Moonville Series 1: Secret Lovers

"Alice, you're doing wrong your child too much!"

Benjie already talked to Alice the other day about how she is punishing Alex. Since that day, Alex totally refused to eat. It was the conclusion of her not eating properly since the confrontation happened in the balcony.

It was Friday morning, and the couple was about to go to the office. But they could not leave because of the discussion they are having about their youngest child. They have been like that for a week now.

"If she wants to eat, then she should get out of her room!"

"Alice, please... Can we discuss this more objectively? You're making the child suffer."

"I told her to stay away from the Quintos. I asked her properly, but she did not obey me. It seems your child does not want a proper talk."

"But this is too much already!"

The couple continued fighting. This is actually the first time that Angel is witnessing something like this. She has never seen her parents fight like this before. That's what's making her more sad.

She decided to go to Alex. Her sister is lying on her bed as usual. She looks like Sleeping Beauty with her position, although unlike Sleeping Beauty, her eye bags are big and her face seems thinner because she is not eating properly the entire week. Angel thinks she also looks dry.

She really needs to eat. Angel thought of dragging her to the kitchen since she's already weak anyway.

"Alex..." She shook her arm. "Alex, wake up. You need to eat. Come on. Alex!" She shook her again, but she still did not respond. "Alex!"

Angel is starting to get worried. She tried to wake Alex up, but her sister did not respond. She touched her pulse on her wrist. It was weak. She started to panic.

"Dad!" She dashed out of Alex's room. "Dad!"

She saw her parents in the living room. Benjie and Alice are still fighting.

"Dad! Dad, Alex...!"

Benjie just looked at her for a while, and when he was able to process what Angel might mean, he dashed to Alex's room. Alice followed her husband, with Angel following suit.

Benjie was the first to reach Alex.

"Alex! Sweetheart!" He tried to wake her up, but she did not respond. He looked for her pulse, and when he felt that it is weak, he immediately carried her.

"Angel, get my car keys."

Angel run to the master's bedroom to get Benjie's car keys. Benjie and Alice went ahead to the garage. After Angel handed him the car keys, Benjie immediately started the car. Alice and Angel are in the backseat with Alex. "Angel, call Bryan," Benjie told his daughter.

"Wait! Why would she call him?" Alice asked.

"Tell him we'll bring Alex to TGH. Tell him to tell Richard as well," Benjie said to Angel.

"We're not bringing Alex to TGH! And that Richard-"

"TGH is the nearest hospital from Moonville that's why we're bringing my child there." Benjie is obviously trying to keep his clam, but his driving is showing how he feels as he speeds up the car to TGH. Angel followed her father's orders. She called Bryan and thankfully, he immediately answered it.

"We're taking Alex to TGH. She's unconscious and her pulse is very weak." She feels like crying as she talked to Bryan.

"What happened? She didn't take poison or something?"

Angel tried to remember what she saw earlier when she went to Alex. "No, she didn't. She was not eating properly lately. She's actually not eating at all."

"Okay, I'll call Mom and Dad," Bryan said.

They arrived at TGH after a few minutes. Benjie immediately took Alex out of the car.

"Benjie, the next hospital is just a few blocks away. Let just bring Alex-"

"Mom, my sister is dying and you're still thinking about your stupid pride!"

Angel couldn't control herself anymore. She didn't want to shout at her mother, but she wasn't able to stop herself from doing just that because of the stress and anxiety she's feeling for her unconscious sister. Helen was at the ER that time, and after Bryan called her, she was already expecting the arrival of the Martinez family. She immediately approached Benjie.

"Here, bring her here." She indicated the hospital bed at the Resuscitation Area of the ER. Benjie did as told, and the nurses immediately checked Alex. "I'll go check on her. Just sit and wait there at the gang chairs-"

"I don't want to leave my daughter!" Alice suddenly shouted. "I want to be with her! I want to see what you'll do to her." She's already hysterical. "You might do something... something dangerous!"

"Ma'am, we'll do our best to save her," Helen calmly said.

Benjie and Angel tried to clam Alice down. They took her to the gang chair that Helen indicated. That time, Raul also arrived at the ER.

"No! No, they might do something bad to her! I can't... I don't trust them! I won't leave my daughter in your hands!"

"That's enough!"

Everyone looked at Benjie.

"Didn't you hear? They will try everything to save Alex. Can you just trust them?"

Helen went to Alex, and then closed the door of the Resus Area to start treating Alex. Alice once again became hysterical.

"No! Alex! I wanna see her!"

"Alice please!" Benjie is almost pushing his wife. "Can you stop? You're very embarrassing right now!"

Almost all the people in ER are looking at them. They just could not react because Raul is there. He is actually the one who is trying to pacify Alice and Benjie.

"Please. Alice, Benjie, let's just calm down," he told them.

But Alice's mind is already clouded. "And who are you to talk to me? You, the brother of the woman who made me broke up with Ricky. I know you're one of those who are against our relationship, because you want your sister to end up with him. You love your sister so much that you're willing to do everything for her even if it meant breaking the heart of someone else. That's how you, rich people, are! You think you can manipulate us because you're way above us. You're so arrogant and-"

"I said that's enough!" That was Benjie. "What do I need to tell you for you to stop?" he told his wife. "You're too much already. You're always like that, whenever it's about the Quintos. When it's about their family. When it's about what happened before. Alice, when will you ever move on?"

"I will never move on." Alice said that with full blast rage.

"Really? Never ever? You will never ever move on? Alice, how come? How was the twenty years that we're together? How was the twenty years that we've been married? So you mean, I failed to make you forget him?"

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Alice was stunned. She did not expect what her husband said. She just gazed at him and did not answer.

Benjie was smiling bitterly as tears start to well up in his eyes. "You mean, I failed to make you happy? For twenty years, Alice? Were you not happy with me, that's why you were not able to forget what happened before?" Alice also started to tear up. "Benjie, that's not-"

"Then what is it? What's true, Alice? How can you say you were happy all those years when in fact, you weren't able to forget what had happened before? When you weren't able to forgive them? Until now, does it still hurt that you did not end up with Ricky?"

"No..." Alice is shaking her head while crying.

"Until now, are you still affected by the fact that he chose someone over you? I can't think of a better reason for that than you being in love with him still. It actually makes me wonder. Alice, did you even love me?"

Alice looked like the world had crushed on her. Not because the answer to Benjie's question is 'no,' but because of the fact that after twenty years, her husband is now asking her if she ever loved him. That made her cry completely.

Raul tried to intervene again. "Okay... Benjie... let's get out of here. Angel, take care of your mom for the meantime. Let's go, Benj. Come with me."

The mother and daughter were left standing there. Everyone is looking at them, and the others are even whispering about what just happened. But finally, the heated conversation within their family has ended.

Angel can do nothing but just stare at her crying mother. She cannot even go to her, and she doesn't know why. Maybe because she's siding with her father because she understands him more than her mother.

It seems like her sister is not their only problem right now. Her parent's relationship is also messy. What will happen to them now? Will they still reconcile? Or worse, will they separate?

She suddenly felt pathetic. Aside from that, she can also feel the eyes of the people around them. If only she could just disappear on thin air. And if her tears were enough to conceal her whole self, then she will cry her heart out just to hide from everything.

Then, out of nowhere, a ray of light suddenly appeared. There in her gruesome world came a thrill of hope. Her knight in shining armor, her hero, her superman. She immediately found him upon hearing him call her name. "Angel!"

Bryan was standing there, by the ER door. Upon seeing her, worry enveloped his eyes. He immediately went to her. And when he's just an arm's reach, she collapsed into his arms, and she released all her heartaches through her tears. "Shh... it's okay. I'm here now. Everything will be okay."

He continued stroking her back to calm her. It seems like her tears are unending. And every stroke of his hand, every time he tells her that everything will be okay, makes her feel more hurt and her burden seems to increase.

Bryan also tried to console Alice. He was watching her when she suddenly collapsed on the gang chairs on the waiting area outside ER. He wanted to go to her, but aside from the fact that his hands are full because of Angel, he also felt that no one could ever talk to Alice right now. She seems distant and forlorn. It seems she needs some time alone just to be with herself.