THE BILLIONAIRE'S REVENGE

March 31, 2010. Holy Wednesday. Leila Adrielle Santillan Perez went home to her beach house that evening in Gurvan, Arcella with her two older paternal first cousins, Martin Perez Jr. and Angelo Perez, who were with their respective girlfriends, Luisa and Irish. They all decided to spend the holidays there just like they usually did in the past. Her Uncle Martin and his wife, Aunt Angela, who was also her baptismal godmother, decided to stay at their home in Vienburg City because the two of them were too occupied with the family catering business. Leila was to graduate in a few more months, so she was allowed to take a break provided that her two cousins were with him. Her cousins and their respective girlfriends occupied four bedrooms out of five on the third floor of the beach house. Leila’s parents, Manuel Perez and Adriana Santillan, died in a plane crash when she had just graduated from elementary school. In their last will and testament, Uncle Martin and Uncle Adriano were named as two possible legal guardians in the event that they had to die at the same time. She was left with all of their properties and large savings in the bank. The real properties included the parcel of land near the beach where their newly-renovated three-story beach house and the newly-finished B & B building beside it were located. Her father was a civil engineer and a furniture maker while her mother was a certified public accountant. They had saved more than enough for her future. Her Uncle Adriano, her mother’s twin and only brother, was already a priest by that time her parents died. Her grandparents on both sides had already passed away. Uncle Martin, the elder and only brother of her father, took her in after agreeing with her Uncle Adriano that it would be best for her to be with Uncle Martin and his family. Thus, she had to move in with her Uncle Martin and his family into their home in Vienburg City, Missi. April 1, 2010. Maundy Thursday. In the morning, Mia Josefa Buenaventura, Leila’s best friend, arrived with her fiancé, Jesse Daniel Cardenas. They occupied two separate bedrooms on the second floor of the three-story beach house. Leila invited Mia to spend the holidays at her beach house. Mia was the youngest offspring and only daughter of Joseph Buenaventura and Miranda Sy. Mia’s father was from the rich and famous Buenaventura Clan of the Province of Godordan and a successful businessman in the field of mining. On the other hand, Mia’s mother was a successful interior designer and the owner of one of the biggest interior design firms in the country, Futuriste. Leila and Mia had their internship at the firm last summer. On another note, Jesse Daniel Cardenas was the youngest among three sons of Damian Cardenas and Juliet Zulueta. He had already finished bachelor degrees in civil engineering and in architecture from University of Filipinas – Vienburg, and worked at his father’s firm. Damian Cardenas owned Cardenas Realty and Development Firm (CRDF), one of the biggest realty and development firms in the country, while Juliet Zulueta came from a family who owned Filipinas Bookstore, and was a successful screenwriter and a bestselling book author. Leila and Mia became best friends when they became classmates during their first year of their degree, Bachelor in Science in Interior Design at University of Filipinas – Vienburg. On the other hand, Mia and Daniel were betrothed by their parents when Mia turned eighteen. Their wedding was scheduled for May 30, 2010. As the three couples decided to have a stroll by the beach, Leila had left riding her old bike to buy food supplies at the farmers’ market. When she was already done buying fresh fish and sea foods, someone poked her by each side of her waist from behind. Richard Gonzaga, her childhood best friend and godbrother, was the culprit. She was surprised, “Chard!” They hugged each other. Richard asked her, "When did you arrive?" She gave her answer, "Just last night. I am with my cousins and their respective girlfriends.I also have other friends over." "I see," then Richard told her, “Do not buy fruits and vegetables anymore. We will drop by at the farm and harvest some, then I will drive you home.” She responded, “But I got my bike with me.” He retorted, “I am driving the pickup. We can put your bike in the back of the pickup. So buy everything else you need to buy here, then we will go.” She bought Filipino native delicacies at some stalls, then they left. Richard Gonzaga was the youngest among the four sons of Ricardo and Claudia Gonzaga. Richard’s mother was the best friend of Leila's mother, and was also her baptismal godmother. She and Richard were classmates from kindergarten until elementary. His family owned Gonzaga Organic Farm. The farm had a coffee plantation, a fruit orchard, a vegetable farm, a large coop of native chickens, and a large pen of goats. As soon as they finished getting freshly harvested fruits and vegetables, and freshly roasted coffee beans, Richard drove her home. She told him as they reached the front of the beach house, “You should stay for lunch. I got my cousins and friends over.” Richard agreed, “Okay, then I will stay and have lunch here with all of you.” As they entered the living room carrying the canvass bags of food supplies, her six companions for the holidays were already seated by the couches chatting. Her two cousins greeted Richard and immediately approached them to help carry the bags to the kitchen. “The delicacies are on the brown canvass bag. Please prepare them for snacks,” Leila reminded her two cousins, then introduced the rest to Richard. “Richard, meet my friends – Ate Luisa, is Kuya JR’s fiancée; Ate Irish is Kuya Angelo’s girlfriend; Mia is my best friend and classmate; and Daniel is Mia’s fiancé. Guys, he is Richard Gonzaga, my godbrother, and childhood best friend.” The rest exchanged handshakes, then her two cousins brought out the delicacies, plates and forks for them to have snacks. As everyone chose what to eat among the various delicacies, Leila excused herself, “I will prepare something for us to drink.” She was already halfway to the task of preparing freshly-squeezed pineapple juice when Richard joined her in the kitchen. He asked her, “Is Mia really engaged to be married to that guy, Daniel?” She replied, “Yes, why are you asking?” He remarked, “Well, they do not seem very much in love considering that they are an engaged couple.” She knew Richard very well and by the sound of his voice, she suspected that he was interested in Mia so she warned him, “She is already taken, Chard. Daniel is a nice man. Please have some respect. They will already get married this coming May 30.” Richard confided, “If only she was not taken yet, I would really like her to be my girlfriend.” She reiterated, “Well, she is already taken so divert your attention to others.” Richard expressed her admiration, "Mia is so pretty," and even stated her observation, "But it seems to me that her boyfriend is not paying much attention to her." Leila's response was, "Well, Mia told me that Daniel is working on a project at their company. His mother just insisted on coming with Mia here. He is already working. So, unlike us, he has other endeavors to focus on. They are a perfect match. They are both from a very rich family in Missi. Daniel is an architect and civil engineer, while Mia is a promising interior designer like her mother. They are a power couple in the making." Richard had pointed out, "Well, he is not just so much into her considering that they will already be getting married in a few months. I am just telling you my observations." Leila then reiterated, "Even if that is the situation, please just do not interfere with their relationship. So, even if you are attracted to Mia, please do not act on that attraction you have for her. Just let them sort out their true feelings for one another on their own accord. Please try not to be a third party to their relationship." After lunch, Richard volunteered to tour everyone in the beautiful tourist spots around the town. Daniel opted to stay behind. Leila stayed behind as well to wash the dishes and start making preps for dinner. Daniel decided to take a nap. He had not had enough sleep the previous days because of work. When he woke up, he went down and joined Leila in the kitchen. He asked Leila, “Did they not arrive yet?” She replied, “They will be back in time for dinner at 7 PM so we still have an hour to wait. Do you want something to drink or eat?” “No thanks. But I have a question to ask,” Daniel responded. She acknowledged it, “Okay, ask then.” He did ask her, “What is the building next to this house?” She replied, “It is the dream B & B of my parents. It is not yet fully furnished. As soon as I save enough money, I will have it fully furnished and open it as their dream B & B.” He asked further, “Would you mind if I took a tour around?” She replied, “Nope! I do not mind. I can tour you around. I am done here in the kitchen anyway. I will just put the rice pot in the rice cooker, then we can go.” When she was done, she led the way to the side door of the building. With a flashlight in her hand, she gave Daniel the keys and asked him to unlock the door with the key labeled as SD. As it opened, she entered and Daniel followed. She opened the main switch in the kitchen. Then she turned on the light in the kitchen. She said, “This is the kitchen. As you can see, the walls are not painted yet, the lavatory is not tiled yet, the cabinets and the island counter with the stools are not yet fully arranged. All the wooden furniture here and the rest that you will see later on are all made by my father. He was a chief civil engineer working at Sorocon Constructions in Beaunne City. On weekends, he designed and made furniture. I grew up watching him work. Perhaps that is the reason why I have an interest in interior design. I wanted to see this come to life when the right time comes. But for now, all the renovations and finishing still have to wait. I usually go home here with my uncle or my aunt or any of my two cousins once a month to check the property and clean up.” Daniel had checked on the wooden French windows, cabinets, island counter, and stools as she did her narration. “Your father was very good, I may say. These are all excellent craftsmanship.” She smiled and led them to the doorway leading to the dining room. She turned on the light. “This will be the dining room. As you can see, we have a wooden dining table with twelve wooden chairs and a sideboard.” He was amazed by the glass-paneled wooden French two-door and glass-paneled wooden French wall sandwiching it. The door led to the backyard to the beach. “Your father was an amazing craftsman.” “Yeah, he was.” She led them to the grand lobby. She turned on the lights. Several solid wooden French doors with door jambs were lined up in the grand lobby. He asked, “What are all these doors for?” She replied, “Eighteen doors for the nine bedrooms upstairs, each with an en suite bathroom. The rest are for the rooms here on the ground floor.” She pointed to the two rooms on her right. “They are the staffroom with two en suite bathrooms for male and female; and the utility room for the washing machine and cleaning materials. Next to the staffroom is where the front desk will be located. Papa wasn’t able to start constructing the counter for the front desk.” Then she turned to her left and led him to another room . She had turned the lights on in that next room, “This will be the main office. It also has a provision for an en suite bathroom. All the restrooms and bathrooms were not tiled yet but the plumbing was all set. Bathroom fixtures and fittings just need to be installed.” He reacted, “There are still a lot of things to be done but they are just minor things. The major things had already been prepared. Light fixtures must be changed as well. Floors must be tiled. Walls need to be painted. You may also put wooden cornices on the ceilings and wooden baseboards by the floor.” She acknowledged it, “Yes, they are all included in the master plan. I have the blueprint with me. I have already made my own layout for the interior design of each room with all those added fixtures you mentioned.” He asked, “Is there a sprinkler system installed?” She replied, “Yes, there is. Smoke alarms are included as well. Are you ready to go upstairs?” “Yes,” he replied. They had ascended the concrete stairs leading to the second floor. There are no doors for the nine bedrooms yet, as well as for the provisions for the en-suite bathrooms. But the French wooden windows were all installed. There were already electric outlets and light sockets as well. Their last stop was the rooftop. Daniel could not help but admire Leila for her dedication to continuing the dream project of her parents – You are a very talented and skilled interior designer, Leila. You seem to have inherited such from your father. It is just sad that I did not get to meet him. I do admire his creations as well. I have no doubt that you will be able to open up this B & B soon. But your talents and skills as an interior designer will just be wasted if you opt to stay here. You must just find a competent and trustworthy manager to run this B & B. You have a bright future as an interior designer. I can see you succeeding on your own, like Tita Miranda. Futuriste will eventually belong to Mia. You will eventually have to part ways with Futuriste so that you will shine even more. Tita Miranda is an excellent mentor. Working under her for a few years will give you enough work experience and necessary wisdom on how to go about the construction and design industry. I can already see this B & B being your larger than life showroom of your interior designs. As they saw Richard’s pickup nearing, they decided to go down. They turned off all the lights on the second floor and on the ground floor as they went down. Finally, they went out of the side door as soon as she pulled down the main switch. As Daniel looked at their companions, he knew that something was different about Mia. In his mind – Why do I have a feeling that Mia is attracted to Leila's godbrother? If she is indeed attracted to him, then perhaps she will already back out of the wedding. That will be nice! I hope she cancels it right away. I really did not want to get into a loveless marriage anyway. I do not love her. We are very different from one another. I have already explained to Dad and Mom that this arranged marriage will not work out because I am not at all attracted to Mia. But then they do not like to listen to me. I do hope that Mia changes her mind about marrying me. That way, I can be free. I want to be able to choose the woman I would like to spend the rest of my life with. I am still too young to get married. I still want to achieve a lot of things on my own. They welcomed the rest by the front gate of the beach house. Leila told Richard, “You should stay for dinner. I have already called Ninang. I told her you are here and might stay over just like the old times.” Richard agreed, "Sure." They had their dinner by the beach. The men had set up the tent, the tables, the chairs, and the bonfire, while the ladies had brought all the food that Leila had prepared. There were still uncooked meats for grilling. Daniel helped out Leila with preparing the charcoal for grilling because he was the only one who had finished his task already and not doing anything anymore. Daniel asked her, "Did you prepare all the food?" She answered, "I got help from the rest of the girls. The fruits were all from the farm owned by Chard's family. He helped with cleaning them all up." Leila's two cousins then approached and volunteered to do the grilling. So Daniel and Leila joined the rest at the table. Richard was already seated beside Mia. Leila had looked into her godbrother meaningfully so that he would vacate the chair and let Daniel sit beside Mia. Richard did. He sat down on another chair, leaving the one next to where Daniel sat for Leila to sit on. Leila uttered a silent prayer before eating. Daniel did as well at almost the same time as hers, while the others had already started eating because of hunger. Richard expressed, "You really cook very well, Lei. The man you will marry in the future will be very lucky. But that man will still have to pass the standards of Kuya JR, Kuya Angelo and me." JR agreed, "That is true! But even if they passed our standards. They might not be able to pass the standards of our parents. Lei is like a real sister to us and a real daughter to our parents. So, we will only allow her to marry someone who truly loves her even more than we love her." Mia reacted, "Lei is very lucky to have all of you. She might have lost her parents when she was still young, but she has gained a very loving and supportive second family in all of you. My Mom even likes her a lot as well." Angelo added, "Lei is very easy to get along with. She is very kind and respectful. So we really don't like it when someone takes advantage or abuses her kindness." He somehow did not like Mia as his cousin's friend because he felt that Mia was not being true to her as a friend. Mia did not seem bothered by it. She was not even aware that she was the one being referred to by Leila's cousin. She even said, "Oh, that is very true." But Daniel somehow knew that his fiancee was that 'someone' being referred to by Angelo, taking advantage of and abusing Leila's kindness. In his mind - Only your friend Leila is blind here of your true colors, Mia. Her family is not. At least Leila will be protected by her family from you. Leila is a true friend to you, Mia. You cannot find anyone else like her anymore. It is just sad that Dad and Mom cannot see your true colors. You are self-centered, self-important and spiteful. My parents would also see how good your parents are and they think you are the same. I really hope that you will change your mind about marrying me. I don't really want to get married yet. I also feel that you are not the right one for me. Our personalities just don't match. I am more laid back and private, while you always wanted to be the center of attention. You are too proud. You don't even know the true meaning of humility. You are born privileged and so you showed off about it. How I wish I was wrong about you. Because if you are really to become my wife, I have to stay married to you for the rest of my life. There is no history of separation in our family. So I hope that there is really some goodness in you. Because right now, the only thing I am seeing positive about you is your looks and your family. Leila then said, "Well, there is already too much negativity in this world, so we need to be sure that we don't contribute to it. One must do good to others, not just because of who they are or what they can do for you in return, but because that is the real you. I am happy doing things for people. That is the true me. I cannot see any reason why I should be bad. I am very blessed." May 28, 2010. Friday. Leila and Mia both graduated from their degree in Bachelor of Science in Interior Design. Mia's mother had also immediately hired Leila to work for Futuriste. She would immediately start by June 1, 2010. May 30, 2010. Sunday. Everything was set for the grand wedding of Daniel and Mia. The wedding entourage had already walked down the aisle. They are just waiting for the cathedral’s doors to open up to see Mia for her bridal march. As the assistants of the videographer opened up the doors, they saw Mia running away going to the car owned by Richard Gonzaga. Daniel was very much humiliated by what happened, that he lashed out at Leila. “This is your fault! You introduced them to one another.” Leila did not bother to say anything in response. But in her mind – Is it really my fault? I just introduced them to one another. I thought Mia loves you, Daniel. Why did she run away with Richard? What was she thinking? Richard, what have you done? I already told you that Mia is already taken. Why did you take her away? This a huge embarrassment to Daniel and to his family. Why did they run away? Did they fall for one another? This cannot be happening. Daniel is devastated and he is blaming me for what happened. I just introduced them. I did not know it will come to this. What have I done? I ruined this grand wedding by inviting Richard as my plus one. I feel so sorry for Daniel. This is such a huge embarrassment! I cannot blame him for taking it against me. I was the reason Mia and Chard met. But I did not encourage Richard with regards to his attraction towards Mia. God knows that I had stopped him. I told him not to get in the way of their relationship. What really happened between them? I did not even know how much closer they had become. It could be the reason why Richard volunteered to be my plus one in attending this wedding. How can they do this? Mia should have just back out of the wedding much earlier. Why did she have to wait for her actual exact wedding date to back out? Why choose to create such a huge ruckus? If she did not want to get married, she should just have broken up with Daniel much earlier. When will you be responsible for your actions, Mia? You have created a huge mess once again, Mia. Why are you so impulsive? You even included my godbrother in running away. What were the two of you thinking, running away like that? This is not my fault. I will let Daniel's accusation just pass by. He is mad. I can fully understand that he was angry and humiliated. I do hope that he will recover from this scandal. He is a good man. He does not deserve to be treated like this by Mia and Richard. I also hope that he will be able to clear his mind and not blame me anymore. Who would have thought that Mia would run away just a few seconds before walking down the aisle?