Office romance was not her cup of tea. She avoided corporate men who were chauvinist flirts taking target of female colleagues as their prey. She was definitely not the type to be on bait and be put to a fleeting relationship. Not with D.O.M.-ish guys, “illegitimate” divorced men and influential VPs pursuing her at one time or the other. She was least interested in those trivial hunts. She was more into completing her MBA. She was, after all, a woman in control of her own world.
She then juggled between work and school until she reached a point where it became a dull routine for her. Bored, she gazed elsewhere and noticed that the office not far from where she was mind drifting looked more interesting than she ever thought. It wasn’t the office per se but the man standing who, by her intuition, must be an extraordinary one.
True enough, the man was a cut above the rest coming from the University of the Philippines and the Asian Institute of Management. Much more, he was unusually ignoring her, which posted more of a challenge rather than a disappointment. He was an officemate so she he was paying her extra attention that flattered her like never before. He was an officemate so she thought of trying romance without losing herself. Unfortunately, love got the better of her. She let him be the exception to her set rules and willed the stronger affection. She conceived, resigned from her job and stood stubbornly by her man- what to the rest may be an absurd thing to do.
On her own, she perfectly understood what it meant when they said that no one could underestimate the power of prayers. It was all she had for the longest time. She soon bore the cutest lovechild and the romantic kind of love was wading through the waters of uncertainty as survival takes in the picture. Slowly though, her prayers were answered. She was up on her feet again- working and earning relatively well. Little by little, she felt the woman empowered. Her life was picking up anew yet she was still humbled by the stigma of being unmarried and her son was growing up. She may have feigned not to care about what ordinary people may be saying to her but quietly she had her own bouts of what was fundamentally moral.
She read his fears next to his heartbeat. He saw majority of decent couples separating after exchanging marital vows and he practically wondered why bother to spend lavishly for a piece of paper that may one day be inflicting pain.
Even when there’s exclusivity, faith, love and trust in their relationship, the word that spells m-a-r-r-i-a-g-e was hardly spoken at home. They were two intellectual beings involved to each other, good in diffusing their tensions and minding anything but the word.
In her heart of hearts, she knew this kind of love has all the ingredients it needed to keep a relationship for what they term as, forever. She just can’t argue about the dreaded word. Not her. Not now. Not when there is more to life.
To wander off from the inevitable, she kept herself busy at work and after, she would rush home to be a domesticated lady- steady and constant in caring for her boys. They, on the other hand, were the wind beneath her wings.
If persistence means believing that all things will be right eventually, she adhered to it. Her prayers conquered his fear and hers too. In one of life’s best surprises, he asked Cecile for that fearful word no more – marriage, a commitment that will go the distance with Christ in the union.
Finally after a long wait from family and friends, the couple will be receiving the grace of matrimony. Love was fought and won. And the bells will surely be ringing.
Congratulations!
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