LOVE AT FIRST SIGHT - SEASON 2 CHAPTER 90
Sheila went to sit beside her son and held his hand as she narrated what had happened many years ago….
….
Sheila was studying at college when she had to quit her studies and help her parents. Her father had just gotten laid off from work, and her mother was sick and had to be hospitalized. Her uncle had managed to get her a position at the Liu’s ancestral mansion as an assistant cook.
Everything began the moment she stepped foot there…
Charles, the eldest son of the Liu’s, fell in love with her at first sight. He was kind and gentle, and he was not the kind who put importance on one’s background. He didn’t care about the big gap in their social class. Sheila reciprocated his feelings, and they became lovers.
Meanwhile, Thom, the younger brother, had also fallen in love with Sheila. But when he realized his brother and Sheila’s relationship, he chose to hide his own feelings and wish them both the best.
Charles and Sheila decided to keep their relationship hidden from others because Charles knew that his mother wouldn’t approve of it. But somehow, Old Madam Liu found out about it, and tried to separate them by offering Sheila all kinds of bribery in exchange with her leaving Charles.
Sheila refused to accept all of her offers. In return, Old Madam Liu did all kinds of things to make sure Sheila’s family would suffer the consequences of her refusal.
Upon finding out what his mother had been doing, Charles made a choice to leave his family for Sheila. They eloped and remained hidden for years, away from Old Madam Liu’s constant chasing…
The two had a happy life for quite some time until Old Madam Liu tracked their location. They had to run away once more, and by this time, Sheila was already pregnant with Zach.
They were involved in a car chase with Old Madam Liu’s men. Their car was trailed closely. Charles tried to evade the cars that were pursuing them until he saw a construction work in front of him. But it was too late. He was not able to swerve their vehicle, which resulted in a frontal collision that had cost him his life.
It was true that the two of them had been pronounced dead on arrival, but a miracle happened, and Sheila came back to life. She grabbed the arm of the nurse beside her, who was already in the middle of preparing to transfer her body to the morgue.
Upon knowing that Charles hadn’t survived the accident, Sheila wailed uncontrollably and begged the nurse to help her hide the fact that she was still alive.
*Present*
“Jonathan, your father, was that nurse. He took pity on me, and he helped transfer me to another hospital, while arranging an unclaimed body to replace mine. I knew Old Madam Liu would have not bothered to check on my remains. And true enough, she didn’t. She just instructed her people to have me cremated, and because of that, everything went smoothly,” Sheila explained and started to sob again.
“I lived with your father, and I eventually contacted my parents to inform them that I was okay, only after everything cooled down. I was pregnant with you, and I knew Old Madam Liu would have taken you away from me. So I did all I could to keep you with me by hiding your existence from her,” Sheila continued explaining.
Jonathan Lim was a great father to Zach, and she was grateful that Zach got to experience the love of a father from him, even though he was not his biological father.
“I’m sorry… I’m sorry for keeping this a secret from you all this time. I’m sorry you had to grow up in those poor circumstances when you could have easily led a comfortable life as their grandson. I admit I’m selfish… But you were the only one I had left… from Charles. And I just couldn’t give you up,” Sheila cried again.
“Your real father was a good man, too,” Sheila added. “He was gentle and kind, and he fought really hard for me.”
“It’s all that old hag’s fault then! How dare she show up in here like that…” Rizie condemned and immediately got reprimanded by Lyra for interrupting her elder.
“Charles was her only son, so she loved him very much… I understand she only wanted the best for him. But we loved each other…” Sheila replied in a weak voice.
Those words rang in Keira’s ears, and she asked with curiosity, “Senior Liu is adopted?”
Sheila shook her head and replied, “No, he is not. He’s a Liu, but he is not Old Madam Liu’s biological grandson. He’s Old Senior Liu’s son with his mistress…”
Keira sighed and muttered an “I see…” as realization dawned upon her. Now everything made sense. No wonder Old Madam Liu was very tough to Senior Liu and Jeru…
Whereas just a while ago, she looked so mild, her face was filled with a genuine longing expression for Zach. She called him ‘Grandson’ over and over again with a voice that could make one’s heart lurch…
“Charles told me about it. Old Madam Liu was hurt by her husband’s affair, but she had no choice but to accept Thom in their family and treat him like her own son, to prevent a family scandal. No one knew Thom was the son of a mistress, except for Thom himself, his real mother, his father, Old Madam Liu, and Charles. And then me. It was the Liu’s family secret,” Sheila explained, still constantly sniffing her nose. She made sure there was no one else in the room to hear it.
Zach still had a blank look on his face. He hadn’t reacted to all of this at all. Keira got a little worried, so she asked, “Are you alright?”
Zach looked at her, and Keira could sense that her husband was still beside himself. He must have been really shocked. Everything happened so fast, and a bomb was dropped, just like that, on their wedding day.
Then finally, Zach squeezed Keira’s hand that was still holding one of his hands and brought it to his lips and kissed it.
He then turned to his mother, squeezed her grip that was holding his other hand, and smiled, “Don’t worry, mom… I’m just a little bit shocked. I’m a grown-up now, and I understand everything. There’s nothing to be sorry for. Please don’t blame yourself. And from what I saw today, Old Madam Liu didn’t seem like she meant any harm. She only wanted to see me.”
Sheila wiped the last tears from her face and said, “You may be right. You look so much like your father, whom she cherished and loved so much. It’s just that…”
Sheila stopped and chose not to say anything more upon realizing that it was also Old Madam Liu’s right to know about and see her grandson. Zach was right. This time he was no longer a child that could only follow her decision as his parent. He was now a grown-up, a capable one, who could decide for himself.
Sheila released Zach’s hand and hugged him tightly. Zach caressed his mother’s back as he comforted her, “It’s really okay, mom… I understand everything. Please free yourself from any worries…”
_____
At the hospital, it was confirmed that Old Madam Liu had passed out because of her high blood pressure. She was now being treated and would soon wake up. Thea sat beside her bed as she watched over her, while Senior Liu went out to the garden of the hospital to have a serious talk with Jeru.
“Dad… Tell me everything… I want to know,” Jeru murmured. From the dramatic scene at the church, he could already deduce that he and Zach were cousins. But he wanted to know more. He wanted to know everything.
Senior Liu stared at one random direction blankly as he recalled everything that had happened that day… He remained silent for a while.
Then he suddenly whispered, “That accident happened because of me. It’s because I was jealous and envious of my own brother. No one knew about their location, except for me. Brother trusted me so much, he told me everything. He did not know that I also loved Sheila at that time… I kept my feelings to myself because I found out that Sheila had reciprocated my brother’s feelings.”
“That day, he called me. Brother was so happy because it was the day they found out that Sheila was pregnant. He proudly told me that he was going to be a dad… I congratulated him, but as soon as the call ended, I felt my heart was crushed. And I wished for them to be separated… It was very selfish of me. Very very selfish… But I just could not stand the pain… That time, mother accidentally heard some parts of what I said, and she demanded to know whom I had been talking to on the phone,” Senior Liu narrated in a shaking voice. He had to stop to breathe in some air into his lungs.
“I don’t know what came into me… I was too clouded by jealousy, greed, and envy toward my own brother. It was not just because of Sheila, but it was because of everything… He had our mother’s love. He had always been the favored one. The son who was good at everything… Even at love… I had always been the loser when put next to my brother… So instead of keeping their location a secret, I told mother where they were.”
“But then I realized how wrong it was of me. I called my brother. I wanted to confess what I had done and tell him that mother’s men were already on their way to get him. But brother never picked up… So I personally drove as fast as I could to go to their hiding place.”
“I caught up to mother’s men and saw the car chase. I tried to block some of their cars, but then everything happened so fast… Brother’s car was driving into an ongoing construction area… There was a big crane with a large stone clamped in it. The car hit the crane quite hard, which made the clamp move. It was gonna fall onto their car, so I hurried out of my car to save them…”
“Your uncle was still breathing when I got there. Sheila was totally unconscious. That big stone would fall at any moment… I ran to Sheila’s side and pulled her out of the car first…” Senior Liu whispered, his voice shaky, and his eyes teary.
He continued, “Everything happened so fast, and as soon as I pulled her out of that car, that stone fell onto the car…”
Senior Liu started to wail as he continued, “I chose to save the woman that I loved instead of my own brother… I knew that stone would fall at any moment, but… My heart and my head instructed me to get Sheila first…”
However, to his horror, Sheila was no longer breathing, and she was pronounced dead at the hospital… While his brother died from being crushed by the large boulder…
Senior Liu had been feeling guilty for as long as he could remember. His conscience kept gnawing at his heart, knowing if he had only saved his brother first, Charles would have still been alive. Because he was still breathing when he ran to Sheila’s side.
His mother could not accept the tragic event that had led to Charles’ death and had almost gone crazy. She demanded the cremation of Sheila’s body instead of handing it over to her family in one piece. She didn’t want Sheila’s family to be able to recognize their daughter when she could no longer recognize her son, who had died a horrible death, and whose body had been crushed completely.
Several months had passed, and Senior Liu buried himself in work as a punishment to himself. He had become a workaholic and had spent most of his waking hours at the office.
He obeyed his mother’s order when she arranged for a business marriage for him, just a few months after Charles’ death.
His late wife, Jeru’s mom, had tried her best to have a fulfilled and happy married life with him. But Senior Liu was uncooperative.
He did not feel that he deserved any kind of happiness in the world. He wanted to be punished. He wanted to feel miserable for the rest of his life.
Then his wife died in childbirth… He became a single parent, and yet he ignored the child…
After listening to his father’s story, Jeru now understood why he grew up so lonely, longing for familiar love. It was because both his father and his grandmother were still caged inside their past. Both of them had chosen to be miserable and spread their miseries to the people around them…