Santi knew his friends were making fun of him, but it still made his heart melt to be a part of all of this. He wanted to hug Kira, but he knew that they were never going to hear the end of it, especially from Ate Tiana, so he resolved to squeeze her hand instead, unable to hide his little grin.
“Wait, so it’s resolved?” Sari asked, slightly confused. “The Villas pre-terminate the lease and the hotel is just...free?”
“I’ll pay Lolo Vito the deposit,” Santi amended. “I’ve made a few investments myself, and I have enough. Lally shouldn’t have to lose money for my mistake. As I said, I was more worried about Gemini, but—”
“Yeah, I saved myself before the knight could, this time,” Kira noted, her nose wrinkling even as she grinned. “But I think I’m more than happy that he’s going to stick around.”
It felt good to hear. And maybe, that lightness Kira had been carrying around her rubbed off on him, too.
Two weeks later, Santi paced the empty restaurant, trying his hardest not to watch Ate Tiana as his cousin frowned down at the memo in her hand. It had taken Santi most of last night (and a lot of this morning) to draft the memo explaining the situation to his employees, how Santi had the Marbellas ensure that nothing would change for the employees or their suppliers, except management would change.
The first thing he did after that brainstorming session, fueled by white chocolate and good food, was to drive to Mahogany, deep in the heart of the bayan, to see Lola Leona Villa. Lally had been happy to see him, which Santi didn’t expect, or think he deserved. But she accepted his mano anyway, before pressing a hand to his cheek.
“Hay ikaw. Ka-tigas ng ulo,” she’d tutted. “Thank god.”
He didn’t realize that he needed that validation until she gave it. And after that merienda where she chastised him for being stubborn, for not seeing her, for not bringing Kira (because of course she knew he was with Kira), for letting someone like Vito Santillan walk all over him, Santi had settled into a routine of going to see Lally once a week to get her to boss him around and make lunch. Most of the time they were with the Villa family lawyer, discussing the sale of the hotel, once with Tita Ria, and more than a few times with Kira or the cousins.
After the Villas issued their notice that they wanted to pre-terminate the lease, and news got around that the Marbellas were interested in the hotel, Santi paid his grandfather the pre-termination deposit on the rent.
Santi had not heard from his family since. He didn’t hear from Miro, his Aunt Joyce, not even his parents. Not that it was a huge loss, but it was a loss anyway. He would be lying if he said it didn’t hurt. He didn’t regret the choices he made, not one bit. But it felt like he’d left a very, very old piece of himself with them, and they refused to believe that Santi wasn’t that same dutiful golden boy anymore.
There were better things to look forward to, even if he knew that the piece of his heart he’d left in Manila would always feel like a hole in his chest. The Santillan family was content to ignore what had happened, but when Santi met with the Tito Johnny, he’d said that Vito had nothing but awful things to say about his grandson.
“I get it.” Tito Johnny shrugged. “Family, am I right?”
“Exactly,” Santi had chuckled. “Now should we talk about how you’re going to maintain all of Villa’s current contracts with its suppliers and employees?”
The new routine suited him, Santi liked to think. And with Villa no longer a factor, and La Spezia being set up somewhere else (there was an available spot in the Laneways, last he heard), it was more than enough to make him feel like he’d made the right call. Looking at his office no longer conjured up memories of walking into Vito’s office and imagining himself there; walking through Villa and speaking to the staff didn’t remind him of his family anymore.
He felt free, freer than he had ever been allowed before.
“I knew you would figure it out,” Tiana said, lowering the memo and shaking her head. “You’ve always been smart.”
Santi was raised to think that being smart was a given. Of course he was smart, how else was he going to help the family if he wasn’t? Over time that smartness had gotten him in a lot of trouble. But as long as he used it to help other people like this, to keep transitions like this one smooth, he was happy to have it.
“It doesn’t sound too personal?” Santi frowned.
“You ran this place for three years. Of course it’s personal, Ton-ton,” Ate Tiana said, tapping his shoulder. “This isn’tYou’ve Got Mail.”
“I haven’t seen that K-drama.”
“Ha? It’s a movie.” Ate Tiana laughed. “Anyway, I’m off. My girlfriend was complaining that she needed help with this super-special last dinner at the restaurant thatsomebodyinsisted on.”
“I could cook, I told you,” Santi mumbled. Ate Tiana’s girlfriend Lydia was Santi’s head chef, and he knew well enough to get out of their way when they had something up their sleeve.
“Boss Santi, I know you love cooking for Kira, but you just can’t make a chocolate tartufo like I can,” Lydia explained, walking into the office as she wrapped an arm around his cousin’s waist. Tiana gave him a little wink and a twirl before the happy couple skipped out of Santi’s soon-to-be former office. Santi chuckled and looked down at the memo on his desk, and exhaled. It still felt right. He was going to miss Villa, of course, but this was for the best.
“Miro?” He heard Tiana’s voice outside.
“I need to see my Kuya, please—”
“I’m in here,” Santi announced, reading the memo one more time.
“Kuya!” a voice exclaimed, and the desperation in it made him look up immediately to see Miro, his hair mussed (which told Santi he’d been twisting it with his finger, a nervous habit of his). He walked into Santi’s office and collapsed in the guest chair.
“You didn’t say hi to Ate Tiana and her girlfriend,” Santi chided him.
“Who?” Miro asked, his brow furrowing in confusion. Santi shook his head and resumed his work. He was going to have to send the memo out to his department heads today.
