Chapter 281 - Home in Molave 27

"I want to talk to the director of the orphanage again, madame!"

Madame's frightened expression turned to sadness. "I'm sorry, doc, but Kristian is the last child admitted to this facility. The school director died of cardiac arrest when he learned that the center got burned down, including all the children's records."

"What?" Charles sank back in his chair in frustration, his hope to find the truth crumbled down. Then, he remembered that the letter mentioned two bracelets.

"Madame, what about the other bracelets?"

Madame snapped her fingers as she remembered the bracelets. She quickly stood up and motioned for Dr. Charles to follow him. They went inside a room that had a safety vault on a corner of a wall. Flipping on the code, Madame Theresa soon pulled out a jewelry box. Dr. Charles stared at it, and he held his breath when the box touched his fingers. He hurried to open it, and he almost fainted when he saw the velvet glow of the bracelet! 

Madame Theresa ran to him when she saw the color draining from his face. "Dr. Charles, Kristian is your son."

Dr. Charles was too shocked to notice that Madame's statement was not an interrogative sentence but a declarative one. Even if the letter did not include it, the woman who left the child confessed the truth to the caretaker. However, seeing his reaction at that moment, she realized she shouldn't make a mistake. A hearsay is always not the truth.

He dropped himself to the floor, devastated by a sense of guilt and a complicated emotion. He no longer needed proof. From the very beginning, he already had this unexplained emotional attachment to the child.

"Madame, I want the paternity test as soon as possible."

________

"Sir, someone wants to see you. Shall I let him in?" The secretary spoke into the line as soon as Markus picked it up.

Markus smirked then gave a mirthless laugh, sending chills into the secretary's spine. He already expected this. "Let him in."

Dr. Charles soon stepped into the office and faster as a wink of an eye, he pulled a pistol from his side and aimed it at Markus. "Explain why you suddenly barged into the school and scare my son?"

"Good question, Dr. Charles," Markus answered and looked straight into his eyes while he leaned his back on the chair's backrest, not at all scared by the pointed gun.

"Like you, I was in love. And like you, I also made love to the woman I dearly love a few days before your damn wedding. Don't you ever think that I did not know about it."

Dr. Charles froze at what he heard. He stared at him in shock and anger as he realized he fooled and won over him again. He still remembered the first night he had with Riza. Their foreplay was long, but Riza still screamed in so much pain as he successfully took down the emblem of his right to her as a husband. 

He felt the surge of blood into his temples, but he slowly put down the gun. He must know about the mystery that surrounded her and the answers to the many questions he long wanted to ask. Before he came back to his senses, he saw Markus pulling out an envelope in his drawer. He tossed it to him, and he also picked it up with watchful eyes.

Still watching Markus through the corners of his eyes, he opened the sheet inside the envelope. He then began reading silently and confirmed that Riza underwent a v.i.r.g.i.nity restoration surgery called h.y.m.e.noplasty.

"You both fooled me, Markus. How could you do it to me? Even if I did not love her, but I respected and honored her as my wife."

Aside from the internal strifes that went on within Markus and his family, the sins Markus had against him sealed the finality of his revenge that day.

"I hope we can already put it aside and move on. The three of us were just slaves to the rules of our families."

Dr. Charles turned his back without a word, but Markus stood up quickly to catch him up.

"Dr. Charles, I just want to know where my son is. You could keep him as your own but at least allow me to hug him. Allow me to hug the only perpetual reminder of the forbidden love that Riza and I shared. As I always said, you can not blame me."

"I don't know what you are talking about."

"Let me make it clear to you. Had you not intervened, Riza and I could have lived a happy life in a faraway country. I don't care about your family legacy and that velvet diamond you all cared so much about."

Dr. Charles did no listen anymore. He stormed out of the room and flew back to Molave. He checked all the apparatus and had it prepared for their target date.

"We can already have the trial tonight. Trial area, the one closest to the sea."

____

At midnight, Leo heard a knock again. He no longer hesitated to open the window. He knew who was outside. Still, with his bonnet and a black windbreaker, Mr. Blacksmith greeted them with a slight bow of respect.

"Tay, I hope by now that you are already done with the harvest. Invite all your farmers and their families for a post-harvest gathering in the festival area of the town. Tell everyone to bring every member of the household, may he be crippled or blind. I'll send someone to facilitate, and then you can leave before the dark sets in."

Early in the morning, after informing Ajie that they could already leave in the afternoon, Leo and Andrew started the dissemination of the invitation. Luckily, the people were receptive, and by noontime, the farmers began arriving at the designated place. Since the instruction to them was to stay overnight, they started building their tents right away. Some used empty sacks, and others used waved coconut leaves. As everyone had settled down after, foods arrived, and the feast started.

Little did anyone know that later into the night, while the people were enjoying, and while Ajie took his family in the air, a strong earthquake crumbled down the hill closest to the sea. A huge tsunami broke out, its mighty wave even reaching the distant Madani Islands.

Note: unedited