Karel was serious about what he was telling Luisa, but Luisa do not believe him. She looked at Karel and burst to laughter.
"Luisa, I am very serious." Karel could not understand why Luisa will not believe him.
"Yeah, yeah! I know what you are doing. You tried to stop me in coming back to Herman! You cannot say it to me directly, so you made up with these nonsense fairy tale stories of yours! It is very funny; you are very funny! Ha-ha-ha!" Luisa found it funny about what she thought a kind of maneuver Karel was doing.
Karel said no words. He did not laugh either.
"Wait!" Luisa rushed again back to the Coffee Shop. She holds the hand of Herman and almost dragged him outside and they walked toward where Karel stood.
Karel saw the holding hands of Luisa and Herman. He felt sad but he prepared himself to this awkward and for him could be very painful confrontation.
"Herman, you met him already, Karel, my husband!"
The two men both could not believe what they heard. They both looked at Luisa.
"Our babies, Lindsey and Norma." Luisa also introduced to Herman her babies. Herman looked at the twins, they were two pretty and adorable babies.
Karel could not guess what Luisa was doing. He had mixed emotions. He could not know yet if he will be happy or will be disappointed. Luisa was not predictable, she always switched mood from one to another, a very unpredictable woman.
Herman on the other hand, felt pain in his heart. Looking at the two babies, he thought if he were honest to Luisa, he could be the father of Luisa's daughters, not knowing that he was really the father and not Karel.
"Herman, I am very sorry." Luisa said to Herman.
"You mean..."
"As I said, I am married. I promised I will love and honor my husband till death do us part."
"I thought you love me?" Herman said in a broken voice.
"That's what I thought too, but I love more my husband, the father of my babies!" as she said it, Luisa gave Karel a sweet smile. Karel heart danced in joy; Luisa chose him. Karel was happy, he also smiled back to Luisa, a smile so sweet and full of love.
Herman understands his presence was not desirable anymore. He must accept his defeat. He gave his hand to Karel and said, "Good luck and take good care of her."
Herman also takes the hand of Luisa, pressed it, and vowed to kiss her on the cheek, as he did it the same time, he whisper to her, "I will never stop loving you!"
Luisa forced a smile. Her heart was shouting 'what are you doing? It was Herman you love and not Karel?' but her mind answered 'You made the right decision! As a person, Karel was far better than Herman. Karel have many vices, but he had changed and bettered himself. The love of Karel was more honest than that of Herman. Karel love your daughters.'
"Luisa." Karel broken the silence. "You made me very happy!"
Luisa smiled. She put her arm in Karel's arm and said, "Let's go home."
"I am really very, very happy!" as they were walking Karel said to Luisa.
"Your fairy tale worked, you silly man! Why did not just tell you love me, and you don't like to lose me."
Karel stopped. "You really did not believe me?"
"Not a single word of your crazy story." Luisa answered.
Karel said no words until he saw an ATM, he stopped. "You still have the envelope I gave?"
"Yes."
"Open it and look inside."
Luisa opened the envelope; she saw two bundles of money each with wraps of ten thousand on it.
"Insert your bankcard on the ATM and see how much balance your account had." Karel said and Luisa did it. She could not believe her eyes, her balance on the bank was huge, three million guilders. What Karel told her was not a fairy tale.
"You kept it a secret, why?"
Why? Karel did it because he was afraid that if Luisa know she had money, that she was rich, maybe Luisa will return to the Philippines and will never come back. He did it to give himself more time in letting Luisa to fall in love with him.
"I don't know." he answered Luisa, "Maybe because I wanted to be with you within the time of our deal with a hope you would fall in love with me."
"You really have a flight tonight, to where?"
"To the Philippines!" Karel answered with a smile.
"Philippines? And you will go to the Philippines without me? Without our daughters?"
"Just in case, I also bought a ticket for you and for our daughters! So we must hurry! The flight is on 12:00 o'clock tonight. It is now 4:00 o'clock in the afternoon. We still have enough time to go to the airport, so we must hurry home to prepare. I already had prepared the suitcase of the twins."
Luisa was glad and happy. Few minutes earlier, she almost had thrown the happiness she was yearning of, without knowing it was already besides her. She loves Herman, she loves Karel! Is it possible to love two men together at the same time?
Of thankfulness, Luisa hugged Karel very tight not minding the people around. Karel also hugged his wife, and they kiss for the first time, a deeply passionate kiss for Luisa to realize, she loves Karel more than Herman, yes, she loves her husband more than Herman.
Luisa finding her happiness, reaches the end of the One Road she walked together with her group, Luz, Grace, Lorna, Carla, and Thelma. This One Road was their hopes and their dreams for themselves and for their families. Each of them has their own way or path with each beginning, they bundled their ways together, to form Six Ways in One Road. Walking this One Road, they walked each to their own destiny, sometimes squabbling along the way but had valued the togetherness, friendship, empathy and caring to each other.
They were all worried about Luz Suarez, nobody knows what happened to her, where was she. There were rumours that she was brought to Lebanon or maybe to somewhere in Africa. Some say maybe she was murdered as she was so stern and hard headed in defending her honour at the same time also the honour of her family and country. Luz Suarez was MISSING! She was the first fallen of the group.
They were all happy for Grace Martinez, who was left behind in Cyprus, married the man that raped her but turned an incredibly good husband. Grace Martinez lived in the beautiful island of Cyprus amidst plantation of Oranges, Grapes and Olives, a paradise away from her birthland. She had fulfilled her dream of a good life for herself and for her family in the Philippines.
They cried and grieved for Lorna de la Vega, the second fallen of their group. A tragedy they never expected or anticipated. They thought Lorna was in a safe haven with a seemed loving and good man but had murdered her for money.
Three remaining of the group, Carla Diones, found her luck with Wilhelm. Someone tried to discourage her with a saying that Germans are not good, good Germans were only Germans who were seven meters below the ground. But Wilhelm was a particularly good man. Carla was happy with him. Carla found Germany her second homeland.
Thelma Rosales and Luisa Magbanua. As one by one the other girls left the One Road of Hopes and Dreams, together they two continued their journey. Thelma found haven with a man that was twice her age, Kees, a very wealthy man. Thelma married her husband maybe at first time not for love but for safety. But she learned to love him and for this, Thelma was enjoying the many things money can get. She realized that indeed in love, age does not matter.
Luisa who was very changeable, naïve with a happy-go-lucky attitude also survived the many challenges she encountered. She was lucky, always have luck along the way and that because there were people who advise her when it is needed, who helped her financially. She found love but was deceived and hang on to that love not seeing that the happiness she was seeking was just in her side. But destiny was good to her, before that happiness would be taken away from her, she had managed to hold it. Yes, her happiness in life was with Karel and her two daughters.
Occasionally, the four survivors of the group go to the Philippines for a vacation and there, as most Filipinos seen fellow countrymen from abroad were successful and rich, they will be seen too the same, successful, and rich, they had made it abroad. But if they only knew what had happened behind these projections of success and richness no one will venture to a far place away from love ones. But mostly, no one cares about the fallen unlucky many with the belief that each one has his or her own destiny. When Filipinos heard about fellowmen met tragedy abroad, they would talk about it for a while and later forget, meaning many more will walk the One Road of hopes and dreams because of poverty. Who will succeed, who will be fallen only the Determining Destiny know. Lucky if it is good luck but too bad if it would be bad luck, for Destiny manifested only after it happened not before. ****The End /Completed ****Remedios Dorio