Chapter XII: Broken or Fulfilled
While walking past the grand white facade of the Hermosa City Hall on a sun-soaked morning in early 2003, Meric slows her steps. Her eyes drift to the large city seal above the grand balcony just above the entrance. The seal stirs a memory.
A few years ago, she almost worked here.
Meric walks beside her mother Mercy, clutching a manila envelope filled with application documents. She is excited, nervous. Today's the day she finalizes her job appointment at City Hall after passing the necessary tests and interviews. But then, like a sudden pothole in a smooth road, or a displaced cobblestone on Calle Crisostomo, Elric, her older brother, shows up with news. Is it good or bad?
"Meric, you can't work here," he says bluntly.
She frowns. "Why?"
Elric, now a licensed architect working at the City Planning Division, scratches his head. "There's a nepotism policy. Two immediate family members can't both be employed in City Hall."
Mercy nearly combusts on the spot. "Why didn't you say that before she applied, Elric?!" she bellows, causing several clerks and a janitor to peek from the hallways.
Elric shrugs awkwardly. "Mang, I didn't know she'd actually get accepted."
Mercy throws her purse onto a bench. "My daughter was supposed to be a city employee, and now, you killed her dreams!"
Meric just sighs. Dreams die quickly under bureaucracy.
The flashback ends and back to the present.
She walks on, shoulders lightened now from the weight of that long-past disappointment. Turning down Quezon Boulevard—now renamed Quezon Avenue—she passes a familiar row of buildings, and the ruins of the Old Hermosa Public Market, which is now surrounded by galvanized steel, and used by the tricycle drivers as a Toda. The old public market was razed to the ground back then, and is now relocated to Calle Alcantara, which is much more wider than before, and has 4 modules.
She also pass by the Macro Colleges, which is the same institute that was housed on the second floor at one of the houses at Calle Crisostomo, near the Favis House.
She arrives at the final block. At the base of the Isidoro Building, across from the Santo Cristo Cemetery Chapel, is the Pioneer Electronics and Repair Shop. It's here she works now, standing behind the counter assisting customers with early 2000s tech—Nokia phones, desktop CPUs, bulky CRT monitors, and the occasional rare laptop.
She's getting good at this. She even once repaired a customer's mouse by tapping it lightly, blowing into it, and saying, "Magic." It worked.
One evening, as they close shop, the cube TV in the corner suddenly flashes to a breaking news segment. Meric and her co-workers gather around, eyes wide as footage of the Twin Towers in New York fills the screen.
Two planes. Fire. Smoke. Screams.
Another plane slams into the Pentagon.
Meric murmurs, "At least it's not here... but Lord, please protect us."
She works at Pioneer for a full year, and by the next, she moves to a new job at the Redrying Tobacco Plant in Barangay Nag-Ayosan, Hermosa City. It's closer to Ben's school—Hermosa School of Arts and Trades—where he's now in his final year of engineering.
She has no idea that one of her coworkers, a cheerful girl with long black hair and a familiar smile, is about to become family.
One day, Ben rides a borrowed motorcycle to surprise her. She's helping sort leaves when she hears a loud vroooom outside.
Ben takes off his helmet with flair. "Mer, I'm here!"
Meric giggles. "You look like a helmeted coconut."
One of her coworkers runs over. "Anjang?!"
Ben looks surprised. "Roselyn?"
Meric's jaw drops. "You know her?"
Roselyn laughs. "That's my younger brother Ben!"
From that day on, Meric and Roselyn bond over lunch breaks, stories about Ben's childhood mischiefs, and shared snacks. "He once glued his slippers to the floor of the nipa hut," Roselyn confesses.
"Explains a lot," Meric laughs.
Months later, disaster strikes.
A Dominion Liner bus veers off the road and slams into the old ancestral house in Barangay Banggai. Mercy hears it on the news.
"Rico!" she yells. "Get the tricycle!"
The three of them—Rico, Mercy, and Meric—ride down to see the damage. Tory's old room, the sanctum of her memory, is in ruins.
Inside the house, Junior nervously paces. "The bus lost its brakes! I was watching 'Pira-pirasong Pangarap' and boom! The wall shook!"
Mercy sighs. "That house is cursed. Or haunted. Or both. But poor Nanang's room, the damage it left."
But life continues. Ben is finishing his final year. Meric and Ben, already planning their wedding, share quiet moments together whenever they can.
One evening, they stroll near Plaza Jose. Under the dim orange lights, birds chirp their goodnights in the trees, and Meric sits down on a large stone near the southern brick plant box.
Ben kneels.
"No, you're not tying your shoe," Meric jokes.
Ben grins. "Nope. I'm tying my life to yours."
He pulls out a small velvet box. Inside glitters a silver ring. "Meric Cortesa Quadro, will you marry me?"
Meric tears up. "Yes... yes, I will marry you!"
A month later, Ben graduates. He stands proudly beside Mercy, showing his diploma.
Mercy gives him a hug that nearly cracks his ribs. "Now you can marry her."
Ben smiles. "Finally."
Over the next few months, he helps with chores, washes dishes at RQ Store, and even scoops fallen lanzones off the floor with style. Mercy likes him more than her blender. "He's useful and quiet," she says.
On December 6, 2003, the bells of the Metropolitan Cathedral of the Conversion of St. Paul chime joyously. Guests flood in. Relatives, ninongs (godfathers), ninangs (godmothers), neighbors, and even Elric with a suspicious arm sling, and Jonn.
Ben walks down the aisle with his parents. At the altar, he fidgets nervously.
Then Meric arrives, walking proudly with Rico and Mercy. Her veil flows. Her bouquet is a mix of lilies and sampaguita.
At the altar, Rico hands Meric to Ben with a whisper. "Don't mess this up. Or I'll use my wrench."
During the homily, Fr. Formoso smiles. "This is a blessed day. And look—Tatang Rico, my faithful tricycle driver to St. Paul College."
The guests laugh.
When it's time for vows, Ben hesitates.
Fr. Formoso nudges him. "Kitam ta asawam. (Look at your wife.)"
Ben finally turns. "I... I promise to love you... even in the afterlife."
Meric chuckles, wiping tears.
They kiss. On the lips.
Mercy gasps playfully. "Ben, pagsangiten nak metten. (Ben, you're making me cry.)"
The reception is held at Villa Angela. Fairy lights. Native fans. Lechon in the corner. Ice cream in colorful tubs.
Junior pulls Elric aside. "Say, what happened to you? Why the sling?"
"Nagbingayan Bridge accident," Elric says, stuffing lumpia into his mouth. "I got hit into the end of the bridge barrier, and made me go fly unto the front of the Tanod Outpost."
Ben's relatives are everywhere. Times five the number of Meric's. Some came down from the misty mountains of Conolem and Naisuyo.
An old man says, "I'm Ben's fifth uncle on his father's cousin's side."
Meric replies, "Then you're family!"
Dancing, music, laughter. A slow song plays. Ben and Meric share their first dance as husband and wife.
Mercy and Rico dance too, bumping elbows awkwardly but smiling all the same.
And so, under the warm lights and surrounded by love, the newlyweds begin their journey, one laugh and one lechon slice at a time.