was shocked, "This has to stop Dylan! What if you have impregnated anyone of them?"

Dylan said, "I did not, Lolo. TIta Vi has always reminded me to use protection if I cannot be celibate.  So I had always use protection whenever I did it."

Lolo Delfin expressed, "You are really making me very nervous, Dylan. Why did I even not know about this?"

Dylan pointed out, "Because you are too focused with controlling Kuya Zach's life, Lolo. So look what happened?!  He has done everything his way. He defied you in everything that you want for him except taking an MBA degree. Well, he is also working for BGC but not just as a fulltime employee. He pursued the career path that he truly likes. And now, he is in a relationship with the lady he loves."

Lolo Delfin then asked him, "What about you? Do you really like taking up law?"

Dylan said, "I like it very much, Lolo. Actually, I want to specialize in business law."

Lolo Delfin gave his blessings to his grandson, "Just follow your heart then! I don't want to commit the same mistake I did with Zach. If it is business law you like then pursue it. If you want to have your own law practice then I will also support it. But please be good when it comes to Kelsey."

Dylan affirmed, "I will, Lolo. I will prove to her that I am a far much better choice that Kuya Zach."

Lolo Delfin then asked, "Do you even know how to woo a lady formally?"

Dylan confidently answered, "Of course I do. And if my ways don't work out, then I can ask my male older cousins on how they had wooed their respective wife or girlfriend."

Lolo Delfin suggested, "Try the old fashion ways first. Give her flowers. Send her love letters. Buy her well thought of gifts. Visit her in their residence.      

Dylan teased his grandfather, "Why do I get the feeling that you want me to apply the ways that Kuya Zach did with his girlfriend, Lolo?!"

Lolo Delfin said, "Those were not totally his ways. He had quietly supported all of Bri's endeavors and respected her determination towards achieving all of her dreams and aspirations," and then expressed, "That is just one of my worries. His girlfriend is way too independent. She is very career-oriented. I somehow doubt if she will be able to focus on her responsibilities as a wife and as a mother should they already decide to settle down. Bri is  very talented in visual arts  and she has also gained lots of skills in her literary pursuits. She is also a very good businesswoman. At a vey young age, she has already been managing to companies, and then she even have two big design cooperation deals, one with LYNX and the most recent with JADE."

Dylan then told his grandfather, "You should not judge her right away, Lolo. I  have been hearing from Tita Vi that Kuya Zach is very well taken cared of by his girlfriend. She knows how to cook all of his favorite foods. They also spend quality time together despite both of their busy work schedules. They will be retiring as professional e-sports players, anyway. Thus, they will have more time for each other."

Lolo Delfin expressed, "I really hope so. Bri is a very sweet and thoughtful young lady. She is very close to her family and friends. I just hope that when the time comes for them to settle down, then she will know how to prioritize her family."

Dylan stated, "Women can multi-task, Lolo. Look at Tita Vi, for example. She was able to have a career and at the same time be a good wife and a good mother. She is even a very good aunt to me, and my two younger sisters."

Lolo Delfin pointed out, "But she has consented Zach into defying my orders."

Dylan said, "Controlling our futures without any regard for our feelings is kind of inconsiderate of you, Lolo. You were not like that to my other cousins, only with Kuya Zach."

Lolo Delfin voiced out, "Because he has lots of potentials into becoming a good leader. I thought he was interested in politics because he had been an active student leader in school. Yes, I was wrong. And I am not sure how will I be able to patch up my relationship with him. I have been too hard on him that he decided to go astray from our family. He rarely comes here at the Casa Belmonte anymore.  He even has his own private residence built outside our compound."

Dylan tried to  suggest, "It is not yet too late, Lolo. You were able to understand him by staying at the base for a while back then. You have appreciated all of the things that he has done for his firm and for his e-sports team. You just reverted back to your prideful behavior when you found out about his relationship to the lady that you did not choose for him. Bri is a very nice young lady. She might not have the outstanding family background of  Kelsey but  she is every outstanding in every sense of her life. Her family are good people. She might be very book smart compared to Kuya Zach but she is very hard working and so she is able to succeed in whatever endeavor she decides to take. She and Kuya Zach also get along so well. They fully understand and support each other. So just try not to worry much about Kuya Zach's relationship anymore, Lolo. You must be focusing now on how to help me with Kelsey. My previous misbehaviors might have backfired on me."

Lolo Delfin assured his grandson, "I already told Crisanto to give you a fair chance. So just show to them your sincerity. Refrain from caving in to those ladies approaching you as well. You must only focus with Kelsey from now on."   

In Lolo Delfin's mind –I really hope and pray that this time this match with Dylan and Kelsey will work out. Nevertheless, I am still not very convince of Bri's capacity to be a good wife and a good mother. She is just way too independent. I cannot fully accept her yet. She still got a lot of things to prove. I have to test her loyalty towards Zach. Reymund Aguinaldo is still very much at large in her life. Zach must also prove her loyalty towards her. With Penelope coming into his life once more, I feared that she is out for vengeance. How well will they cope with this haywire woman in their midst? There might have been no problem in their relationship when they had kept it privately but now that it is out in the open, the media frenzy they have been receiving is way too much! They have so may comments in their personal lives. How will their relationship survive in the midst of everything. Zachary can be too stubborn at times. He is kind of a  perfectionist as well while Bri is more of a free spirited kind of lady. They are somehow vey opposite in some of their traits. I won't doubt anymore if one day they will have some huge misunderstanding.

But in Dylan's mind – Finally! I can already pursue Kelsey with the blessings of Lolo Delfin and Lolo Crisanto. I will do my very best to win her over. I am already regretting the times when I tricked and pranked her during our school days. I hope she can set that aside. We had some good times anyway. I had been a good dance partner to her. No one also dared to bully her back then even if she was fat because of me. I am one of the few persons who encouraged her to pursue dancing, not only because it will keep her fit and healthy but also because she loves it. I hope she still remembers it and will not just focused on my crazy antics back then. She has changed though. How did she become that arrogant and vicious? I really cannot believe that she had physically hurt Kuya Zach for so many times. But then there were video clips showing that. Good thing, Kuya Zach had not released them during his press conference.  

On the other hand, Lolo Crisanto had also told his granddaughter, Kelsey, regarding his final decision with her pre-arranged marriage with Zachary Belmonte.

Kelsey could not believe it when his grandfather told him that her pre-arranged marriage with Zachary Belmonte would not be pushed through already. She rejoiced and first but was very shocked when told that her that he found a new match.

Lolo Cristiano told her, "Just as you wish, I will already allow you to date some other guys. With everything that has happened between you and Zachary, Delfin and I already decided to cancel your supposed wedding engagement with Zachary."

Her response was, "It is good that the two of you had already dropped the idea. I like Zach but then he does not like me at all. You know how much he has ignored me through the years. And that press conference revealing our past conversations is the final nail in the coffin."

Lolo Cristiano replied, "I understand your sentiment. But somehow, you are at fault as well that it did not work out. He dislikes your attitude form the very start. You are always showing him your bad side and not your good side. You are not that quick-tempered with your friends. And let us face it, you are really rude at times. You don't know how to respect those people below you. You are also always antagonizing towards all of his friends from the middle class."   

She said, "I don't like his friends. They are all fake, pretending to be good to him but they are all social climbing parasites."

Lolo Crisanto reprimanded her, "Stop it now, Kelsey!" Then her grandfather told her, "Anyway, Delfin and I had an idea. He has other grandsons that we can match with you. So in the days to come, one of his grandsons will pay you a visit. We hope that the two of you will give it a try and go out on dates to know more about each other."

She asked, "Whose grandson are you referring to, Lolo."

Lolo Crisanto divulged, "The one taking law in Athenaeum, Dylan"

She immediately reacted, "No way!"

In her mind – I must do something. I cannot end up with Dylan! He tortured me during our younger years and now they wanted a love match between the two of us! Lolo Crisanto and Lolo Delfin are definitely out of their minds already! How can they just give up?! Why are they allowing Zach to be with that pathetic middle class b***h! If they're giving up then I will definitely not. Once I found the opportunity, I will ruin Zach's relationship with that b***h. Zach is the only one among the Belmontes who is good enough to be my husband.