Chapter I: The Heiress Was Chosen

"Kriza Ellaine Chysller, from now on, I pronounce you as the heiress of the Chysller Group of Properties and Holdings."

My grandmother announces as she sits on her maple desk table, her elbows propped up as her conjoined hands gently touches her face. She wears this traditional Filipiña dress matched up with her European jewelry collection. It is the first time I see her up close and I admire her a lot for it was an affirmation that her appearance and posture contravene her true age. There's no sign of aging such as wrinkles surfaces on her skin even though the lighting on her office is pale because of the closed curtains but instead it glows brighter and depicts a good health.

I breathe out first, plucking myself out from thoughts. I vowed as a sign of respect and acceptance on what she had just declared. "Opo Lola, it is an honor for me to be the heiress of Chysller Group of Properties and Holdings. I vow my loyalty and offer my whole existence as we achieve the success in our hands to pass for the coming generations. I will never disappoint you and live up to your expectations." I responded immediately with no hesitation and no sense of happiness.

She beams up as she smiles approvingly.

They were like this and I was this way.

I am a doll. I have a body, a mind and a soul… but purposely designed for them. A simple logic, to obey what they have ordered, to live what they hoped for and to accept what they offer.

Before, yesterday, today and tomorrow… destiny cannot be altered.

"Very well Ellaine, on Saturday evening I will officially announce it to the party so your presence is highly anticipated."

I can't reject them.

I have no right.

I have no choice.

I nod impassively at tumingin sa lalaking nakatayo sa tabi nya na nakasuot ng western style of clothing na sa tingin ko ay nasa newest trend of fashion.

My fiancé.

I don't like the fact that he keeps on staring at me. I may not have seen it as soon as I stepped on my grandma's office but I can feel it… and I wonder why he's doing that.

He's a serious-minded person, egoistic, authoritative and only good with his own judgment, but what's most intriguing is why does everyone still adore him?

Maraming nagsasabi na I was so lucky, really lucky to have him as my fiancé pero earnestly, wala naman akong makita sa kanya na really beneficial sa part ko bukod sa fiancé title nya. Last month lang sya pinakilala sakin ni Lola bilang future husband at according to her she personally picked him as he was very qualified daw for his undeniable looks and great support and aid to our company. He's half French and half Filipino but sprinkled with "Japanese features", successor of his International Corporation and a pride of his bloodline. Maraming nagsasabi na bagay kami dahil may chemistry daw ang dating pero yun ang antonym ng relationship namin, we were never close.

"Why are you looking at Heinrich, Ellaine?" Puna ni Lola at binaling ko agad ang tingin sa kanya.

"Why is he here Lola?" I ask.

She smiled, it means she have something in mind. "Before you were told about this, he was the first to know my decision, selection and judgment."

This is unusual, as far as I know, my Lola never shares whatever she makes up on her mind not unless to the people involved.

Does it mean he's involved?

"What for? I don't understand." Insecurities started to affect my voice.

"Because I am your fiancé and it's been a week since you avoided me to see you and besides your grandmother requested for my presence." He butted in at tumaas ang balahibo ko sa leeg. They said when you heard his voice, it will make you feel different and when you hear his accent, it will make you stop thinking.

Matagal ko na ring naririnig ang boses nya pero ngayon ko lang to naramdaman, well, after a week of not seeing and talking to him.

He sounds too manly and powerful.

"Ellaine." He shook me from thoughts and I looked at him fiercely regaining my composure.

Hindi ko maintindihan ang sinasabi nya.

"I proposed to Madam Garcia that our marriage would be on the second week of July." He said unwaveringly and decisively.

I blinked four times to make sure I wasn't sleeping when I heard him spitting out those words.

I stare at him bewilderedly but my mouth somewhat opened.

"Ma-marriage? Marriage?" I asked him unbelievably. He smiled grimly as he shows his hypnotic dimples on the sides of his cheeks.

"No. But we haven't discussed about----"

"I asked for your hand and permission to Madam Garcia." He cuts me off confidently, knowing he got her side.

"I acknowledged such proposal from Heinrich, I've lost in battle for the past years in Market, and there are things that we need to consider. Once said, sometimes by losing a battle, you find a new way to win the war." She supports his unfinished statement.

"But we recuperated for what's loss in the last two years." I find myself saying those words before I can think of it. Her eyes have flickered, hands clasped each other tightly but her composure stayed steady.

"Recovered but not advancement. For two years, they vowed their loyalty and exceptional support only to us, the Chysller group, in finance, production and investments which have good grounds to associate with them. When someone asked for a favor, it also needs something in return. I'm just doing what is best for the benefits of ours and there is no room for me to decline such profits we gain from them." I hear her explicating while Heinrich is hearing all of this and still, he shows no sign of disturbance or defiance.

Nanlamig ang mga kamay ko, hindi ko maramdaman ang mga paa ko, napuno ng hangin ang utak ko at hindi nagrerespond ang systema nervosum ko.

Her world completely revolves in business alone, wealth affairs, collaboration to empower strong holds of engagement on social market without imagining my impression or sense of perception.

Kumalma ka lang Ellaine, I exhaled.

"Heinrich?" A name I never speak of, I'm trying to hold myself, because I can't take all of the things getting inside of my head right now. I need his answer and ratification.

He only stares, eyes open with an unending wall you cannot infiltrate while he watches you, unseen.

"We're all aware of the business ideology and its tautology." He answered briefly as if he's used to this form of conversation. "No one is a benefactor without a profit."

"You mean a trader?" I asked him.

"En affaires." He hissed in French, a phrase I can never understand nor heard before. (T/N: In business.)

They say Heinrich is an eloquent French speaker but dedicated foreigner in my homeland language.

It was all in there.

He has the same thinking as my grandmother and I'm the only one who has a different perspective.

"You know Ellaine, life isn't too simple and too hard to understand if you know how it works, failure and success share the same path in one's life but you have to insulate one from another which weighs the best to survive and that same goes with business, in order to succeed, you have to overpower the failure, one must surpass the other to determine the conclusion." She holds her teaspoon, stirred it on her cup of tea, and then sets it down on the plate but she hadn't let it go from her clutch yet. "Heinrich is a valuable guest in this house and you need to give him the best respect." She points the teaspoon in my direction. "Did I make myself clear?" She hissed.

This isn't about that, it is about-----

"But we aren't engaged yet!" I cried.

"Engage?" She laughs as if she finds this amusing or surprisingly annoying. "I'm too old to take interest on a small joke." She smiles wickedly.

Why does she keep on smiling at times like this?

What?

"What, are you a baby that we need to cradle and put our best smile on our face to assure your comfort? Or you still believe in the old tradition of the past generation? An engagement can be carried out only after six months from the time you've known each other and additional six months before the final ceremony occurs? I don't speak of the dead but look in front of you Ellaine, who holds and governs the whole household, was it me or the previous, old and deceased father of mine?" She asks me while throwing a stern stare and I want to divert my eyes away from her but I can't.

"It will be always you." I answered back but I almost cracked at the last part.

"Not will be." She corrected.

I glanced at Heinrich quickly on why he was so quiet all this time. Does he like watching me beaten up with her brawling or is it because this is the only way to push me over the edge?

He says nothing, he stands still, feet planted on the same shadow, no extraction of muscles, and he's here like a God watching the world, imperceptible.

"I don't defy you at all, Lola." I defended, I just need more time for myself.

"Well, you are complaining." She answers back.

Because… because…

"Why now? Why me? We always keep our family tradition as our ancestral legacy and respectable for centuries and now---"

"Ellaine." My name, her tone coming out from her mouth, warns me, warning not to step overboard my limits and that hit me.

I breathe out and looked down my shoes.

My feet hurt, how long I've been standing in this entire discussion?

I keep on missing that I have no place to withstand such steadfast decisions especially if it was her who settles it.

"The chemistry reaches its greatest spark when a marriage for both the Heir and the Heiress takes place." I looked at her again, trying to be calm. "Hindi naman ata masamang humiling ng apo after all tumatanda na rin ako, a really good proposal na hindi ko agad naisip, as expected of Heinrich." She said acknowledging Heinrich.

There's no chemistry between us at walang science sa relationship para mag-spark.

"I'm still young for that." I thought but instead, it slipped out into my mouth like a venomous air I wanted to breathe out.

"Still young to be loyal to a certain man?"

"Hindi po yun Lola, I'm not ready—"

"Ellaine, lahat ng tao hindi handa sa mga bagay na bigla na lang sumusulpot sa harap nila kaya it's called a surprise. And surprises can be bad or good pero its intention is always purely to make the person happy, so you should be. Isa pa, hindi naman bukas ang kasal eh, two months pa kaya may oras pa kayo para maging malapit sa isa't-isa at maging komportable kung may ilangan sa inyo. Kung yan ang pinoproblema mo then starting today, magsama at mag-date kayo palagi, hindi yung malalaman ko na iniiwasan mo sya." She lectures while reminding me who and what I am from the very beginning in this family.

Sinulyapan ko si Heinrich at hindi man lang pumasok sa isipan nya ang iwasan ang mga mata ko.

He's too dauntless.

This is a total nightmare. How did he come up with this proposition and even persuaded my grandmother to be his backer just because I avoided him?

This is unexpected, no, I miscalculated him. I thought he's not interested as I am with this marriage stuff, I knew he wasn't.

Maybe he's up into something.

Magsasalita pa sana ako kaso inunahan na ko ni Lola. "You may now leave as I have a meeting with your father." She ordered. "This conversation is over and I don't want to hear a single word about it unless it is positive."

I bit my lip hard and I bowed my head as I closed my eyes. I may have bowed but it doesn't mean I'd accepted it.

For now, it is pointless to fight over something you knew the chances of winning is contingent.

I made my way to the door and stopped before moving into the passage, away from founded reality of the person assigned to stay in my life.

I looked at him and he doesn't show any sign of weakness or regrets but I can tell his chest is behaving in a weird way.

It doesn't matter anyway.

"Make sure you coordinated with your couturier properly pertaining to your evening gown for Saturday party. I want my future heiress to be the most stunning and shimmering star in the dark evening party and I'm looking forward to it." She added and I stepped out of her office.

I have no regrets on losing to persuade you for now, but I won't let it happen. Definitely.

Kasal. Marriage. Second week of July.

Oh what a perfect life. I am the heiress, I have the money, reputation, great inheritance and an imperious fiancé. Nope, not a fiancé, but soon to be husband.

Nothing to ask for.

"Ellaine." I stopped walking at humarap ako sa likod, I knew this voice.

It's Heinrich, walking swiftly towards me and stops when we were three feet away.