His Life Without Her (3)

" Mark, please calm down first." Grandma patted my back like I was a baby. She's always been this way whenever any of us gets into extreme emotion.

"Tell me Grandpa, Grandma, how could I face Mr. Law and Fem now? I have no more courage to face them! What would they think of me? of us?" I started to shout again in anger, balling my fist and punched hard on the wall.

"Mark, you cannot solve matters that way! Go ahead and punch everything until your anger subsides, but dont forget, after hurting yourself, the problem is still there, probably worse." Grandpa said as he looked around the room.

"Mark, sit down." Grandma commanded like I was a stubborn kid. I slumped on my chair and pinched my forehead.

"I've lost her, I've lost your grand-daughter-in-law! All because of thay evil woman!" I said softly shaking me head.

"That Agnes, she was forced to resign from work together with her two friends just few days after you were transferred. Major Ishmael told us what happened after we left your farewell party that night. Few weeks after that, I met her in the market and she was saying sorry for what she has done that night of your farewell party. Anyway, she asked about you so I told her that you'll be visiting home as soon as you've settled matters. I advised her to come and apologize to you sincerely. She asked the schedule of your coming home, I just told her probably every after two weeks.

One Saturday, I think that was the last week of May, I didn't expect her to really visit early in the morning. She must have remembered what I told her about your coming home. She was smiling brightly as she handed me a photo of your girlfriend. She informed me that she met Fem in a bridal gown shop. There, according to her, she was told by your girlfriend that she has a boyfriend at home and that they planned to get married after her graduation. According to her, Fem said she didn't actually love you and she didn't believe in your words either because she doesn't know you yet and she thinks you are just fooling with her in the bar.

I was a bit confused if what she said was true. So I kept this to myself knowing that she has schemed you once." Grandma said solemnly.

"Yeah, there was a letter from your girlfriend last summer. Knowing that you'll not come home too soon, I decided to open to see if its urgent. The letter was rather short. She only wrote about her having a sumner job at a bridal shop at the outskirts of the city. She wrote down the phone number of the shop. I tried to call her to ask how she is but the man who answered the phone said she has left already. I didn't bother to call again." Grandpa informed me.

"But where was I that time when Agnes came? Why did I not see her?" Grandpa asked Grandma.

"You had an early breakfast meeting with Major Ishmael I think." Grandma answered.

"You did not tell me? How could you keep secrets from me honey?" Grandpa became alert.

"Because I didn't want you to send your men there. Agnes might have been making her stories up. I decided to wait for Mark to make his steps I didn't know things have turned out this way... " Grandma sighed. Truth be told, if Grandpa learned about this information from Agnes, he might have sent men to plot an accident of my love's supposed boyfriend. With Grandpa's enthusiasm about my marriage with a Law, it is not far that he will do anything to place Fem in my arms. Only, he wanted to see me do things on my own.

"That girl! I will make sure she is blacklisted in all job she will apply to. It will leave her no room to live in this country. She will apply abroad and never to return even until her death. That's better than taking things with your own hands." Grandpa consoled.

"You can do that Grandpa, but how will I redeem myself from this? How am I going to face her?" I wailed.

"Didnt you hire men to stalk her? Just let her be as long as she will not get engaged. Otherwise, I can kidnap her for you. Yeah, why not, I can do that. She will eventually understand after learning everything. The only danger is that if she falls in love with someone else, Mark! That's when you'll lose." Grandpa replied.

"So what if she decides to marry her fourth cousin? She mentioned it there. She's considering him. I'm pretty sure they are close to each other. I have seen how happy she is with him. Don't you think I should give up Grandpa?" I asked them without exerting much effort to speak. I was turning hopeless already.

"We'll, hope not. Let's just hope not. Things will be alright. As I said, if its meant for you, then it will find its way to you." Grandpa rose up from the chair then motioned for my grandma to go out.

"Sleep now, Lina will clean your mess tomorrow." Grandpa said. Lina is our long time housekeeper.