Chapter 12
She wires Mark when she is at the hardware in the mainland on Thursday morning. After a year, the resort is doing well and she accumulated enough amount to finance the construction of three cottages designed for overnight stay. Mark’s voice on the other end of the line makes her recall her fine days with him and the promise she uttered. She promised to wait until he graduates and earns a stable job. Certainly, it is because of her promise that Mark excels in school. Last week, she received a letter containing his academic achievements, and she is proud of him. Mark is a multi-talented young man whose future glistens in different colors.
The conversation with Mark gives her sleepless nights of mixed emotions and guilt, and she condemns herself for being unfair and cruel. But a feeble voice from within insists that it is not her, but it is fate that plays a cruel game.
The night after her 27th birthday, Mikaella Lee tumbles on the sand. She is going to check how the construction works, but just a few steps to the site, everything nearby turns in circular motion and the last thing she remembers are the workers shouting in frightened tone.
When she wakes up, she is in an unfamiliar room painted with white. She barely sees the people at the surrounding but definitely there are plenty of them anticipating for her return. She slowly lifts up her right hand when she hears a familiar voice. The voice that causes all the butterflies in her stomach to fly in different directions, leaving her almost breathless as she controls her emotions.
“Why are you so clumsy, Mikaella Lee?” There is sharpness in his tone and a sense of authority she couldn’t resist. A grain of tears begins to gather on the corners of her eyes as she looks back to him in anger. He is so inconsiderate to render a verdict for a case that has never been brought to trial. Definitely, he doesn’t know what she’s been into. She is about to open her mouth and throw all the harsh words she has in mind, when the doctor comes in. The medical officer in white robe asks for the patient’s guardian, and Michael Amoroso right away says, “I am her guardian.”
Elisa’s eyes narrow as she looks with disbelief to Mikaella Lee who is also amazed of Michael’s statement. It is Elisa who brought her to the hospital at the mainland, so her guardian must be Elisa. She tries to interrupt, but Michael leads Dr. Joseph Loy outside.
The ECG reading tells myocardial ischemia. There is a reduced blood flow in her heart due to a blockage in the coronary artery. The dizziness and difficulty in breathing she often experiences are the symptoms that Mikaella Lee ignores. Michael’s fist clinches, but when he sees Mikaella Lee’s facial reaction, he lifts his hands to hers. His eyes pleads as he says, “Everything will be fine.”
One more day at the hospital and Mikaella Lee is permitted to go home with some prescriptions and a strict order from Dr. Loy to lessen her physical activity and avoid over fatigue. During her stay at the hospital, Michael Amoroso stays on her side and never missed a minute checking on her. Manuel Amoroso pays a visit an hour before her discharge and like a real father, leaves a reminder to take things easily and lightly.
After taking Mikaella Lee to her cottage, Michael drops at the construction site and checks on the development. He tells Mikaella Lee to relax as he is going to manage the construction on her behalf. Evening comes and Michael enters her room without any permission. With his hands holding a tray of food, he goes directly towards her, puts the tray on the bedside table and without a word arcs his right hand on Mikaella Lee’s neck, and slips the other below her knees. In just a second, Mikaella Lee is leaning on the headboard while Michael fills her mouth with food. Her heart screams in anger, but her mouth suppresses the words from coming out. Everybody knows how stubborn she is, but there is something in Michael Amoroso that hinders her obstinacy, and Mikaella Lee is afraid to admit that.
A week quickly passes and Mikaella Lee has gone out to check the improvement in her additional cottages. With Michael on her side, they head together to the construction site to direct the final touches.
On her attempt to step down the bamboo stairs, Michael clutches her hand and carefully assists her. Her clammy palms make Mikaella Lee long for the moment he lets her go, but his grips become tighter until they reach their destination. The foreman has done a great job for the cottages are built ahead of schedule without sacrificing the quality of work. She is satisfied with the outcome, and looking at the three cottages, Mikaella Lee releases a sweet smile. Michael immediately catches that moment. For him, Mikaella Lee is a portrait of a perfect beauty, naïve yet stubborn, firm yet delicate inside.
During those intimate encounter in the past, Michael learned that he could have succeeded if he did not control himself. Mikaella Lee is a lioness easy to tame but difficult to set free. Her image leaves a mark that no matter how he tries to erase, sticks like a super stay mascara on rainy days.
With the availability of three cottages for overnight stay, Mikay’s Nest becomes busy and Mark seldom visits Mikaella Lee’s thoughts. The last part of May is the peak season and all cottages are fully booked. Ellah wakes up at the middle of the night upon Michael’s knock at the door. He is wearing a large white cotton shirt over his knee-length blue jersey shorts while holding his pillows on his chest. Michael looks like a poor kid banished from home. Ellah nearly bursts in laughter but forces herself to continue being mean.
“I’ll stay here overnight,” Michael says as he begins stepping inside. She leaves the door half open and turns away in order to conceal her laughter.
“Are you crazy?” she asks faking anger. “I have only one room. Where will you sleep?”
“I’ll sleep at the couch,” he answers as he lays himself.
The night is long and the situation is uncomfortable for Mikaella Lee. While she is lying on a fine mattress, someone is trying to let the night pass on a hard bamboo settee, and her conscience tells her to maintain kindness. She knows Michael is awake because of the tiny screeches of the bamboo settee she hears, but she has no guts to offer the other side of her bed. She doesn’t trust her instincts.
In the morning before the rooster could have its second cockle, Mikaella Lee slowly walks outside her room. She checks on Michael but what she sees are the empty couch and pillows lying on it. She finds Michael at the veranda relaxing with his cup of coffee as if he is the owner of the house. She couldn’t stop to make face as he tosses his cup and says, “Coffee?”
Before Michael could have his next sip, Mikaella Lee asks, “What brought you here last night?” Michael slightly moves his shoulders and says, “You should thank me,” Then hurries to the sink to drop his empty cup and leaves. Mikaella Lee’s anger flares up. He invaded her privacy, drunk her coffee, and left his empty cup, and then left without permission. “Where were you when your teacher taught good manners in school?” she shouts aloud that Elisa and her younger sister run to look at her from below.
Later in the morning, Ellah sees Michael ushers the German couple to Mikay’s cafeteria. The yacht they are sailing encounters trouble near Isla Carillo and the resort’s faint lights encourage them for a stopover. Because the cottages are fully occupied, Michael offered his place last night.
In the evening, Mikaella Lee decides to offer a peace offering. She judged him at once without hearing his reasons, to think that Michael gave up the comfort of his bed for her benefits. She waits until he comes up, but the clock’s short hand points to the direction that obviously tells it’s time to retire. Ellah waits a couple of minutes more, and decides to go down to check on him, but the open door surprises her with a haggard looking image of his neighbor.
“Where have you been?” she asks worriedly. When she’s about to step back and heads inside, Michael holds her on the shoulders and eventually falls on her embrace. With her close contact with him, Mikaella Lee senses the smell of liquor on his breath. She drags him towards her bed and spends a hard time positioning his 5 feet 11 inches physique. His mouth utters words Ellah couldn’t understand, the only clear line she hears is, “Don’t leave me,” but she struggles to escape from his callused hands for two reasons: one is to prepare his hot bath and the other is to ran away from hell’s door. Once she is near him, Mikaella Lee’s piety vanishes and her heart pumps blood that builds up in indeterminable temperature. She is afraid of Michael’s presence, but she is more than afraid of herself.