She was the daredevil, and the saint was he.
Two worlds collided as it should be.
After a night of unforgettable experience, they parted ways.
Then they met again one faithful day.
But she is to be married, and so does he.
**********************************************
There was once a girl,
Who claimed she's more than just a woman than a gal.
Spending far more time bar-hopping and some shopping,
Than helping her elder father,
In managing their growing business affairs.
A spoiled brat, Elle was.
Waited hand and foot, pampered and cosseted.
She knew not a thing,
Not cooking nor crocheting,
And on how to keep the house going.
Then one day she asked her father.
To permit her to a sojourn in Europe this Easter.
Her dad who was reluctant to let her baby go,
Just gave her a handful of money, a kiss and lists to do.
Elle went contentedly, her happiness filled the air.
Not just planning to stay during Easter.
But to spend her whole summer there.
Globe-tottering any place she hanker after.
She skied, kayaked, surfed, sky-dived.
Living in a wild precarious life.
At 8:00pm Niccolo was still sitting.
In his newly acquired office, he was fidgeting.
Barraging his board members on the company's ledger.
On how this business had more to lose than to profit in the past years.
Sitting, thinking and had to ponder.
On how to salvage the firm he inherited from his father.
His father whom Niccolo learned later in his life.
For he had been kept at bay from his father right from the start.
Being his father's dirty little secret,
Is the price he paid for being illegitimate.
But now he is his own man.
Making his name in the business world known.
He is no more the poor-clad, lonely kid.
Roaming and rummaging the sidewalks,
Searching for something to fill his empty stomach.
No he is anything but poor.
For fate had been so good knocking on his door.
With his exceptionally well-built body and charming face,
And a Midas touch in business,
Information about his life, paparazzi were always on queries.
And then fate intervened.
She accidentally bumped into him.
While she took a stroll along Central Park.
And he was visiting in his business in New York.
She instantly disliked him.
Men in business suit for her are far too boring,
And he, in his mind, wished never to see any of that woman.
For irresponsible bratty snobs were too spoiled for him to command.
He required someone he can control.
Someone always ready on his beck and call.
But fate was so persistent.
They met again in a bar where he and his business conglomerate went.
Though he was reluctant to go.
He was persuaded but only for a drink or two.
She was with her new-found friends.
Drinking some, dancing more and bet a dare.
Living her last night to the fullest.
And swore, she would enjoy some more.
And she was dared by her far more liberated mates.
She was in an impasse, and had to do what they said.
Five years had gone by,
When she would think of that night, she would sigh.
For that was the night that ended her immaturity,
And paid the price of her insanity.
But that night bore the mark of the difference in her life.
And now she is to become a wife.
A wife to a man she never knew nor met.
For her father had everything ready and set.
She is to meet her fiancee,
On the eve of her wedding day.
He was walking again along Central Park, one afternoon.
Thinking of that day he met her, his hand holding his phone.
He was never been able to forget her looks.
Nor to delete her image on his phone he secretly took.
But that night was the only night he lived dangerously.
But he never did regret a reckless act of him if there's any.
And now he is to be married to a woman of his choice.
"A socially accepted woman of good genes with a son", he voiced.
For he will never have a child of his own,
And thinking of that accident, he frowned.
An accident that almost cost him his life.
And the same accident that opened his father's eyes.
His father who had no heir of his own in his three marriages.
That led him to adopt his bastard son to secure the continuity of his businesses.
But then something bumped into him, and he stirred.
That ceased him from thinking of his conceited father.
Deja vu? But he should have known better.
'Cause when he looked into that 'something', his eyes widened.
For he stared directly into a pair of lonely green irises he'd ever seen.
Loneliness, he acknowledged, he wanted to end.
For the full 2 minutes he just stared.
Standing in the middle of an open parked he leered.
But he really didn't cared.
Now he'd seen the object of his fantasy
He wouldn't surely let go of her that instantly.
Her hair, still the unruly inky-black ringlets,
That he had once curled that night when she slept.
Her small elfin face and her small pert nose,
And seeing the pinkish pout of her lips, he paused.
Every part of her screamed seduction she oozed.
A spark of acknowledgment glittered in his eyes.
But hers was dimmed with fears, remembering their last goodbye.
She should never have come here in the first place.
Now she had seen the face that made her pulse race.
He asked her to join her for a cup of coffee
For old time's sake in some low profile cafe,
She should have said no,
But said "yes" for her curiosity told her so.
There's no harm in knowing this man,
Although, she would soon be gone
She gazed at him over the coffee table.
Seeping his all-male image as she babbled
She would never forget that glorious night,
That made her a full-grown woman in a sensational height.
She ogled at him again,
Memorizing each of his face's lines and planes
His broad shoulder enclosed in a white shirt.
Showcasing hard muscles, she itched to caress.
He was an epitome of a pure red-blooded male.
She wanted to forget his handsome face and musky smell but she always fails.
Their little reunion over coffee was far from done.
They strolled like lovers, hand in hand.
What is a day of freedom? She thought.
What is a day of living like this than to the lifetime she'll come to regret?
No one would know, but the two of them.
Nor he would not know that she'll be going again.
They dined at some Waldorf Astoria hotel.
And spend the night making love at his suite full of zeal.
A night to remember, in her memories she won't quell.
After waking up and finding her gone,
A hollow emptiness in his veins ran.
She'd gone again in the night as she did five years ago.
How could that same woman did it to his ego?
He was furious as hell,
To the woman and to himself as well
So at 8:00am, he was sitting by the suite's mini bar.
Emptying every bottle of vodka and his favoured whiskey sour
He drunk until he’s numbed. He drunk to oblivion.
Until he was blotto in the afternoon, he forgot one certain occasion.
It was her wedding day,
Sitting in the Limo, everything but gay.
She never saw he fiancee.
He had an important thing to do, they say.
But she never did comment anything.
Never want to worry her poor dad a thing.
For she had caused him much heartaches,
Now she had amend to make.
Although she was against arranged marriages,
Thinking of her son to have a daddy, she just obliged.
He was groggy the next day, but who cares?
Well, everybody but who dares?
He is the master of his own empire.
He has the privileges to be late when he desires.
But dang, today is his wedding day.
To a certain Elle woman, he never fancies.
He was drunk. He was desperate
After seeing the woman he thought he hated.
But dang again, he hated himself more.
For not knowing her name nor to asked for it before.
He thought about their reunion the other day.
He thought he could have her if she just stayed.
He cursed himself for he thought wrong.
How could he be so foolish over a woman that long?
How could she even hurt him that way?
Now he even thought she said "I love you" as on the bed they lay.
She is about to be married, she wrote.
To someone she didn't love nor dote.
But someone she needed in her life.
And now he's all alone with just the note she left that night.
He got up, readied and dressed up.
But not the tux he's to wear as a groom, and to his car he hopped.
He will go there to apologize, as he should have.
For he can't marry this Elle woman he didn't love.
Love? Oh yes, now he realized.
He loved the woman who despised him five years ago.
He loved the woman he met again 48 hours or so.
He loved the woman she becomes now with so much delight.
And he won't surrender her without a fight.
He was 10 minutes late,
But for sure, her bride-to-be would wait.
He had known from her father, a very good friend of him.
That her bride, a single mom, is very obedient it seem.
True, he realized, for he saw a bride in an open window,
Her father approaching, with a child and a nanny in tow.
But before he could advance a step to the small circle,
The bride stepped out, clad in a gown of designer's label.
His throat clogged, his breathing stopped.
He went pale, and he really can't believe his luck.
Standing in an open door of the black limo,
Wearing a close-fitted bodice and a glass stiletto.
Chin held high, without a hint of frustration.
That her bridegroom’s late as it is in the invitation.
He smiled to himself satisfactorily.
For fate had pitied upon him, wholeheartedly.
He glanced at his casual shirt and faded jeans.
And laughed at the scene in his mind he'd seen.
A bride in a pristine white gown,
And a groom in casuals, indifferent from a clown.
She turned around, for something caught her eyes.
But a frisson of shock shook her insides.
Colour escaped her made-up face.
When she saw her smiling gaze.
"Mommy," her young son's cry stirred her up.
Quickly, she grabbed the boy to hide him, with any hap.
But she knew she failed when she saw his wan feature.
"What are you doing here?" she asked almost in tears.
"How could you do this to me?" he retorted
"Do what? Go away. It's my wedding day!" she retaliated.
'How could she?' he contemplated.
'Even his father conspired against me.'
'You'll surely pay for these,' he swore
But when he saw the boy's innocent smile, he's angry no more.
"What's your name?" he asked the spitting image before him.
"I am Jake Matthew Cruz. But Grampa and Momma called me JM.
Are you my daddy? Momma said I looked like him.
Do I look like you?" the boy asked beaming.
He looked at her, giving her credits for that information.
At least she told no lies of the boy's conception.
He was talking on the phone, in staccato Italian.
Maybe he’s formulating some scheming plans.
Plans to stop her wedding, although it would be too late,
But who knows, she might be pitied by fate.
The lateness of her groom could be a sign.
A sign of a major change in her and he’s son's life lines.
She always dreamed of a happy-ending.
But she is aware of every twist of fate's making.
A twist that turned her life upside-down.
And now she's here in her life's turning point, and got no idea where it is bound.
She was brought to reality by the traditional marching song.
Consternation crept all over her when she heard the bell's ding dong.
She looked for----she didn't even know his name.
She spent two unforgettable nights with a stranger, what a shame.
Sleeping with him, oh no, erase that.
For sleeping had never been an agenda at both nights.
Making love with the same absolute stranger twice, hence,
Were the most vicious steps she ever did in her entire existence.
And now he found her and her secret.
But she didn't think that her happy ending is readily set.
Her father was unbelievably talkative.
Speaking of things alien to her, she believed.
But how could she understand a thing,
When the sudden disappearance of her son's father is absolutely confusing.
Where was he? Did he gave her up that fast?
She thought he was special, but he was an ass.
She was beginning to think she could escape this situation.
She thought he was her last minute salvation.
She thought he was the answers to her prayers.
But she thought wrong in all aspects, now she's scared.
Her father escorted her to the altar.
She was a bride with her emotions at war.
She was nervous, she was uncertain.
But she must think of her son to have a daddy.
'Yes, JM, he already has a father, but where was he?
Where was my son's father that should be waiting for her at the end?
Where was that guy that should have been here together with his kin.'
And then she froze, in the middle of the aisle.
For there stood the most gorgeous man in tux she just saw a little while.
He should be frustrated, he should be angry.
But why does one single look at her cleared the ragging emotions away?
Though her face was waned with nervous,
He will never forget how she looked when she paused.
The woman of his every dreams and fantasies.
The woman that took him to the peak of insanity.
The same woman that bore his son unexpectedly.
The very woman he never thought he'd choose as his wife-to-be.
And now he's here, standing by the altar.
Waiting for the woman that will be in the future, his only star.
After an hour of delaying his wedding ceremony,
He came to realize how hard it could be.
For a single woman to be pregnant with no one at her side.
No one to comfort her and to wipe her tears when she cried.
In times when she had her morning sickness,
No one gave her crackers and tea and cleaned her mess.
No one massaged her sore and aching feet after a long day.
No one held her hands when she underwent a long and painful delivery.
No one to relieve her from late night and early dawn feeds.
No one helped her changed the diapers and no one provided her needs.
He watched her advanced a step towards him.
Still pale from nervousness and shock but still very good-looking.
Though the news of his son was incredibly impossible,
Due to the accident, to bear a son, he was disabled.
But the tests were done a long time ago.
Maybe miracles did happen for some lucky people or so.
JM is a spitting image of him.
He thought he was looking at his lone picture with his m0m which in his office he pinned.
But he would still require a DNA and other tests.
Just for security and any legal purposes.
Her heart's in her throat, her pulse beating wild.
When she saw his groom standing with their child.
Her eyes were watery, her nose was reddish.
After she heard Niccolo's stories.
Her heart pitied the small boy he'd been.
The boy who was looked upon with disdain.
She looked at her son, emotions on run.
He looked so cute and the most adorable boy on land.
How could she neglect her responsibilities?
Of not finding his son's father even though how hard it would be.
She understood not a thing on why this man was by the altar waiting.
Did fate really pity her?
And is willing to change the direction of her life this year?
If that is so, then, thanks to her lucky stars.
Her happy-ending wishes are coming true, if they really are.
But would her happiness be complete?
When she didn't even know what this man felt?
Oh, please God, even if his anger for her stretch a mile.
Just let him be a good husband and a father to her child.
She's just a few steps away from him.
When she saw him knelt and whispered her name.
Held out a ring in a small red velvet box.
His face is uncertain, so far from relaxed.
Her already reddish eyes misted.
Tears were threatening to leak and it's hard to see.
So hard to see the man she'd been wishing to have.
The man she'd been praying to reciprocate her love.
Her father handed he a kerchief to dry her eyes.
And while she did, she heard Niccolo sighed.
"All my life, I thought I am capable of living alone.
I thought I have everything a man would need and own.
And for the past years, I was accustomed to my life.
I am rich, chased by sophisticated women and my shrewdness is rife.
I was contented and happy as I was.
Living my life fastidious as long as it last.
But then, fate brought you to me.
I tried to defy her but she won't let me.
And then that night happened, the most reckless one I've had.
But I never regret a thing, nor thought I would be a dad."
"Going to bed with a complete stranger unprotected,
Was not typical of me and a very careless deed.
But I did, for when I saw you I was overwhelmed with lust.
Just one smile from you and my principles were all cast.
Anonymity was one hell of a game.
But when you left, I rottenly wished I've had your name.
For five years or so, I was miserable.
I tried to look for you, but it seems impossible.
So I strained myself to work, focused on what was needed.
Attempting to clear you off my system and my head."
"But maybe fate felt sorry for me."
He choked, eyes were reddish and teary.
If only he could see what her eyes saw.
He was far from the astute businessman she first saw, a long time ago.
"'Cause I was thinking of you," he continued.
"When we met again, and it felt so good.
I thought we really are meant for each other.
And I have planned for us to stay together forever.
But you went away again in the middle of the night.
Taking with you my heart and my whole life".
"And now I've found you again, for the third time.
And keeping you here beside me is a prime priority of mine.
You may not feel the same as I do.
But for the sake of her son, I know you won't say no.
I know, mind is a Machiavellian plan.
But I am more than just a desperate man.
And now here I am, on my knees before you.
Begging, pleading and asking you before we say "I DO".
This ring and my heart I offer, please don't say "nay".
Will you do me a favour, and marry me today?"
How could she say no to this man before her?
When her heart thuds with so much love to offer?
Emotions resulted for her eyes to get wet and a runny nose.
Speechless, she just nodded and she saw him rose.
Emotions at peak, he slipped the diamond ring.
Into her left hand which was nervously shaking.
"Yes," she said when she finally found her voice.
"Yes, with all of my heart, oh yes!” her eyes still moist.
And he kissed her right on the lips.
In front of the audience who came to their wedding to witness.
She heard harrumphing and grunting.
But she didn't care a thing.
All she minded was the man kissing her now.
The man whom she would be exchanging her vows.
But the small tugging at her gown budged her.
She almost forgot that there son was present there.
Her face flushed as she looked down to her son.
With an innocent mien he asked, "Are you okay Mom?"
She smiled at her son and looked at Niccolo.
They'll tell him soon but not now though.
The ceremony was short and quiet,
For it started an hour and 30 minutes late.
The clashing of two cultures was amazing.
She can't believe that they can be gathered together in a wedding.
She looked at her husband,
Holding their son in his arms.
She'd never thought this very dream of her,
Would come true, and now she's here,
Watching her family as one together.
The most beautiful scene she would forget never in the coming years.
After all the years of living her miserable life,
She never thought it would change in a speed of light.
Much to her and her son's delight,
Their lives will now be filled with blithe.
Life doesn't have rules to follow, you see.
You'll just have to make up your own story,
To have your personal happy-ending and to live in a unique way.
I have mine written when I was down and low.
And now I have it in my palms, what I've been dreaming for years or so.
All I have to do is start living it the way I wanted to.