Moonlight Bride

Rachmaninoff's music from the antique phonograph floated around the old Commonwealth mansion in Nagcarlan, Laguna. Callea loved listening to classical music while reading at the sofa just right before dinnertime. Luna, her black cat purred while sleeping on her lap.

It was as if the music was singing for the dark night and the round moon, even the mystical elements that only live up during the night.

"Señorita, here is your tea, " Marina offered her a cup of tea. She was a hunchback who helped her around the mansion and she was the only person who lived with her.

She was a twenty-six-year-old single woman living in the mansion in the middle of nowhere. There were only fields around them and the neighbors were a few kilometers away. She didn't mind the solitude. She loved it. She didn't need too much human in her life. She already got a cat.

"Thank you, Marina." Luna meowed as if thanking the woman. Then the cat laid down her head on her lap once more, continuing its slumber.

The night was perfect. The full bright moon even made it more so. She would ask Marina to watch the moon with her later. The rise of the full moon was the best chance for them.

The silence of the night was blasted by the ring from the antique telephone. Callea picked it up and answered it. "Hello."

"Callea, how are you, apo (grandchild)?" It was her grandfather, Tomasino Lopez, Sr. On the other line. He was the father of her mom. He owned the mansion she was living in. Her grandfather was living to the clan's main residence in Manila.

"I am great, Lolo, " she answered. "Have you see the moon tonight? It is beautiful."

"No time to view the moon but I will make your moon-watching extra special. I have good news for you. You finally get what you want."

Her eyes became as big as saucers. "Really, Lolo? You will finally give me Villa Celesta?"

Villa Celesta was her life. It has been a lifetime dream of hers to own it. It was the ancestral home of the Lopezes. There was so much history on it because it was erected during 1920s during the American Occupation in the Philippines.

And it was where she was born as well twenty-six years ago. She had so many beautiful memories there with her departed parents. The place made her feel happy. It was also her shield from the cruel outside world. It was her paradise.

But the Lopezes had its own misogynistic tradition. Her grandfather wanted to pass down the mansion to his eldest grandson - her cousin, Tomasino Roque Lopez III or her Kuya Torque. Even if her cousin was not interested with the mansion because he had his own villain Manila and a member of the prestigious Stallion Island and Leisure Club, her grandfather still kept on holding on to his own tradition.

So it was great news that her grandfather was finally giving in.

"But I have one condition."

Callea stopped rejoicing. It was like the air hang around her while the ring of power was in his voice. "W-What is it, Lolo?"

"You have to marry my best friend's grandson."

Like a melting candle, Callea leaned back to the antique mahogany settee. Marry a stranger. A wedding. Ugh! She was pledged to be a single forever. She had no need for a boyfriend or a groom or a husband.

She just wanted to be left alone and free.

She had tinnitus after hearing that bomb of a condition. She couldn't think properly. Even her blood froze. "Who is the grandson of best friend?"

Of course, she must know who she was marrying first. Her grandfather didn't expect her to just accept his edict without asking questions, right?

"It is Deive. Deive Hontiveros. Don't worry. I choose well for you. He was good looking, he studied abroad and he had brains for business. He helped a lot with the family business by introducing innovative marketing system."

And her grandfather kept on singing praises for the man as if the sun rise and set on him.

Deive Hontiveroz. He would be her groom. Of course, she knew him. They were from the same social circle. He was a womanizer. Beautiful women follow him wherever he goes. And she was sure that he was a superficial man. He only sees people for their physical beauty. The type she loathed, by the way.

And she would marry this man? That would be a disaster.

But what choice does she have? She had a mansion to possess. And marrying Deive was the only way to do it. She couldn't find her voice to protest.

Her cat must have sensed her anxiety. It stood up on her lap then rubbed its hairy body to her legs to her arm. But Callea couldn't feel anything. Her cat trying to comfort her didn't work.

She was like a still sculpture while listening to her grandfather discuss Deive and their wedding. Could she really marry the man who won't accept the real her? Could he accept her world?

"I want you to welcome him well, " her grandfather continued. "Make sure that he will like you. He will be at Villa Callea tomorrow night to meet you."

Tomorrow night? That soon?

She hasn't even recovered from the thought that she would marry the womanizing stranger. Then he would just arrive at the mansion and invade her solitude and her grandfather expected her to welcome the man with open arms?

Oh! She just wanted to faint.

But all she could answer was a simple, "Yes, Lolo". it was not the right time for complaints. If she as much as voiced a protest, her grandfather might pull back his condition and won't give her a chance to get the mansion at all.

That would be an even bigger disaster.

"W-What if he doesn't like me, Lolo?" Callea asked, hoping there would be another way out of this stipulation.

"You are beautiful, hija. I am sure Deive can't resist you."