Elegi Of Rose

It was only the night before the wedding that she was able to read Roy's profile. He was twenty-nine years old, graduated at Stanford-top of his class. After his father's death and Reinold decided to retire in 2005, he took over the family empire. Never been married, no children either. Nothing much in the profile told her anything personal really, so she did not bother to read through it twice. She was more concerned of how she should act at the wedding. She was actually getting jitters. If she tried to analyze everything, one thing only came to mind: Crazy.

She decided not to call Herland yet. She'd do that after the wedding. He would not be happy about it for sure. She had a lot of explaining to do to him by the time their talk would happen. Before going to bed, she made some calls for additional plane reservations. Roy gave her his passport and visa earlier and his name was a great help with her transactions. After all, Punda Industries always had a way with almost everyone. After finally printing the ticket she got for him, she made more international calls for more reservations. After almost two hours, she looked down at Roy's plane tickets, passport and visa with a wicked grin.

Oh, I bet he's going to love his plane ride.

She was not hard at heart, but with everything Roy Punda and her father did to her, she thought she deserved to play little pranks.

The wedding would go according to Roy's ways, but the honeymoon would play out exactly as how she planned it to be. That was the only reassuring thought she held on to as she went to sleep.

*****

Her parents arrived the next day. God, she totally forgot they'd be actually present at the wedding. Her mother was very happy to learn about her marriage. When most mothers would demand explanations of why their daughters decided to tie the knot all of a sudden, Vina Suar was just plain ecstatic about the whole thing. Maybe it was because the family name Punda came along with it.

"Oh, dear, I'm so happy for you. It's okay, don't explain yourself. I know why you kept it from us," she said as she hugged Ayu.

"You should have seen her face when I told her the news," her father said behind them. Ayu was still angry at him so she just chose not to answer. Leo Suar understood how she felt and chose to step back out of the picture just a little and let his wife do all the talking.

"Honey, shouldn't you be getting ready?" her mother asked. It was only then that Ayu noticed that her parents were already dressed for the wedding.

"Mom, the wedding is in six hours. Are you that excited?"

"Yes! Of course!" Vina gently ran her smooth hands over her made up blond hair and smiled. Her mother was really beautiful. She always carried this elegance with her that flowed naturally. Her green eyes were the colors of emerald and it seems that age gave her a new glow instead of making her old. Just like now, she was dressed in a red dress that spruced up her still slender curves. A pearl necklace hung around her flawless skin and she looked like ten years younger. "Now, let's go get you ready. Your gown and make-up artist are waiting for you at The Plaza."

"Mom! It's only seven! The wedding's at one o'clock!"

"Now, stop being so whiny, Ayu. You have to take a long bath. You need to relax. Six hours is not enough for that," her mother pushed her towards her bedroom. "Go fill your tub and have a relaxing bath. I brought different kinds of aroma therapy packages for you. I'll go get them." Ayu resignedly walked to her bathroom and filled the tub. There was no way she could talk her mother out of this.

She spent almost one hour inside the tub with the strong smell of lavender and so many other things from the candle her mother lighted for her. Her father chose to go ahead to The Plaza to see if any more things were needed to be done. Ayu felt relieved because she just couldn't face him right now. Lying to her mother, letting her think her daughter was marrying because she wanted to, was hard enough. His presence only made it worse.

"Mom, I'm done. I don't think I can stay longer. My skin's going to fall off if I do," Ayu called out from the bathroom, wrapping herself with the silky robe her mother handed her earlier.

"Good. Now dry off and wear that dress," she pointed at a lime green dress on her bed.

Ayu sighed and walked over to the bed. She took her time dressing and when she was done, she frowned at her mother who was busily packing a lot of things.

"What are you doing?" she asked suspiciously.

"I bought you some real clothes, honey," her mother said in a sing-song voice. "You should show Roy your assets."

"You met him?"

"Of course. He and you dad told me the news. I even asked him why he didn't bring you. Oh, he was so sweet. Said he wants to get my permission personally. It was brave of him to come alone to face me and your father." "Yeah, he is," was all she could say. He did not mention about meeting you, she thought to herself as she watched her mother. "Mom, what's that?"

"What's what?"

"That box!" she asked, her face horrified when she saw the brightly colored box.

"Don't tell me you don't know what this is?" her mother asked innocently and flung the box in front of her. "This is for your protection. In case you don't want to have a child just yet."

"Mom! I know what that is!" she grabbed the box from her mother's hand. "And I know very well what this is for! God, you're embarrassing me!"

"I got you the pills too," her mother continued, "you know how to use this, right? Look here... there's a date-"

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"Mom!" Ayu gasped as she snatched the pills away, "I'm twenty-three! I know how to use the damn pills!"

Her mother looked at her in bewilderment, "Why are you so horrified? I'm just looking out for you, honey. I know that women of today are not in such a hurry to build a family. I just want to support you and Roy."

"Then stop doing stuff like this. God, it's embarrassing," she looked around. Though she knew they were alone, still she wanted to be sure no one else witnessed their exchange. "What are those?" she asked when she saw the colorful garments inside her suitcase.

"Underwear, lingerie, and a lot more."

She groaned, pulled the suitcase towards her, threw the pills and the box of condoms inside and closed it. "Mom, stop it, okay? I know what to do during my honeymoon."

"Where are you going anyway?" her mother's green eyes looked at her with joy. "Somewhere," she answered.

"Tropical?"

"Very," she smiled for the first time. She's tried to think of Roy's reaction once he found out. Oh, it was the only thing that made her giddy. "Now, mom, please let's go. No more boxes and pills, okay? Just... just behave." "Okay, okay," her mother held up both hands.