ROHAN went to the construction site of their lakeside hotel resort. It wasn’t a part of his itinerary that day, but he suddenly felt suffocated by the hustle and bustle of the city. He thought it’d be nice to go and use it as an excuse to unwind.
On his way back, he spotted a coffee shop across the lake. It was the perfect spot to have coffee while watching the sunset. As if compelled, Rohan pulled over and went in.
A tabby ginger cat greeted him at the counter. It was busy licking its paw, but when it noticed his presence, the cat raised its head and meowed at him. The cat looked familiar, but his attention was suddenly diverted when he heard a small female voice behind the counter.
“Bean-bean! Ah, Bean-bean!” The little girl behind the counter was jumping, trying to reach the cat.
At the back of his head, he heard a familiar voice calling her cat Bean.
“Do you want him off the counter?” he asked the little girl, smiling.
The little girl turned in his direction. Rohan swore his heart almost jumped out of his chest when he saw the child’s face. Her face looked familiar.
“No, grazie.”
And just when he was about to say something, a familiar face emerged from the staff room. How could he ever forget that face he’d been seeing in his dreams for five years? The face that he wished he could touch again… The face he longed to see…
“Where’s patatina—Rohan….” Yvonne looked at her with wide eyes.
“Yvonne...”
“Mama! Mama!” The little girl immediately ran to Yvonne’s side and hugged her waist.
“Cazzo,” Yvonne muttered.
“Why are you cursing, Mama?” the little girl asked. “You said that’s bad—”
“I’m a big girl, and you’re not.” Yvonne crouched and patted the little girl’s cheek. “Go inside the staff room and play with Auntie Janice for a while, okay?”
“But I want to eat cake, Mama—”
“Marigold,” Yvonne said sternly.
The little kid frowned, and soon she headed to the staff room with the cat.
Yvonne stood up and cleared her throat after the little girl had gone inside. She then went behind the counter.
“What’s your order?”
Rohan noticed that her voice was trembling.
“Is she your daughter?” he asked instead of responding to her question.
She propped her hands on the countertop and breathed exasperatedly. “And if she is?”
He swallowed the lump that formed in his throat. Rohan would be doomed if that little girl was indeed her daughter.
“Is she mine—”
“I met this dashing Italian Mafia boy in Sicily one summer and got a souvenir,” she said, cutting him off.
“You’re lying—”
“Why, Rohan? Do you think I can’t fuck around?” Yvonne cocked her head to the side.
There was a hint of arrogance in the way she spoke, but there was this feeling that she was faking everything. But he didn’t have the right to confront her about it.
“One iced macchiato, please.”
Yvonne didn’t speak to him again and prepared his order.
 
HE stared at the untouched macchiato he bought from the coffee shop where he saw Yvonne. His mind had been wandering far from reality. Another set of what-ifs settled in his mind, making him crazy. He'd turn into a madman if his questions weren’t answered sooner.
Rohan flinched when his friend slammed a hand on the table to get his attention.
“What’s the matter, hmm? It’s been a while since I last saw you like this.” Axel sat on the chair across from him.
“I saw Yvonne again today.” His voice was almost like a whisper.
“What?” His friend leaned closer.
Rohan knew his friend heard him well. Only he chose to act as if he didn’t know to tease him.
“I said… I saw Yvonne!” he said louder this time.
Axel’s lips immediately curved into a smile.
“That’s great to hear—”
“But the meeting wasn’t that great.” He put the cup down and looked at his friend with a deep knot on his forehead. “Yvonne was with her daughter.”
His friend’s eyes widened.
“So, she’s married. No wonder she cut you off—”
“I don’t think she’s married.” Rohan shook his head. “I don’t believe a single word she said.”
“What do you mean?” Axel asked with furrowed brows.
He folded his arms across his chest and leaned on his seat.
“She said she slept with a Mafia boy he met in Italy.”
His friend burst into laughter. “Whoa! That’s… really—”
“She’s lying, Axel.” Rohan pursed his lips.
“Yeah. Yvonne’s not that type of girl anyway.”
“I can feel it, Axel… That little girl is mine.”
“Whoa, Rohan! Now that’s a revelation!” His friend pointed a finger at him. “You two did the deed five years ago?”
“Yeah.” He inhaled deeply.
“No wonder she hated you so much that she’s lying about the child.” Axel tapped his fingers above the table. “What’s your plan now? Are you going to confront her?”
“How can I ever confront her about it when I’m the jerk here?”
“Don’t make the same mistake that you did five years ago, Rohan. Remember where this kind of mindset took you. Where are your balls, dude?”
“But she still hates me, Axel. If you only saw her—”
“So, what if she still hates you?” His friend shook his head. “Let her hate you until the end of the world. What matters now is for you to find out the truth.”
“I… I can’t.”
“You can’t what?”
“I… I can’t let her hate me for the rest of our lives.”
“Because?” Axel probed.
“Because I want to make things right! Because I want to be with her! Damn it, Axel… I love her!”
“At last, Rohan! At last!” His friend rose from his seat and patted his shoulder. “Damn, it took you five more years to realize that. Rohan, I never thought you could be this dumb.”
“Should I take it as a compliment?”
 
“WHY did you do that?” Her mother stared at her in disbelief. “Are you mad or what? You said you’re going to tell Rohan the truth!”
Yvonne buried her face in her palms and cried. She’d decided to tell Rohan the truth about their daughter, but she wasn’t prepared when she saw her at her cousin’s coffee shop that afternoon. Out of panic, she lied to him about Gold’s father.
“Yvonne… I know how hard this is for you, but for Gold’s sake… tell Rohan the truth.” Her mom sat beside her and caressed her back. “And who knows… maybe this is the right time for you and Rohan to reconcile.”
She raised her head and looked at her mother.
“Mom—”
“I know you still love Rohan. You wouldn’t be like this now if you’d moved on. And don’t you lie to me because it makes no sense.”
Yvonne bit her lower lip and sobbed.
“He’s the only man I’ve ever loved, Mom. I hate him for what he’d done to me, but I can’t stop loving him despite everything. I must be crazy….”
“Love makes us all crazy.” Her mother pulled her for a hug.
“Mama…”
She turned in the direction of the door when she heard her daughter call. Yvonne withdrew herself from her mom’s embrace and wiped her tears.
“Yes, patatina?” She spread her arms. “Come here.”
Gold sauntered toward her. The innocent look on her daughter’s face never failed to soften her heart.
“Is there something wrong, Mama?” Her daughter crawled up to the bed and sat on her lap. She dabbed her little fingers at the corner of her eyes, drying her tears.
“I don’t want to see you cry, Mama. I love you.”
“Oh, sweetie… Mama loves you too… very much.” She caressed her daughter’s cheek and hugged her tightly.
“Mama…”
“Hmm?”
“That guy you saw at Auntie Janice’s coffee shop… is he my papa?”
Yvonne was stunned for a moment. She slowly distanced herself from Gold and met her daughter’s innocent gaze.
“G-Gold…”
“I heard you talking to Nonna.”
Yvonne bit her lower lip. “I—”
“Whenever you tell me about Papa, you always say he’s the only one you love. You told that to Nonna a while ago, didn’t you?”
Yvonne may have hidden who Gold’s father was, but she did tell her daughter things about him. She knew she had to because one day, her daughter would grow up and look for her father.
“Do you want to meet him now, Gold?”
“If meeting him will make you cry, I don’t want to.”
She framed her daughter’s face with her hands and kissed her forehead.
“I’d do anything for you because I love you.”
“Do you think he’ll be happy to meet me?” Gold cupped her cheeks as well.
Yvonne flashed a faint smile. She was unsure of that but didn’t want to hurt her daughter’s feelings.
“Of course… he’ll be happy because you’re the prettiest and the smartest daughter he’ll ever have.” She hugged Gold tightly and rocked her as she hummed her favorite song.