CHATTERS OF HOPE!

Mary was in pain and agony as she spoke to Reyes. But he looked unaffected by her words. It was as if he was glaring at her in mockery when she spoke to him. She sighed painfully and wiped her tears away as she set her eyes on him again.

"You are so naïve, Mary... That's the problem with you. Men say that all the time to woe the girl they are pursuing and I am not any different…"

While he was still talking Ava and Emma left the car where they were waiting for Karin and Brown and got inside the Mansion. Eva ran and hugged Brown after catching his glimpse.

"Daddy! Why are you taking so long? We have been waiting for you?" Mahina who had been crying for a long time under the table finally came out. The first person she looked at was her father, then she looked at Eva and then at Emma who was clinging to her mother tightly.

When she turned to look at her mother, her mother was already falling to the floor. Mary collapsed on the ground holding her chest tightly in pain. Mahina covered her mouth in shock with her two hands and fell to her knees;

"Mother! Mother! Please wake up, what is wrong with you?" Mahina's eyes were filled with tears and pain in them.

Brown, Karin, and their two daughters just stood by watching as little Mahina was struggling to wake her mother up. Karin on the other hand was almost about to burst out laughing at the collapsed woman on the ground until she got a glare from Brown.

"Mother! Mother! Father! Please come and help my mother she's no longer moving." Mahina's tears were dropping profusely on her mother's face. Little Mahina couldn't think straight, she was confused by her mother's state.

"Princess move to the side, let me take your mother to the hospital"

Mary's loyal guard gently moved Mahina to the side, picked up her mother hurriedly, and rushed her to the hospital.

Mary was rushed into the emergency room but before the doctor could check on her she gave up the ghost. The doctor came out and announced the news to little Mahina;

"Little miss… I am sorry... your mother passed away". A few steps away from her were her father and her stepmother. They had just arrived when the doctor announced her mother's death. She sighed and tried to recall the train of events and how it got to this point.

It was almost unbelievable to Mahina that her mother died just because of a heartbreak from her father. She wanted to believe that there was more to her mother's death but no matter how she looked at it, she couldn't find evidence that there was more to her mother's death. Drops of tears fell from her eyes continuously without the slightest sound heard. She wiped her tears away, but new ones just kept flowing, no matter how many times she wiped them away.

A while later, another man in a lab coat approached Mahina and asked her;

"How would you like your mother for her burial? Cremated or her dead body?" Was that even a question to ask a young girl like herself, she thought... how insensitive are some people? She gathered all the strength she could muster up and answered;

"Cremated!" her saddened gentle voice pierced the doctor's heart. Realizing how harsh his questions were he apologized:

"I am sorry," said the man and he bowed a little before he left her there despondent.

There was no one to console her nor to tell her everything would be alright. She was just one little girl who thought she had everything she could ever desire in life. A mother who loved her dearly and a father who looked out for her, until some moments ago when everything turned upside down.

Where was she to go from here? She was extremely confused to think straight. She was devastated and felt alone in the whole wide world. She hugged herself sadly as she stood in a corner in tears. Shortly a man brought out her mother's remains inside an urn and handed it to her. She collected it and hugged it tightly as she made her way to the exit. Her mother's men ushered her into the car. It was a silent drive to her mother's ancestral temple where she was to perform her mother's final rites. Her mother was no more. All the memories she had of her mother were just a reminder that she existed. She felt antsy throughout the drive but remained determined to carry out her mother's final rites.

Upon their arrival, there was already a car parked at the corner of the temple. It was her father's car. She didn't pay much attention to it. She carried her mother's remains and walked up the stairs leading to the temple in contemplation. She got into the temple and set her mother's remains in her place. She placed her hands together in a prayer form and let out all the pain to flow from her eyes. While she was at it, she felt a strong hand placed on her shoulders. She opened her eyes and saw it was her father. He didn't even kneel to pay his respects. He just stood there and said to her;

"When you are done with your mother's final rites, don't bother going back to the mansion. Here is your uncle's number. Your mother's brother's number. Call him to come pick you up from here. I am going to set things right by marrying Karin. We will raise our children together with her as one big family."

"Father, what about me? Am I not your child as well?" Was the most painful question Mahina dared to ask her father. In the hopes of reminding him that she was also his daughter and that she was very much alive.

"Maybe you are! But you are a mistake. What am I supposed to do with a sickly heir like you? I am sorry we brought you into the world... but know I reject you as my child. You are disowned." The place was silent. Mahina didn't utter a word again. She just stood looking at the man appalled by the train of events.

That day her father and stepmother travelled away to an island and got married there. While Mahina's Uncle, Damian, took her in and raised her as his child.

END OF FLASHBACK

Mahina screamed and slumped on the side of the road as rain continued to fall on her profusely, with no mercy. Her bones ached from the cold weather, she was struggling with the symptoms of her ailment. She slowly closed her eyes and waited for the worst to happen.

Just when she thought it was the day she would finally join her mother and uncle, she suddenly felt as if she was being carried. At that moment she believed in the saying that 'while you think you are planning your life the universe is planning something different for you.' She could hear the small chatter of people around her even with her eyes closed. Although she wished they left her for death.

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