Episode 1

Rachmaninoff’s music from the antique phonograph floated around the old Commonwealth mansion in Nagcarlan, Laguna. Callea loved listening to classical music while reading at the sofa just right before dinnertime. Luna, her black cat purred while sleeping on her lap.

It was as if the music was singing for the dark night and the round moon, even the mystical elements that only live up during the night.

“Señorita, here is your tea,” Marina offered her a cup of tea. She was a hunchback who helped her around the mansion and she was the only person who lived with her.

She was a twenty-six-year-old single woman living in the mansion in the middle of nowhere. There were only fields around them and the neighbors were a few kilometers away. She didn’t mind the solitude. She loved it. She didn’t need too much human in her life. She already got a cat.

“Thank you, Marina.” Luna meowed as if thanking the woman. Then the cat laid down her head on her lap once more, continuing its slumber.

The night was perfect. The full bright moon even made it more so. She would ask Marian to watch the moon with her later. The rise of the full moon was the best chance for them.

The silence of the night was blasted by the ring from the antique telephone. Callea picked it up and answered it. “Hello.”

“Callea, how are you, apo?” It was her grandfather, Tomasino Lopez, Sr. On the other line. He was the father of her mom. He owned the mansion she was living in. Her grandfather was living to the clan’s main residence in Manila.

“I am great, Lolo,” she answered. “Have you see the moon tonight? It is beautiful.”

“No time to view the moon but I will make your moon-watching extra special. I have good news for you. You finally get what you want.”

Her eyes became as big as saucers. “Really, Lolo? You will finally give me Villa Celesta?”

Villa Celesta was her life. It has been a lifetime dream of hers to own it. It was the ancestral home of the Lopezes. There was so much history on it because it was erected during 1920s during the American Occupation in the Philippines.

And it was where she was born as well twenty-six years ago. She had so many beautiful memories there with her departed parents. The place made her feel happy. It was also her shield from the cruel outside world. It was her paradise.

But the Lopezes had its own misogynistic tradition. Her grandfather wanted to pass down the mansion to his eldest grandson - her cousin, Tomasino Roque Lopez III or her Kuya Torque. Even if her cousin was not interested with the mansion because he had his own villain Manila and a member of the prestigious Stallion Island and Leisure Club, her grandfather still kept on holding on to his own tradition.

So it was great news that her grandfather was finally giving in.

“But I have one condition.”

Callea stopped rejoicing. It was like the air hang around her while the ring of power was in his voice. “W-What is it, Lolo?”

“You have to marry my best friend's grandson.”

Like a melting candle, Callea leaned back to the antique mahogany settee. Marry a stranger. A wedding. Ugh! She was pledged to be a single forever. She had no need for a boyfriend or a groom or a husband.

She just wanted to be left alone and free.

She had tinnitus after hearing that bomb of a condition. She couldn’t think properly. Even her blood froze. “Who is the grandson of best friend?”

Of course, she must know who she was marrying first. Her grandfather didn’t expect her to just accept his edict without asking questions, right?

“It is Deive. Deive Hontiveros. Don’t worry. I choose well for you. He was good looking, he studied abroad and he had brains for business. He helped a lot with the family business by introducing innovative marketing system.”

And her grandfather kept on singing praises for the man as if the sun rise and set on him.

Deive Hontiveroz. He would be her groom. Of course, she knew him. They were from the same social circle. He was a womanizer. Beautiful women follow him wherever he goes. And she was sure that he was a superficial man. He only sees people for their physical beauty. The type she loathed, by the way.

And she would marry this man? That would be a disaster.

But what choice does she have? She had a mansion to possess. And marrying Deive was the only way to do it. She couldn’t find her voice to protest.

Her cat must have sensed her anxiety. It stood up on her lap then rubbed its hairy body to her legs to her arm. But Callea couldn’t feel anything. Her cat trying to comfort her didn’t work.

She was like a still sculpture while listening to her grandfather discuss Deive and their wedding. Could she really marry the man who won’t accept the real her? Could he accept her world?

“I want you to welcome him well,” her grandfather continued. “Make sure that he will like you. He will be at Villa Callea tomorrow night to meet you.”

Tomorrow night? That soon?

She hasn’t even recovered from the thought that she would marry the womanizing stranger. Then he would just arrive at the mansion and invade her solitude and her grandfather expected her to welcome the man with open arms?

Oh! She just wanted to faint.

But all she could answer was a simple, “Yes, Lolo”. it was not the right time for complaints. If she as much as voiced a protest, her grandfather might pull back his condition and won’t give her a chance to get the mansion at all.

That would be an even bigger disaster.

“W-What if he doesn’t like me, Lolo?” Callea asked, hoping there would be another way out of this stipulation.

“You are beautiful, hija. I am sure Deive can’t resist you.”

Her grandfather didn’t lie. She was beautiful. She looked like the sepia photo of her grandmother Celesta Lopez that was displayed at the living room, just above the antique grand piano. Her grandfather even thought her grandmother was a fairy when he first saw her.

Yes, she was beautiful. But it was a beauty she wished she didn’t possess.

“We are not really sure if he will like me, Lolo. Beauty is not everything,” she uttered sadly.

“Are you protesting your marriage with Deive?” her grandfather asked on a high pitch. “Just say it now so you won’t put our family in shame later on.”

“N-No! That’s not what I mean, Lolo.”

“If you don’t want to marry Deive, then leave the mansion now. Go back to Manila and live here instead.”

“No, please!” she protested once more. “I don’t want to leave here. I beg you. You know how much I love this place.”

It was a fate worse then death if she would leave Villa Celesta. It was her haven from the cruel world. It was her world.  Leaving that place was no life at all.

From the outside world, people saw her as a shell of a woman. A ghost. She would rather be a ghost to everyone’s eyes. She would rather live at the shadow of that old house. She and Villa Celesta were one.

“Well, you’d better prepare for the arrival of your future husband then. It would be better if you will tie a knot soon.”

“Please give me more time, Lolo,” she begged. She was not yet ready to marry a stranger. She was not ready to welcome an unknown man in her life no matter how rich or gorgeous he was.

“I am already old, Callea. I don’t have forever to guard you and take care of you,” Don Tomasino said in a tired voice. “I want you to get settled with a man who will love you and take care of you before I depart this world. I am sure Deive is that man. He won’t leave you and he will take care of you.”

A man who would take care of her. Only her father could do that. He was the only man she accepted in her life. She was contented living with Marina and Luna.

In her memory, Deive had an angelic face. Her grandfather thought that he was the angel who would protect her. He was wrong.

Deive was like any other men. All they cared about was the physically beauty. A beauty they could possess. A beauty that was considered as a trophy.

They were blinded by outer beauty. Deive won’t accept the real her.

“I will sign over this house to you once you marry Deive. If you won’t marry him, you will lose this place. I may even send you to your Kuya Lee abroad so there will be someone who will watch over you.”

She shook her head, terror lancing through her body. “No, Lolo. Please. I will do whatever you want. I will marry Deive.”

Callea was trembling when she put the phone down. She walked towards the verandah. She stared at the round moon. Luna jumped to her arms and rubbed its head on her chest. As if she was sympathizing with her doom.

“What do I do now, Luna? I have to obey grandpa or I will lose this house. It will kill me, Luna. We have nowhere to go.”

She hugged her cat and silently cried. The moon witnessed her mourning. The cold wind blew, Her long white gown and her long black hair danced with the wind.

Screams permeated in the air from the people passing by the front of the mansion. “Oh, god! There’s a ghost! A white lady!” shouted by three men who were probably drunk.

Callea wiped her tears then laughed softly. That’s why she liked that place. No one would dare bother her. The mansion was in the middle of nowhere. No one dared set foot on it because the place was believed to be haunted.

And she loved it.

She was a ghost in the eyes of many. Right. She would rather be a ghost forever.

***

 “WE will miss you, dude! We can’t believe that a playboy like you will finally tie a knot.”

Deive wanted to hit her friend’s face with the glass when Sidney started to become dramatic. He becomes emotional under the spirit of wine, even with just a drop.

It was in contrast with the party they threw for him. It was full of beautiful women. They were at his other friend’s condo. Lucien’s penthouse was perfect for events like tonight. It was heaven for four virile young men.

The four of them - him, Lucian, Sidney and Averill were best of friends. They’ve been together since they were kids. They were as thick as thieves and they got along when it comes to women and their foolish pranks.

“Did you bring me here so you can cry for me as if I am dying?” Deive asked.

“Idinala ba ninyo ako dito para iyakan lang?” tanong niya.

“This is your stag party, bro!” said Averill and tapped his shoulder.

He shook his head and drank the four seasons cocktail. He can’t drink alcohol because he would drive later. And he couldn’t flirt with the gorgeous women in the room. He just wanted to spend time with his friends.

“I am not yet getting married. Why the stag party?” Deive inquired.

“Because you will finally meet the woman that you grandfather had chosen for you.” Lucian filled his glass with brandy. “And you will stay with her for a couple of months or so. I am sure she won’t let you leave her side.”

“Rock and roll, man! If the woman is that beautiful, I won’t let her go either. I will even chain her to my bed and give her babies,” Sidney said with a mischievous grin on his face.

He wanted to pummel his face. “Hey! This is my future bride we are discussing. Have some respect. I am not a maniac. We just want to get to know each other before we plan our wedding.”

“You are not a maniac. You are just a lady killer.” And Averill nailed him with that comment. “But can you really become faithful to your bride, Deive?”

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