“YOU have an appointment today with your therapist, right? Aren’t you going to prepare?”
From the vanity mirror, Caroline looked up at her Aunt Isabelle and smiled. Even she has aged, her beauty doesn’t fade. That’s why she recognized her immediately when she saw her at a restaurant in the Philippines.
“Do you need a company? I’ll come with you,” she said and sat on the bed.
Caroline shook her head. “I’m fine, Auntie.”
She’s been staying in Paris with her Aunt Isabelle’s family for five months. She walked alone along the bay walk in Roxas Boulevard when she caught a glimpse of her Aunt dining inside a restaurant. At first, Caroline was hesitant to approach her, but when she turned and saw her, the woman immediately cried and stood to give her a hug.
Caroline was shocked by that time; she thought her Aunt would shun her and deny their relationship in front of her new family. But, none of her fears happened because she hugged her tightly and introduced her to her family.
“This is your last session, right? I can see you got huge development; you passed all your oral exams on your previous session,” Aunt Isabelle told her with a smile.
Going to France wasn’t part of her plan. Still, when she told her Auntie about her emotional disorder, she offered to bring her to France, where she underwent Cognitive Behavioral Therapy privately. CBT is a psychosocial therapy used widely by psychiatrists to teach patients with mental and emotional disorders to control the negative thoughts that can trigger the attack of their illness. And, just after a series of tests, Caroline felt better.
Caroline nodded. “I feel better now. I can hold my anger, and I’m not that sensitive.” She stood and sat beside her. “Thanks for your help, Auntie.”
“It was my fault why you’re suffering from BPD…” Aunt Isabelle held her hand. “If I didn’t leave you alone in our house, you wouldn’t suffer from it. Instead of giving you understanding and support, I let you undergo all those struggles alone. I’m sorry, Caroline. I shouldn’t do that to you. I shouldn’t condemn you for what you’re parents have done.”
She hugged the old woman. “It’s all in the past, Auntie. What’s important now is you came back to the Philippines to find me. That reason alone is enough for me to forgive you and move on from that past.”
Aunt Isabelle wept in tears again. “I’m really sorry, Caroline. But, I’m happy and proud of you that you didn’t let your past affect your Life. Look at you now. You’re such a beautiful and successful career woman.”
Caroline smiled. “It’s because you taught me to be strong, Auntie. Remember the night that my father left me for you? I wouldn’t stop crying back then, and you just let me deal with my heartaches, but when all my tears dried out, you told me that nothing is permanent in this world, and I should learn to accept that. I waited for my parents to come back for me, but every day, my hope is fading until I finally accepted that they’ll never come back for me.”
Her Aunt cried harder. She cupped her face and looked into her eyes. “Life has been tough for you, my dear. But, I am here now, and I promised that I will never you.”
Caroline’s tears fell but not for pain but the joy that she felt. “Thanks, Auntie.”
Aunt Isabelle wiped her tears. “After your today’s therapy, will you go back to the Philippines? You can stay here with us. My kids would love to have an elder sister around.”
The offer excites Caroline. Thinking that she would live with her long-lost Aunt and her family brought warmth and joy in her heart, but the family that she left in the Philippines crossed her mind—the twins, Antonette and Anastacia… and their father, Benjamin.
Benjamin and his daughters never left her mind during her stay in Paris. Her feelings for Benjamin never fade nor weaken. It was the same feeling that she had when she left him at Bohol. It was the same feeling that she carried in her heart since the day that he saved her. The six-month rule had passed, but her love for Benjamin didn’t change. Her emotional disorder had attacked her, and she became distant from him, but her feelings remained. The jinx had been destroyed, and it’s because of her great love for Benjamin and his daughters.
“But are they still looking for me? Or, they had forgotten about me because I left them suddenly?” Caroline asked herself as she walked along the road of Champ de Mars to bring her to the Eiffel Tower.
As soon as she left Benjamin at the wine cellar, she went straight to Lucas’s room and told her that they were leaving as quickly as possible. Lucas didn’t ask questions. He just helped her packed her things and drove away from the lodging house. Caroline didn’t get the chance to say goodbye to Nanay Dolor and the twins. She was devastated, and she didn’t know what she was going to think and do. All she ever wanted to do during that time was to get herself away from Benjamin.
Over a week, Benjamin tried contacting her, but she rejected all his calls and changed her number. She was confused about herself to the extent that she went to Sea Side and walked under the rain just to clear her thoughts. That is when she saw her Aunt Isabelle.
“Excusez-moi.” A french woman approached her. “I think you looked like the girl in the picture that the guy at the park has been looking for since yesterday.”
Caroline knotted her forehead. “Me?”
“Oui,” the woman replied with a smile. “Il est la-base.” She pointed to the park in front of the Eiffel Tower. “Il est s’amoureux! He said he’d been looking for the girl on the picture for five consecutive months, and he traveled all the way here from the Philippines! I hope I can find a guy like him that can also do that for me.”
Caroline’s heartbeat quickened. It’s impossible that it was Benjamin. France is too far away from the Philippines! “Can you tell me what the guy looks like?”
“Oh, il est beau! Tall and has a perfect sculpted body, his eyes are a shade darker than yours I think, his jet-black hair was a little disarray but find it irresistibly attractive—”
Caroline didn’t let the woman finished her words, and she ran towards the park to confirm that it was Benjamin. Even though she knew that it was really impossible that Benjamin would follow her to France, her heart silently hoped that it was him.
She ran and looked around the park for Benjamin. She ran until her lungs shouted for air, and her knees weakened. But she couldn’t find him…
***