THE NOMINAL WIFE

CHAPTER 1: Their Individual Lives

June 3, 2017. Saturday. Iryn Zamora, a 28 year old clinical psychologist, had started to look after her rebellious younger sister, Ivy, when his fraternal twin brother, Ivan, decided to send their youngest sibling off to her after finishing senior high school. Ivan, her older fraternal twin brother, had been managing their farm and winery in Kyobe, a municipality in Vasil, which is the north easternmost state of the country. Her brother, who finished a degree in agriculture majoring in horticulture with an MBA degree, also looked after their aging parents and his own wife and children. They belong to the middle social class.

After finishing a degree in psychology as Saint Thomas University in Palmaine City, Missi at the age of 22, Iryn started to work at the Human Resource Department of Saint Thomas University, took and passed the licensure examination for psychometricians, and pursued masters and doctorate degrees in clinical psychology at the same university. After finishing her doctorate degree in clinical psychology at the age of 27, Iryn resigned from her job at her alma mater and established her own psychological clinic which offered services such as consultation, counseling, and psychological assessment. She also accepted part time teaching jobs at the graduate school of University of Filipinas in Vienburg City, Saint Thomas University in Palmaine City, and Athenaeum de Missi University in Maunni City. Psyche Solutions Clinic had been the go to psychological assessment establishment of several small and big companies and universities in the State of Missi. Most child psychiatrists in Missi also preferred working side by side with her in treating children clients with mental health concerns.

After a few months, she co-founded with her best friend, Grace de la Torre, a toddlers day care center, Toddler's Haven, which had been immediately been fully booked for its limited slots; and a preschool, Angels Headstart Preschool. These two child care services were offered because Grace, an early childhood teacher with master's degree in education major in guidance counseling, got paralyzed waist down after a car accident. With the huge settlement fund that Grace got from the rich man who had recklessly bumped her causing her to be paraplegic for the rest of her life.

Iryn had been living alone in her one-bedroom condominium unit until her sister came along. She used to stay in a rented apartment with her best friend when she was still a student. From her full-time work at the university and her part-time jobs as a psychology professor, licensed psychometrician, and a licensed professional counselor, she was able to earn lots of money to pay for the deposits on her private residence without the financial support from her parents. Her savings also allowed her a startup capital for her own clinic. But her busy career had also been the very reason why her college sweetheart, long time boyfriend, newly licensed lawyer, Gerard Bautista, had recently broken up with her as he had found a much more devoted, prettier, sexier and richer lover in the person of Natasha Lopez, the daughter of the owner CEO of Nexus TV, a pay television channel.

Iryn had immediately processed her sister's enrollment at Saint Thomas University. With Ivy's innate talent in singing, her sister wanted to pursue a degree in music major in composition.

Iryn told her sister calmly, "You are now officially enrolled at STU's Conservatory of Music just as you wished. I agreed for you to live here with me while you are studying. So, I want your stay here with me to be hassle-free as much as possible. So please try not to do all of those rebellious streaks you had done in the past. Under my guardianship, every bad deed you will mean a corresponding disciplinary consequence. I have a fulltime work so you have to cook your own meals, do your own laundry, maintain the cleanliness of this house the way I had always maintained it, and just spend within you the allotted weekly allowance that our parents provide for you. I will not pay for any of your vices. If you want more money then you have to learn how to earn it on your own. You are not allowed to smoke, gamble or drink any alcoholic beverage here in my house."

Ivy then asked, "Am I allowed to invite friends or classmates over?"

Iryn answered the question, "Of course you can but, they are not allowed to stay over here overnight. We only had one bedroom here. The two twin-size beds in the bedroom were just recently purchased so that I can accommodate you here. My night time is sacred to me coz that is the only time that I get to rest in the midst of my busy career. So if you do not want me to send you back home, you have to follow my rules."

Ivy's response was, "Do you even have time to have some fun, Ate? Ever since you pursued your studies in psychology, you only get to come home during Christmas Holidays. All that mattered to you is your career. Did you even get into a romantic relationship?"

Iryn told her sister, "You might believe it or not. But I do have lots of friends here in Missi. I also had my share of relationships but then most men are chauvinist. They believed that women's only place is at home."

Ivy inquired, "Is that the reason why you are single up to now?"

Iryn declined, "No. I just came to a realization that with or without a love life, one can still feel happy and fulfilled. At this age of mine, I can only be interested in a man who is consistent, stable, respectful and loyal. If such man does not come along then I would rather be single all my life."

Ivy commented, "I cannot live like that, Ate. In as much as I also wanted to succeed in my future career as a singer/songwriter, I also want to be in a healthy romantic relationship with the man I love in the future."

Iryn responded, "Everyone likes that but not everyone is lucky enough to find one. So do not be in a rush to be in a relationship. Try to get to know the guy better first before entering any relationship. But even if you already got to know the guy, learning about him is an ongoing process. And just when you think that everything is going well, you will just be surprised one day with some turn of events and say to yourself, I did expect him to do such," and so she shared, "I have a boyfriend of almost 10 years. We started our relationship when we were still taking up our respective bachelor's degree. He dumped me not so long ago because of another woman who is far much more beautiful, sexier and richer than me. I thought that I know him very well already only to be surprised of his ambitiousness to make it big as a lawyer as quickly as possible. And perhaps, I am really not cut out to be someone else's wife because I am career-oriented. So I suggest that you find someone who will fully support your dreams of becoming a successful singer/songwriter. Papa and Mama are supporting you financially in these career path that you want to take so do not let their hard work just end up in vain. Try to be more responsible with all your actions from now on. We might not be very rich but we have very supportive and hardworking parents. Despite their old age and Ivan's help, they are still very much active in our farm and winery because of you."

On the other hand, it had already been almost a year since Winona Lauchengco died in a car accident leaving her husband Voltaire and their almost four-year old son, Wallace. The car that their family had been riding on the way to the birthday party of his grandfather had been hit my a truck. Voltaire and Wallace had survived while the driver, Winona and their unborn child died. They were impacted the more being on the right side of the car which had been badly damaged the more. Voltaire and Wallace sustained wounds.

The father and son had already recovered from the physical wounds but not from the emotional ones especially Wallace, who stopped speaking and become antisocial towards strangers since he had regained consciousness after the accident. The boy also did not like riding sedan cars and so whenever he had to travel to the hospital, he must be transported using the SUV. After all, they were riding a sedan car when the accident happened.

Voltaire had been very occupied with his new positions as the President, CCO and CFO of the Lauchengco Group of Companies as well. Thus, Wallace had always been left under the care of their stay-in housekeeper and driver at their private villa house not so very far from the city proper of Palmaine City. Voltaire believed that such position had caused the unfaithful accident who robbed him of his wife's life and caused the PTSD of his son. His half brothers as well as his cousins all eyed the position he currently held. He was aware that one of them could be behind the accident as well as the sabotaging of all the projects he needed to execute.

Lauchengco Group of Companies, also known as Lauchengco Holdings Corporation was founded by Vicenzo Lauchengco, Voltaire's grandfather still serving as the Chairman. Victor Lauchengco, Voltaire's father, serves the Vice Chairman and CEO.

Its subsidiaries included Elysium Land Company, Lauchengco Media Company, Lauchengco Cable Company and Lauchengco Publishing Company. The Lauchengco Media Company, being one of the largest media and entertainment conglomerates in the country had the divisions: LMC Digital Media, which oversees the all of LMC's internal and digital properties including websites, mobile and web applications, social media accounts, and distribution of LMC's contents (TV channels, audio channels, TV programs, films, music recordings, music videos, images, magazines, books, news, etc.); LMC Entertainment, which is one of the commercial broadcast TV network with free-to-air TV and cable TV channels in the country serving as the flagship property of LMC; LMC Events, which plans and oversees all the events of the company; LMC Foundation, which is a non-profit, non-governmental organization dedicated in improving the lives of disadvantaged Filipino families in the country and around the world; LMC International, which provides the 24-hour global subscription television network available on direct-to-home satellite, cable, Internet Protocol television, online streaming, video on demand and other content platforms; LMC Radio, which is the broadcast radio network of the company with both AM and FM band; LMC News, which is responsible for the daily news and information gathering of its news program; LCM Creatives, which is the TV and film production arm of LMC producing television programs and films; LMC Films, which is the film production and distribution company of LMC for silver screen; LMC Talent Center, which is the training and management arm of LMC designed to assist young talents in the country into stardom; and LMC Music, which is the record label of LMC.

That day while in his office, Voltaire received another call from his housekeeper and former nanny, Yaya Guada.

He answered the phone call, "Yes, Yaya. Is Wallace still having another tantrum?"

Yaya Guada confirmed, "Yes. And this time around, his swimming instructress is the one who resigned. Within this his week, we already lost his piano teacher, his academic tutor, and his arts teacher. Wallace only behaves well when you are around. Although he is very good to me, there are also times when he does not follow what I say. He is different around his teachers. He is very aloof around them. They often ran out of tricks just to make him learn all those lessons. When he is having a tantrum, I can do nothing but to let him be until he stops. There are even times when he had to miss some of his meals. Things are really much different when your wife is still alive, Voltaire. I can keep up with the housekeeping of your home but I cannot do much to take care of your son other than feeding him and looking after his safety and well-being. He needs a mother. Winona was so good around children."

He acknowledged such, "Yes, Yaya. I and Wallace missed her so much. But I don't think I can find someone like her. Mom had already suggested that I consider getting married again. I don't have plans to get married again. It will be difficult for Wallace to forget about his Mom. His psychiatrist had suggested that I surrounded him with female teachers so he can get used to the presence of women. But he keeps on rejecting them. He has not even said any word again. No academic tutors can last. Although those academic tutors had succeeded for him to learn how to write and communicate through writing. Those are still not enough. He needs to be attending a regular school already and be around children of his age. I will be forced again to have him home-schooled if he will not speak. According to the developmental psychologist who checks on him, he is a very fast learner. He can finish all the learning tasks given to him very quickly, all in perfect scores. The only problem is that he cannot read out loud coz he does not want to speak. I already consulted specialists recommended by her pediatrician to check if his brain was affected by the accident. But upon checking, they all said that his speech function is perfectly fine so they all ruled out that it is perfectly fine, and that he could just be suffering from PTSD that is why he will not talk verbally. We have already a scheduled consultation on a child psychiatrist. So just have more patience with him, Yaya. Please do not quit on us as well."

His housekeeper answered, "I will not quit on the two of you. You even hired my husband as Wallace personal driver. You also allowed us to live at your villa."

He responded, "I need your help as well as your husband in looking after my son, Yaya. The two of you are only few of the people that I can trust when it comes to my son. You have been looking after me since I was in pre-school when you were just eighteen years old. And even now that I'm 30 years old, you're still with me. You have been of great help to Mom in raising me. You witnessed me growing up, getting married, and having a son. So please have for patience with Wallace, Yaya. You and your husband know the difficulty I'm facing at work and with my paternal side of family. Mom had already moved to France with her husband years ago. So all I got is you and your husband for moral support. Anyway, I will try to be at home the soonest possible time. Thank you very much for informing me abut Wallace."

Yaya Guada replied, "Okay. I know how busy you are with work but your son also needs you. Bye for now. I will try hard to feed him this lunch time so he will not miss it."

His parting response was, "Okay, Yaya. Bye."

When Voltaire went home that evening, Yaya Guada was already cooking dinner along with her husband for all of them. Voltaire had always treated them like family members. Tatay Manolo, Yaya Guada's husband used to be his Mom's driver bodyguard. He employed him as one of their family drivers when his mother moved into another country with her husband almost a year ago. His mother, Teresa Aragon, was a rich socialite and the first wife of his father. After a few years of marriage, his parents got separated and had their marriage annulled. Both parties had engaged in extra-marital affairs. Her mother owned 15 % shares of Lauchengco Group of Companies and such shares was transferred to his name when his mother had her second marriage when he was 18 years old. His mother was on her late 30s when she got married and had a daughter with her second husband, who was a French ambassador to the Philippines for so many years.

After dinner, he washed up his son to prepare him for sleep while calmly talking to him. "We don't have Mommy anymore, Wallace. And Daddy had to work. I cannot be with you all the time. You should be starting pre-school already this coming school year. But up to now you're still not speaking."

His son just hugged him as response.

He told his son after the hug, look into into his eyes, "I understand that you miss Mommy so much. Daddy misses Mommy so much as well. But she is in heaven already. We only have each other for now. So please be kind to Yaya Guada, Tatay Manolo and all of your teachers."

His son nodded in approval.

Then he asked his son, "Do you want to attend a regular school? You will have more playmates there. You can learn a lot of new things along with other children."

His son nodded again in approval.

So he said, "But you need to speak again, son."

His son shook his head in disapproval.

Voltaire felt defeated once again so he asked his again, "What do you want just so you will speak again, Wallace? You need to attend a regular school already. Just tell me what you want and I will give you anything "

His son reached for his writing tablet and this time wrote for the very first time what he wanted – I want Mommy.