Chapter 2
She was humming the lines of Mariah Carrey’s One Sweet Day as she drove slowly to Greenhills. At 7:15 she was already inside. The mansion was one of those lines of elegant residences in the subdivision. When she entered the gate, Trix, the German shepherd Mathew had been taking care of for years welcomed her. His tail wiggled as he began to sniff her hands.
“I miss you, sweetie?” she stooped to play with him for a while before finally going in. She went directly to the dining hall and noticed the table was set for five persons, so it means, everybody was present.
Carina went out of the dirty kitchen with a tray of yummy creama de fruta on her hands.
“Ellah!” she uttered joyously as she dropped the tray on the table and headed to embrace her daughter.
“Evening, Mom. Is there a celebration?”
“Not really. It is just a thanksgiving.”
“OMG! Is it a yes, mom?” Ellah’s eyes dilated like those of a kid who had just received a surprise.
“Yes, darling. It’s a YES,” Carina excitedly said while arranging the platter of dishes on the long table.
“That really calls for a celebration, mom. Shall we start tasting your specialty?” she smiled sweetly while turning toward the creama de fruita and started to scoop. Just then, Mathew, her elder brother together with Wilbert, her younger brother entered to join them.
“Keep updating yourselves, kids. I’ll call your father,” Carina left the three to call her husband at the veranda who told her to just call him when Ellah arrived. When she was gone, the three giggled together because despite of their age, their mother still treated them like small children. Mathew was three years older than Ellah, while Wilbert came late after 7 years.
Peter Wang was a second generation Chinese. His father, Wang Yi Chen who was 16 years old then, together with his two older brothers came to the Philippines in the early 1990s in search of a greener pasture. At first, Wang Yi Chen traversed the long roads of Ermita under the heat of the sun to sell banana que to passengers waiting for their ride. On their short stay in a small hut along San Marcelino Street, Wang learned the Filipino way of life and learned how to survive living in a foreign land. On the evening, he and his brothers sold different kinds of merchandize to cater the needs of jeepney and taxi drivers. From the little amount they earned in their almost 24 hours on the street, the three brothers decided to live separately and established their own lives. Wang ventured in the southern part of the country specifically in the province of Romblon in 1927, and when he was 28 years old, he acquired a franchise of a fuel station.
A promising businessman, Wang gained popularity and became a constant guest in celebrations and other gatherings. And because of that, many girls longed for his attention. But Wang kept his distance for he knew his purpose and he remained focus. He needed to build an empire, he needed to be more. His hunger for fame and money was never satiated that’s why he worked day and night like those times in Ermita. After two years, Wang registered the second franchise of his fuel business.
Wang was 30 years old when he met Juanita, a beautiful maiden from the far-flung barangay of the province. He saw Juanita along the road with a basket of rice cakes on her hand. She was selling rice cakes then in order to support her younger siblings. Juanita, a 19 year old orphan stopped schooling five years ago when their parents died during a sea mishap. Since then, she served as both mother and father to her three siblings.
Driven by unexplainable desire, Wang bought all the rice cakes in Juanita’s basket and volunteered to take her home. Along the road, the shy Juanita seldom answered Wang’s questions and maintained a distance. Even after few weeks of his constant visit, Juanita remained aloof and hesitated. But Wang was persistent. He never let a single day without seeing her and providing the needs of her family.
After a year, a simple church wedding was celebrated at the Parish of St. Anthony. Wang Yi Chen and Juanita were blessed with two children. Their fuel company flourished and after the birth of Peter Wang, their second child, another gas station was constructed.
Along with the three gasoline stations in the province, the couple also purchased a manor in the capital city. When Peter was a college freshman, he and his older brother Simon Wang stayed in the city. It was there that the family’s biggest nightmare happened. On the evening of June, just a few weeks after the class opening, Simon was hit by a rushing car along Mabini Street. He was walking back home from an evening class since the school was a few blocks away.
The family lamented for weeks, but later learned to admit that Simon was gone. And so, Peter Wang became the only heir of a multi-million fuel company because before he died, Wang Yi Chen acquired more chains of fuel stations across the country.
Like father like son. Peter Wang was far hungry of fame and wealth than his father. After earning a degree in Business Administration, and while taking charge of their businesses, he took up Civil Engineering and later acquired units in Architectural Design. After securing a license, Peter Wang established Paramount Builders, a group of company that specializes in building condominium units and subdivisions.
While reminiscing the past, Peter Wang looked at the wide view of his wife’s garden from the veranda. He could hear their children’s voices from the dining hall and thought of his wife, Carina, a pure Filipina and daughter of the town’s mayor. Carina was a loving wife and a caring mother, she was a perfect hostess in gatherings, too. The thought of how Carina nourished their children tempted him to ask, “What went wrong?”