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'I MARRIED SOMEONE I DIDN'T LOVE...'
CALL me Denise. I came from a well-off Chinese family. My dad owned a couple of hardware stores.
Money was not a problem for us. I thought I had a perfect life until on my 18th birthday, my parents told me they had arranged for me to marry the son of my dad’s business partner.
I was devastated. I never thought I’d get married so soon, and worse, to someone I had never met. But my parents said we’d lose our business if I didn’t agree with the arranged marriage.
Jayson was eight years older than me. He was handsome-tall, fair, chinito. He had an MBA and managed a trading business his father set up for him. Yes, he was a good catch.
We met during my debut. He seemed like a caring person. But still, I was miserable throughout my party, fearing for my future with this man.
A month after, I graduated from college, and a couple of months after, one June Saturday, we got married. It was a garden wedding held in a resort in Batangas owned by Jayson’s family.
To everyone, it was a fairy tale wedding. But when everyone left after the reception, when Jayson and I were already alone in the presidential suite of their resort hotel, I trembled no end.
How do you make love with someone you didn’t love? I did it as a matter of obligation for my family. It seemed it didn’t matter to Jayson that I didn’t love him. He lay beside me with his carnal desires and our marriage was consummated.
After our honeymoon, Jayson went right back to work in his office in Makati. Once a month, he went to Hong Kong for some business. I stayed in our house- a mansion in one of the Makati villages-surrounded by maids supervised by Consuelo, Jayson’s yaya since he was a child.
I was lonely, but since I didn’t have a choice, I began to accept my situation. I did my duty managing our household, making sure the maids prepared Jayson’s clothes for work, reviewing the menus with our cook to see to it that she prepared Jayson’s favourite dishes. And yes, preparing for bed, getting ready for when Jayson wanted sex.
Shortly after the Christmas season, Jayson went to America, for business, he said. While he was gone, I discovered that I was pregnant. I called him up to tell him the good news. I thought he’d be happy, but instead, he asked me-right over the phone- if he really was the father of the child.
After a week, Jayson got back home drunk. For the first time, he slapped me, accusing me of having an affair with another man during the times he was out in Hong Kong.
I didn’t tell anyone about Jayson’s accusations. I locked myself in our room the following day because I didn’t want our maids to see my bruises. Jayson didn’t go home that week. I just found out from his driver that he left for Hong Kong.
I began to suspect that he was the one having an affair-in Hong Kong.
While he was gone, I went to his den and looked around for a clue about what he’d been doing in Hong Kong. I opened his steel cabinet and what I saw shocked me. I found some medical records that showed he was a drug addict and that he underwent rehab.
By this time, I had gotten close to Consuelo and so I asked her about Jayson’s past.
What Consuelo revealed all the more shocked me. Jayson had a wife and he battered her every time he’d get high on drugs. One time, he hit her so hard, she fell and banged her head on the floor.
“She never recovered from that fall,” Consuelo said. “She got real sick and she died.”
My heart thumped as Consuelo revealed more about Jayson’s cruelty against his wife. I was afraid I would suffer, too. But I was already suffering, wasn’t I?
So promptly, I packed my bags and went straight to my parents’ house.
I confronted my parents and asked them if they knew anything about Jayson’s past. They just said that they forced me to marry Jayson because they needed to save our business.
I called Jayson’s parents and demanded to tell me more about their son’s shady past. They said that what Consuelo said were all true. They just wanted to give their son a new life, and they thought a marriage with me was the solution.
The next day, I filed for an annulment. Jayson threatened to get me back to our house. My dad hired bodyguards to keep Jayson away from me.
My application for annulment was approved after a couple of years. I never talked to Jayson again. I heard he went somewhere in Asia and got married again.
It’s summer season again. I’m still afraid to commit myself to someone else. I just want to focus on being a good mom to my son.
Note: *Although all the events in this story are true, names of places and persons have been altered to protect the identity of those involved. Any similarity to actual names of places and persons, whether living or deceased, is purely coincidental.
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