Chapter 4 || Maevelline

Philippines, 2007

WHEN was the last time she's been in the Philippines? She couldn't remember anymore. Maeve turned to the window of the backseat. The streets of Manila were still full of people coming and leaving. Traffic was still a national problem, and the rays of the sun was still blinding her.

She could see her name on the billboard above some buildings, along with many businessmen of the world. She could not recognize her own face. A woman in a regal business suit, perfect makeup, and a disarming smile etched on her face.

When was the last time that Maeve bathed under the sun? For decades, she had been in every country. South Korea, USA, Canada, Europe, Australia, China, Japan. She had been in the borders of Africa but she had never been back to her home country. Her whole life revolved in the business world. No time for a life that any woman would have wanted: a simple family woman with three kids that surrounded her and a loving husband who will embrace her at night.

An unfamiliar but a pleasant female voice answered the telephone when Maeve called from her office in Makati City, Manila. "Dr. Azarias Rusell's office. How can I help you?"

"Hey, I'd like to speak with Azarias, please," Maeve said.

"Oh, Dr. Rusell is on leave today. May I know who's calling, please?"

Maeve turned to the wide glassed window of her vast office. "This is his mother. To whom am I talking to?"

"Oh! Good morning, Miss Maeve," the woman at the end of the line sounded flustered and awed. "This is Miranda Valdez, Dr. Rusell's new secretary. He flew to Chicago this morning for an international conference. He's coming back a day after tomorrow, though. Would you like to leave him a message, instead?"

No wonder I couldn't reach him through his personal phone number, Maeve thought to herself. "No, thank you. I'll just call him when he arrives."

Maeve sighed as she put back the phone in its receiver, resting her hand on it for a while. She was trying to push away the disappointment she felt when the secretary told her that Azarias was out of the country. She could've called him before she went to the Philippines but knowing Azarias, he would have just pushed her away this time despite the pleas of his wife and children to see her.

She shifted her gaze at the group of picture frames on top of her maple-based walnut wooden table near the window. Her eyes caught one of the pictures with silver frame and held the faces of two men in their thirties. Taken during Azarias' wedding with a local Filipina entrepreneur Farrah Cruz, it was the only time that Maeve, Paul and their children got together once again.

Her eyes welled with tears as she stared at Azarias' face. He grew up to be a wonderful man with natural curly dark hair, tall, lean and athletic built. He was not overly muscled. He has a lean and angular face, clean from beard and mustache. What caught her breath was his grayish-blue eyes that reflected her own.

Azarias was smart, very intelligent and clever even. He never had any love for business, unlike Allen who was now trying to tail Maeve's success internationally on his own. But it doesn't mean that Azarias was far behind Maeve and his younger brother.

Azarias had been her anchor. Her first real happiness after so long living in the dark. In the year 1973, she gave birth to a wonderful baby. She could still remember vividly how those gray eyes look up at her with wonder and curiosity.

When he turned eighteen, she told her he wanted to become a world renowned surgeon. When Azarias started his residency as a doctor, she and her son planned to build a hospital here in Makati. Her eldest son was so ecstatic at the news. Then three years after Azarias and Farrah's marriage, they fought severely that he shut Maeve out of his life almost completely.

He currently worked as the senior orthopedic surgeon at an esteemed hospital in this country, and he became the most recommended surgeon outside the Philippines.

Maybe it was not too late to fix her relationship with Azarias. Maybe she could still patch things up and they could build a medical empire somewhere other than Philippines.

Thinking about staying longer than a day in this country and had to wait for Azarias without doing anything overwhelmed her with fear and uneasiness. There was a pain that constantly tugged at her left chest, a burning ache. She was hurt before and she felt it yet again. The kind of longing and fear. Longing... it had been a very long time ago.

It had been for Gamaliel.

Maeve's eyes went back to the photograph of Azarias. Now that she remembered that man, she could see the painful similarities with him and Azarias.

He had those fine curled dark hair like Gamaliel, the other man she loved with so much intensity and completely.

She shook her head and walked towards her bag that was on the office chair. She pulled out her wallet and opened it. Her eyes locked at the faded black-and-white photograph held together by a tape. But time didn't dim those keen eyes, and the mischievous grin that held so much strength and bravery.

She smoothed her fingers against the photo. Beside him was the only woman she looked up to. It was Amara...

As she slipped her Calvin Klein wallet back to her bag, she felt the tightness of her throat and the blurred vision she had. She sniffed and wiped away the tears that escaped from her eyes. She hated the way she was right now. She felt so broken and lost and she didn't know what to do about it.

Her dark past was shielded by her toughness and charming façade, and of course, her wealth.

Maeve walked back to the tinted window and looked at the other skyscrapers in Manila. She came to this country in hopes to reconcile with her son Azarias immediately, only to be greeted by the overwhelming retrospection of her past. She hated this kind of feeling. The feeling of nothing to do but to wait.

Her phone rang and the annoying sound echoed across her office. She knew such sound. It was a ringing tone she personally set on her phone so she would know that Mason Scott, her husband, was calling. Maeve forced herself to ignore the call and to concentrate on the present.

Azarias. Now that he was not available yet, she would have to wait for him. She couldn't leave this country without getting the chance to talk to him and probably filling in the gap between her and her son.

Maeve fell into a deep thought. Today was Thursday. Azarias would be back by weekend. What to do, then? Where should she go?

Farrah Russell and their kids would be in their family house in Antipolo City. They could welcome her with open arms there and she would be with her grandchildren. But Mason would know. She couldn't handle him and his madness right now. It was as if her sole purpose with her marriage to Mason was to fight with each other and it wore her out each and every time.

She paced around her office with her hands on her hips. She could go to her secret place in Baguio City, the winter capital of the Philippines. But Jean Moreau knew that place. They had been there in secret. Well, that explained why it was a secret place.

She really wanted to be alone. Away from those men. Entirely alone.

A place flashed in her mind. The only place where she would surely get her solitude. A beach house in an island of Panay. An entire island named after the its beauty. It was her gift for Allen who was based in New York, and he told her that she could use it any time she wanted solitude.

It was made ready for her or Allen's arrival at any moment. Shekinah Cordova and her husband were the caretakers of the beach house and they were checking on it everyday.

She went to her phone which went into silence after 5 missed calls and called Shekinah. She let her know of Maeve's arrival and instructed the female caretaker to get the house ready.

Next, she turned off her phone, opened its back casing and pulled out her sim card. She's absolutely not going to take her phone with her in the beach house. Finally, Maeve reached and pressed the intercom and spoked to Allison who was just outside of her office.

"Allison, I need you to rent me a car at three o'clock and get the private plane ready. I will be going to Isla de Bello for the rest of my leave. I want some quiet time alone."

"Sure, Madame Maeve," Allison beamed which made her lips curl into a gentle smile. She seemed excited that her boss was finally taking her time off work. "Expect the car before three."