DON IGNACIO stared at Sapphire sternly. It seemed that he was analyzing her. But for Sapphire, her grandfather was doing it wrong. She firmly believed that you could not judge a book by its cover. There is a lot more to discover from the inside.
Her grandfather cleared his throat afterwards.
“Alright, I’m going to accept your daughter. She will resume her studies at Lycevm de Royale University. Starting tomorrow, she will live here with me at Empire Ville. Sapphire will enjoy all the perks of being my granddaughter, but in one condition…”
Her heart started beating like crazy. Whatever condition Don Ignacio has in mind, it already made her nervous. Sapphire turned to her mother when she felt her touch.
“Name it,” said her mother.
“She shall prove herself and worth to this family. If she failed to do so, I would strip her off of everything.”
Don Ignacio’s words echoed at the back of her mind. His condition sounded more like a threat to her.
“You can do it, Sapphire… I have faith in you.” Her mother pressed her hand.
She could not say a word. If truth be told, she felt mad at her mother right now. Sapphire was against her decision.
SAPPHIRE was silent since they got out of the mansion. She was acting cold when they got home. Raquel knew why. Her daughter was definitely mad about what she had done back there. But what could she do? That’s the only way she knew to give her a good life. She had to be sure that Sapphire would not be alone once she was gone.
Raquel could feel that her time is about to come. Her body was getting weaker and weaker. Now, she barely survives with two sessions of dialysis per week. But she had to bear it because Sapphire had been working hard to earn money for her medication. And it pained her to watch her beloved daughter sweating and in pain whenever she got home from work. It should have been the other way around. Raquel should be the one working hard to provide Sapphire a better life and send her to a good school. But she was at home, sitting in a wheelchair all day.
“Sapphire…” Raquel called her daughter. She could not take the silent war any longer.
“How could you do this to me, Mama?” Sapphire snapped.
She could see in her face how angry she was, but Sapphire was trying to control her anger. Her face was red all over.
“I am your daughter, right? Why are you giving me away like I was some sort of…” Sapphire’s voice trailed off, soon she was crying.
Raquel reached her daughter’s hands and pressed them gently.
“Sapphire, please understand that I’m doing this for you because I love you. I want you to finish your studies. I want to see you living a good life. The life that we have right now is not the life that you deserve. These precious hands of yours…” She caressed her hands. “They should be holding a book and a pen. If you only know how much it pains me waiting for you all day knowing that you’re out there working hard. I keep blaming myself, Sapphire. If not for me… If not for these malfunctioning kidneys…” Tears rolled forth on Raquel’s cheeks. “I’m not giving you away, honey. You belong there…”
Sapphire crouched in front of her and buried her face on her lap. “Mama…”
She caressed her daughter’s hair. “I love you, Sapphire… I love you so much. I will spend the remaining days of my life rooting for you. You are my princess, remember that. And a princess like you must live in a palace. You should claim what is rightfully yours.”
SHE HAS no choice but to fulfill her mother’s wish. Sapphire knew that was the last thing that could make her mother happy. That morning, Don Ignacio sent his men to pick them up. They brought Sapphire and her mother to a mansion quite smaller than Don Ignacio’s residence, but still, it was a mansion too big for just the two of them.
House helpers greeted them, and to her surprise, a private nurse.
“Miss Sapphire.” A man wearing a suit sauntered towards her. He handed her an envelope. “These are the papers that you’ll be needing for your transfer to Lycevm de Royale University. All you have to do is go to the administration office and submit this envelope to them. And oh, I’d like to apologize that I couldn’t get you a class schedule.”
“Oh! Thank you… And uhm, you don’t have to apologize for that. I can do it for myself, though. And please tell Don Ignacio that—”
“Grandpa. From now on, you will call me Grandpa.”
Sapphire turned to the doorway and found her grandfather walking towards them.
“G-grandpa…” She swallowed the lump that formed on her throat. It would take long before she gets comfortable addressing him like that. Sapphire couldn’t feel their connection yet. She saw him more like a Mafia boss rather than a loving grandfather. “Thank you so much—”
He raised his hand and beckoned her to stop.
“You shouldn’t thank me yet. All of these are temporary. You still need to fulfill your end of the deal. Understand?”
Don Ignacio’s voice sounded authoritative enough for Sapphire to understand it.
“Y-yes, G-grandpa…”
“Ah, I heard that you do part-time jobs to earn money for your mother’s medication. You don’t have to do that anymore. Our deal covers your mother’s medical expenses. I want you to focus on your studies from now on.”
“Y-yes, Grandpa.”
“Alexander,” Don Ignacio called his right-hand man.
“Sir.” The man went to his side immediately.
“That thing, please.”
“Miss Sapphire.” Alexander was handling her a key.
Her brows furrowed. “W-what is this for?”
“The key to your car,” said Don Ignacio.
Sapphire’s eyes widened. A car for her?
“But…”
“What?” Don Ignacio looked displeased by her reaction.
“Sapphire didn’t know how to drive a car, Papa,” her mother butt in.
“I prefer a bicycle,” she said. “I saw on our way here that the university isn’t too far from here. I can use a bicycle.”
“You want that?” Don Ignacio asked with a knotted forehead.
Sapphire nodded.
“You heard that, Alexander?”
“Yes, Sir,” Alexander said, and then he headed outside.
“But you must learn to drive a car. This summer vacation, I will enroll you in a driving school,” Don Ignacio told her.
“Yes, Grandpa.”
Of course, she had to. Sapphire couldn’t say no.