Their six-bedroom townhouse in Crescent Heights, Makati Avenue, was more stylish and modern than Scarlett had anticipated. It had a small garden up front decorated with various types of flowering plants bordered by an American ranch-style fence and a kissing gate.

Although all of the townhouses in the exclusive subdivision were identical, theirs was by far the largest.

Victoria looked up at it with much pride as they stepped out of the SUV into bright sunshine.

“Who lives here?” Scarlett asked her, awed by the calmness and exclusivity of her new surroundings. She had seen too much of the country's poverty on their way from the airport, and she felt a certain gratitude for having a blessed life.

Their family driver, who introduced himself to Scarlett as Ricky, accompanied them into the house. The foyer was large, clean, and well-furnished.

Some replicas of 18th-century paintings hung around the white-washed walls. A crystal chandelier hung directly above, casting glimmering effects on the shiny marble floor below.

The furniture consisted of a comfortable-looking sofa, some armchairs, glass tables, a large Persian rug, and a number of priceless antiques.

Even the spiraling staircase was carpeted, Scarlett noticed. A large door to the left led to the kitchen, and two other doors on the other side to two small bedrooms.

“Marietta and her son takes up the two bedrooms,” Victoria said in response to her daughter's earlier query.

Scarlett had heard when Marietta was still in Cebu that she had a son here in Manila, but Scarlett had never met him.

“There are four master bedrooms upstairs,” Victoria announced brightly. “Choose whichever you like. Ricky, please take Scarlett's things to her bedroom.”

Ricky nodded and helped Scarlett carry her bags. Victoria led the way up the staircase. The hallway was wide and long. Victoria stepped into the first door and declared, “I'm going to sleep. Don't disturb me,” before shutting the door behind her.

“Which room, ma'am?” Ricky asked patiently.

Scarlett opened the three other doors and peered into each room as though to decide which she liked best.

“They all look alike,” she realized after a while.

“Yes,” Ricky said. “The furniture, the size.”

She was very choosy even with the simplest things, but since she didn't want Ricky to start complaining about the weight of the bags, she chose the room with the large view of the street and the adjacent houses outside.

“Excellent choice,” Ricky said as he set down the bags near the bed and left.

It was slightly smaller than her bedroom back in Cebu, but Scarlett knew better. I'm in Manila, she thought. And that's the huge difference.

It was the middle of May and the sweltering heat was unavoidable, so she turned the air conditioner on and closed all the windows. Then she turned to face the room, examining every detail.

A large built-in cabinet stood next to the twin-size bed. It was empty, as she'd guessed, and she wondered if it was enough to contain all of her clothes. Perhaps, she needed to do some shopping for new clothes.

A full-length oval mirror stood to the opposite wall next to a rectangular desk and a chair. The mirror was certainly a requirement, she told herself.

She peered out into the hallway and found the two blue-tiled bathrooms separating her and her mother's bedrooms. She preferred her bathroom to be in her bedroom like it was in the province, but in a large, empty house like this, it wasn't a necessity.

She spent the next hour taking out her things and putting them where they belong. Her clothes took every space of the cabinet, and the desk was overflowing with her makeup items and accessories.

Her two-year old laptop and two cell phones sat untouched on the foot of her bed as she gathered the empty bags and shoved them out the bedroom door. Marietta was going to take care of them later.

Speaking of Marietta, where was she? Scarlett thought, suddenly excitedly. She hadn't seen the woman for two full years -

“Scarlett!”

Marietta, her nanny, her second mother, the woman who raised her for eleven years was standing in the doorway to her bedroom. She was of medium height, slightly portly, with short black hair that was cut like a boy's and a caressing smile.

Scarlett bounded off the bed and ran into her arms. Tears had sprung to her eyes, and she let them fall.

“My goodness!” cried Marietta when she'd released her. “You've grown so much! The little girl has blossomed into a beautiful young woman.”

Scarlett laughed and hugged her once more. “Thanks. I've missed you.”

For the first time since arriving in Manila, she felt fully contented. When her mother returns to Cebu, she'd have nothing to worry about; Marietta was here to replace her.

When the shock of seeing each other again had started to wear off, Marietta took her to the kitchen.

It was wide and spacious, with an oval glass table and twelve chairs. Steel pots and pans hung next to the electric stove and an assortment of brand new kitchenware.

Scarlett took a seat around the glass table as she watched Marietta open the refrigerator and start preparing.

“I'll cook lasagna for you,” she announced jovially, leaning over the counter. “It's my specialty.”

“I can't wait,” Scarlett said truthfully. “I couldn't bear to eat the plane food.”

At first, Marietta started asking about her life in Cebu when she'd gone, then when she'd ran out of questions to ask, Scarlett steered the conversation towards Manila.

“When did mommy buy this house?” she asked.

Marietta placed the uncooked lasagna in the microwave first before turning to answer her.

“Three months after I'd arrived here in Manila. Mrs. Haley has a rest house in Tagaytay too, and that was her very first investment here. She'd started hiring a staff when she invested in the shopping mall and the convenient stores, but years later, she decided she needed a trustworthy person to handle them – someone who's been working for her for a long time.”

“And she obviously chose you,” Scarlett finished for her.

“Yes,” Marietta said. “And I've worked hard for two years to make sure everything stays in place. At first, I was terrified because it was my first time to manage something big other than you, but since I'd studied business management for a year when I was in college, it went well – and with Mr. Rodriguez's help, nothing could go wrong.”

“Who's Mr. Rodriguez?”

“He's... let's say, your mom's right hand side. He's the first person Mrs. Haley hired to take over the family businesses, but she doesn't trust him that much.”

“Then why can't she just fire and replace him?” Scarlett asked solemnly.

Marietta took the chair next to Scarlett and said, “Because he's done so much for the business. The money rolling keeps increasing, but she doubts whether all of it goes straight into her pocket the way it should. She needs him, and I'm here to keep an eye on him and the business. That's my job.”

“And is it true? Is he really cheating?”

Marietta shrugged. “For two years, I haven't found anything worth telling Mrs. Haley, but some employees are complaining about his unfair management.”

“What's he doing to them?”

“Apparently, he'd decreased their wages below the minimum amount, which almost led to a strike before I came. When he'd learned that Mrs. Haley appointed me as the manager and promoted him as the vice president, he became a good boy.”

“Speaking of the businesses, how are they coming along?”

The microwave began blinking and beeping. Marietta stood up and retrieved the lasagna. It smelled scrumptious. She cut and placed two perfect squares into separate plates and set it down on the table before them.

“It tastes wonderful!” Scarlett cried when she took a bite.

“Why thank you,” Marietta responded, pleased. “Oh, and about the business, they're fine. The shopping mall is doing great. I'd thought about suggesting to Mrs. Haley about opening a new branch somewhere in Quezon City, since that's where most of the shoppers come from.”

“Quezon City?” Scarlett repeated. “Isn't that where mommy's relatives live?”

Her mother's family used to live in the said city when she was much younger, and they went to visit them a couple of times a year. But when they'd all migrated to California, Scarlett's regular visits to Manila had ceased.

“Yes, I heard a caretaker lives there,” Marietta said knowingly, taking a huge bite of lasagna.

Suddenly, they heard the front door open and close. Marietta stood up so quickly that her chair nearly toppled over.

“It's Gregory!”

Scarlett waited as her nanny sped out the door and returned barely five seconds later, clutching a tall boy's sleeve. He was, no doubt, her son. Their eyes had the same deep black color, the identical caressing smiles present on his lips, and the short black hair – though his was much shorter and gelled.

He blinked as though surprised to see Scarlett there seated around the dining table with a half-empty plate of lasagna in front of her.

Marietta took him by the hand and forced him into a seat next to her chair.

“Scarlett,” she introduced, “this is Gregory, my son.”

Scarlett smiled and extended her hand towards him, which he shook rather reluctantly. He was still gazing stupidly at her, which suddenly made her feel very conscious. She hated it when people stared at her.

“Hi, Gregory.”

“Greg w – would be fine,” he managed to say. His hand was still hovering over his mother's plate of lasagna.

“Greg goes to a public school near here. He walks there everyday,” Marietta told Scarlett.

“Mom, stop it,” Greg whispered furiously at her.

Marietta rolled her eyes at him, and Scarlett laughed. They obviously shared a wonderful mother-son relationship, something she'd always wanted to have with her own mother.

“Are you in first year high school too?” she asked Greg.

He nodded. “I went to the school to enroll today. Which school are you going to?”

Marietta answered for her. “Mrs. Haley has chosen the best school for Scarlett. It's called the Elizabeth International Academy in Greenhills.”

“Isn't that a little far from here?” Greg asked her.

She elbowed him playfully on the shoulder. “She's not going to walk, silly. Ricky will be here to drive her back and forth everyday.”

“Right. It was very nice meeting you miss Scarlett,” he said as he rose.

“Please,” Scarlett said. “Scarlett would be fine.”

They exchanged awkward smiles as Greg left the kitchen, leaving the two alone to resume their conversation.