Wild Fantasy

“I don’t like that baby, Cecille! She is a plague! She is a plague in my life! Don’t bring her near me!” That was Alice’s hysterical cry to her older sister Cecille.

Cecille’s eyes warmed at the same time as the intense anger she felt for her younger sister went into her head.

“And what is your daughter’s fault in all this? It’s not her fault that the man who got you pregnant ran away!” she shouted furiously at her youngest sister.

It had been a week since Alice gave birth, and she hadn’t actually touched the baby.

And that hurt Cecille.

But she couldn’t do anything, she couldn’t force Alice because first of all, she knew her sister’s behavior was really rebellious.

“I don’t care! If it weren’t for her, I would be in Japan today and already making a lot of money. I could have bought what I wanted! Unlike now, when I do not have any centavos in my purse! I even have problems buying her diapers and milk!” Alice replied without changing her tone.

Cecille let out a heavy sigh and then bowed to the baby lying on the wooden bed.

She could not understand how there were people like her sister, who disliked their own child as if they were broken toys.

After all, the child had nothing to do with what has happened. As a matter of fact, the child is considered the real victim.

“I’m leaving now. Take the baby, she’s all yours. Do whatever you want with her, find someone who can adopt her. It is enough that I did not abort her and let her live, but I’m not ready to be a mother for her yet.”

Alice’s words seemed to awaken Cecille from deep thought. Her anger intensified. She turned to Alice, who was already carrying a traveling bag containing her personal belongings.

“No problem. If that’s what you want, I won’t stop you. I only want one thing,” said Cecille with tears in her eyes.

Alice’s drawn eyebrows rose. “What is that?”

“Don’t ever show yourself to me again,” she replied firmly and furiously.

Alice just smirked at her and said, “You don’t have to tell me that.” That was all, and she left the room.

Cecille could hear the loud noise as Alice threw the door open. That was when she could no longer hold on and let her tears fall. Then she compassionately picked up the very beautiful baby, who was still sound asleep.

She kissed her cheek, then hugged her tightly. “From now on, I will be your mother, Lana, sweetheart,” she said, caressing her small and perfect nose.

“I am the only family she has left, I can’t leave her. Her mother already did that to her, and now you want me to abandon her?”

Reading her English textbook, Lana was stunned when she heard that high tone of her Mama Cecille.

“Why don’t you look for her mother? She is the one responsible for that child, not you!” replied her uncle Gary, her Mama Cecille’s boyfriend.

“You know, Gary, if you can’t accept my niece, maybe it’s better for us to just end this,” Cecille said in a firm voice.

From the moment she peeked through the door, Lana could clearly see the shock on Gary’s face.

“You will leave me for that child?” Gary asked in a tone of coldness and disbelief after he recovered from the shock.

“I love Lana like my own child. That child is my own flesh and blood, so if you can’t accept her, I’m sorry.” Cecille approached the door and then opened it. “You can go now.” She shooed Gary away.

“You’ll regret what you did, Cecille,” said Gary in a tone full of intense resentment for her aunt.

Her Mama Cecille shook her head. “I will never regret choosing my niece,” she said in her usual calm tone.

After Gary left, her aunt quickly pushed the door shut, then sat on the living room set made of bamboo and cried.

At first, Lana hesitated to go out to approach her aunt. But she couldn’t stand leaving her either.

“M-Mama,” she said, touching her aunt’s shoulder.

Her face was sunk into her own palms, but Cecille quickly wiped away her tears and then smiled at her. “What’s that, sweetie?”

Lana did not speak. She just hugged the person she had known since childhood as her mother. She had always been aware of the true story of her life.

“I promise you, Mama, I will study hard so that you won’t have any difficulty sewing. I will be kind and help you with the house chores,” she said, stroking the hair of her aunt, who was crying again.

Moments later, her aunt looked up at her and sat her on her lap.

“I know you’re worried. I will not leave you, no matter what happens. In my heart, you are my child and I am your mother. And a mother does not ever leave her child,” she promised her.

Lana no longer spoke.

She believed what her Mama Cecille had said.

And in her heart, the promise she made was true. The time would come when she would give her Mama Cecille a beautiful and abundant life. They would not be poor for life.

“Oh, there you are. I cooked a snack. It’s on the table, so just eat,” said her aunt, who was busy sewing a school uniform.

Smiling, Lana looked at her aunt who had always supported her.

Just over a week after she was born, her mother had left her and never come back.

“I have good news for you, Mama,” Lana said, standing up and continuing to the kitchen. She returned carrying a bowl of cassava in coconut cream.

Her mother looked up from where she was bent over the sewing machine and faced her.

“What’s that?” Mama Cecille asked.

A sweet smile tore from Lana’s lips. “I have a job!” she said in a cheerful tone.

Cecille’s face brightened at what she said. “Oh, that’s good. Where is it, by the way?” She turned her attention back to the clothes being sewn, and the machine made a noise again.

“Mercedes Estate. It’s a big company; houses and condos and things,” she replied. “So don’t take too many orders because you don’t have to work hard. I’ll work for the two of us from now on,” she added with a smile.

Cecille laughed at her first before she spoke. “And what do you want me to do? Nothing? That would be hard, I would be paralyzed if I didn’t move. What you should do with your money is save it, and then get married.”

Lana couldn’t help but laugh. “Find a husband right away? I don’t even have a boyfriend,” she replied as she finished the food from the bowl she was holding.

Mama Cecille shrugged. “It’s been a long time since Richard. Haven’t you moved on yet?”

As she heard the name, Lana quickly felt the pain draw in her chest. “He was my first love, Mama,” she answered almost in a whisper.

Cecille took off the glasses she was wearing. “Lana, you were only eighteen then. You are now twenty-one and soon will be a career woman. Why can’t you forget him?”

Lana didn’t answer, so her aunt continued sewing.

“Gary was my first love also, but because I focused my attention on loving you, I didn’t find it hard to forget him,” she said, glancing at Lana afterward.

“Look, I will tell you if I like Karen. The only problem is that I don’t, so please stop being suspicious!”

As she remembered what Richard had said to her, Lana smiled bitterly.

That was when she had confronted Richard after hearing from someone who had seen him and Karen enter the theater together.

A month after that argument with Richard, the man had left her and admitted to her that everything was true, all her suspicions. That something had been going on for a long time with him and that woman she had been jealous of.

“I loved him so much, Mama, and yet he replaced me with another woman,” she said in a sad tone.

“I know, that’s what you always say,” her aunt replied, sighing. “Admit it to me, Lana, did anything happen between you and Richard?”

Lana was surprised by her aunt’s straightforward question. “Oh no, Mama! Nothing!” she said with a series of shakes of her head. “I think that’s the reason why he was not satisfied with me. Because I didn’t want anything to happen,” she replied sadly.

Her aunt nodded. “That’s good because nowadays many men are looking for that. Unlike in my time, virginity is important.”

“I don’t want to be like my mother. That’s what I’m really trying to avoid,” Lana said, telling the truth. She stood up to turn on the TV.

“Maybe you forgot your favorite TV series is on this afternoon? There, perfect timing,” she said with a smile as she saw the perfect face on the screen. “Andrew Scott is really handsome, right, Mama? I really admire him.”

Lana’s mood changed quickly when she saw her favorite actor.

“Well, he is obviously really very handsome, and he is also good at acting. But I just can’t help but doubt him. He has been famous for a long time, but why doesn’t he have a girlfriend?”

She knew for a fact that her aunt’s meaningful words were meant to tease her.

Lana immediately pouted her lips at what she heard. “Hey, Mama, Andrew isn’t gay. Maybe he’s really not attracted to those he works with, or maybe it’s because we haven’t met so he hasn’t fallen in love yet!”

Lana couldn’t help but tremble with excitement at her last words.

Mama Cecille laughed softly. “That is exactly the reason why I think you are having a hard time seeing the good qualities of your suitors. You’re so obsessed with that actor,” she said, following her words with an amused laugh.

When her aunt said that, Lana’s excitement intensified even more. “Oh my gosh, Mama. I have a strong feeling that we are really meant to be. Honestly, even though I haven’t seen him personally, I feel that the day will come when we will meet in the most romantic way!”

“Anyway, he is handsome and you are beautiful. You two would be a perfect match, and if you end up together, your baby would surely be handsome or definitely be beautiful!”

They laughed out loud at the same time at what her aunt said.

“That’s why I love you so much, Mama. You have always been my best and number one supporter.” She knew that what she said was true.

Her aunt didn’t answer; she just smiled and stared at her.

In Lana’s mind, maybe what Mama Cecille was saying to her was true. She didn’t pay much attention to her many suitors because of her attraction to Andrew Scott.

Mama Cecille loved watching dramas and TV series, and that’s how Lana had first seen Andrew’s handsomeness—on television.

At that time, the young man had just been starting in show business. But because he was handsome and good at acting, the he rose quickly. She was only one of the many to follow the man’s career.

She didn’t regularly watch Andrew’s movies in the theater because she didn’t have the budget for that. But with her new job, she knew she could finally do it with Mama Cecille.

Andrew Scott was half-British and half-Filipino. He grew up in London in the United Kingdom and decided to return to the Philippines with his sister, Samantha, who, as far as Lana knew, was studying culinary arts at a large and famous school in Manila.

Andrew’s grandmother was a well-known actress during her youth. That paved the way for the young man, and many people in show business became interested in him.

Lana had read about those pieces of information and learned a bit from Andrew’s own interviews.

Well, at least in the world of being a simple fangirl, there were no rejections, no heartaches, only pure romantic excitement, pure love.

Even if she could only be with Andrew in her dreams, only be able to hug and kiss him in her mind, she was very much content and happy.