1 The Parents' Arranged Marriage

Anne was born from a poor family. Her parents were not able to finish their schooling, her father Constantine is only under primary grade while her mother Lorie was in secondary grade.

And her parents' marriage was pre-arranged only by their parents and elders at that time.

Lorie was called by her Father, one day. She had no idea why she was called. There she found herself seated together with their church leader "Papa Con", Lorie's father and mother, and a man named Constantine.

Constantine lived far away from them, it took many hours by riding through a bus upon going to his place.

And at that time, Constantine got some odd jobs, many jobs near Lorie's home, that's why he got near Lorie and her family. Constantine was personally known by their church leader in the same group.

Their religious leader was a well-behaved man, a man of few words and he's a visionary one, he could see at times the future ahead. He's quite a good looking person even in his old age. He's the adviser, preacher, healer and overall mentor of everyone within their small religious group in the farm. Together with his wife and children, they lived far from them, in a high place (like a plateau), you'll find their home above a mountain, literally on the mountain top after hiking a few tiring hours on a very steep edge of the hills; overlooking the blue sea.

But in the past, they hardly knew each other. It was a long story. According to Lorie's father, Papa Con received a certain vision and commanded by the Holy Spirit to find a sick man. Papa Con just followed what the voice told him to do and where the man was.

He came to Lorie's father's house, and saw the pitiful situation of the man. Lorie's father was hanging upside down on the house' mid-horizontal beam, it was because he could neither speak nor swallow his own saliva that time. He was unable to swallow food, it's so difficult for him to stay alive and he could not explain the cause why it happened. So, Papa Con just came in, helped him and healed him totally over time. It started there, he was miraculously healed, and that was the beginning of everything. They believed in Papa Con and the things he said about them. They built a small church in Lorie's place, and her father started to become a preacher there, using a big bible with some illustration in it, it's an old Bible translated and written in their local dialect. Papa Con just came from time to time to visit them, or if there was a special occasion to do so or if there were some important matters to attend that were needing his help.

Thus, in that arranged marriage, they were always consulting his advice and guidance for them. He could determine psychologically that Lorie and Constantine were more compatible with each other, though at that time the two hardly knew each other well.

Lorie can be compared to a hot water while Constantine was like a cold one. They seemed matched well in terms of their personality.

Lorie got a leader type kind of personality, while Constantine was more like a subordinate one, ready to submit according to Lorie's will.

She wasn't a typical housewife type of woman. She's a fearless one that could face anything, will go out alone even through the darkest night and will fight for her rights irregardless of one's status or positions.

And Constantine was her very complete opposite, they are like fire and water. Constantine is a very patient man, a man with few words also, no other vices except tobacco smoking (the typical in the farm).

Their religious leader asked her, "What will you choose? For your own good or not?"

Lorie had no idea what it was about so she just answered, "For my own good, of course."

Then Papa Con said, "I want you to marry Constantine. He's a good man, he's the man suited and best for you."

At that time she was shocked but she couldn't raise her voice, she wanted to scream "NO" but she cannot do it. She was respecting their church leader and she's afraid of her father. They have no idea that she already had a boyfriend, her secret which she kept from them except from her Uncle "Igna". Igna was nearly the same age as her, the brother of his father but they were so close to each other as best friends.

She cannot do anything but to accept her fate as arranged by her parents and their church leader.

Since then, Constantine started living with them. He hardly talked, he was selling baked products like bread that time. And their wedding was successfully held also. They're all aware that her boyfriend might cause a scene to stop the wedding, so they are on alert that time; they kept on watching and guarding if ever someone might hinder the event, luckily nothing happened.

After their wedding, Lorie's Father got informed that she didn't love Constantine at all. So he was remorseful and wishing that he didn't force her daughter to marry him. Then after that, he seemed annoyed by Constantine, and his every move seemed watched every time, and he was being corrected always even in the slightest mistakes. They kept on noticing that he's so slow and they called him lazy.

Lorie didn't treat Constantine well too. She did everything to make him suffer. She kept on hating him on the first days of their married life. She always kept on yelling at him as if she's the boss. Yet, Constantine did not talk back or murmur behind her back. He had lots of patience and was very kind and so gentle to her and to her family as well despite the ill-treatment towards him. Her father is always cruel to him. There's no day that he heard good words from all of them even from his wife.