Antonio and I rode off the car. It was a cozy Sunday afternoon. I kept on looking around and all I could see was a blue arch, with no signage in it.
“Where are we now?”, I asked. I was waiting for a word from him but he didn’t say anything. He then moved a little forward and grinned. It made me a little bit confused.
“Let’s get back inside the car”, he finally said.
“Alright”
“Aren’t you familiar with the place?”, Antonio asked me.
“If I only knew it, I would’ve not asked where we were a while ago”, I replied in a jolly manner.
“Huh, idiot. Try looking around and you might guess what this place is about”.
So I looked through the car window both left and right, back and forth. Aside from a vast greenfield, vanilla twilight and long, concrete road, I could see different buildings decorated with bright lights and LED screen. I was tantalized. It was though I was in the streets of Netherland surrounded by the tropical surroundings of Brazil.
Antonio drove steadily until we saw a particular signage. “WELCOME TO SOMEL TE-NE”, it said. I nearly swallowed my tongue when I knew we were at SOMEL TE-NE, the home of the most expensive restaurants in the Philippines. Consequently, I knew then we were at the heart of the province of Pampanga. I couldn’t avoid glancing at those restaurants with different architectural designs. They really looked so grandiose for me, with all the romantic lights they had.
It was already dark when Antonio decided to stop the car. We parked at a vacant area few meters away from one of the restaurants.
“Wow, don’t tell me we came here for an ocular visit.”, I asked with insinuation. “I’m glad I don’t have to tell you that”, he replied, followed by a roll of laughs. I had a sharp look on him, and then he got serious and started explaining.
“Actually, you’re right. You know that I’ve been dreaming to manage my own restaurant since we were young”. He stated.
“I know that you will be the successor of your father’s business in Manila and –“
“You know I don’t like it” He interrupted right before I finished my words. “Well,well”, I sighed.
“On this site will rise my own restaurant and it will be known not only here but nationwide and even worldwide”
“In your dreams..hahahah”, I exclaimed, though I could sense he was very sincere about it.
“Come on, let’s now eat, I know you’ve been sounding that way because you’re hungry....haahaha”
“You really know me”, I said.
But before we were able to leave the place, we saw a woman, dressed in a black cocktail. She was alone – smoking, leaning on her car.
“Don’t you think she’s hot?” I asked Antonio. “I think so”, he said. Then we proceeded to one of the restaurants in the area.
That was the dinner I had with Antonio before I left for Italy to take a course in Classical music.
A year later, I got back and Antonio’s words were about to come true for he was already busy preparing for the opening of TRES DELICIEUX, the restaurant he put up.
He called me up and invited me to perform in the opening night.
“Hey, it’s been a while since the last time you were here”, he said when he saw me through the transparent door, hours before the program started.
“Glad to see you again, how’re you?”, he asked.
“Well, I know better now how to play my Cello”
“Thank you, by the way, congratulations, and your place is rather westernized huh”
“Yes it is. I even selected the best of western dishes to be served here”, he further bragged.
I could see fulfilment in his eyes then. And that same fulfilment in him grew a thousand folds, when, after only a year of operation, TRES DELICIEUX was declared to be the most profitable and famous fine-dining restaurant in SOMEL TE-NE.
Few meters from TRES DELICIEUX was then a newly-built restaurant, called VICTORY. It was not operational then when I saw it – no decors, no signage, just plain building, but people seemed to be rushing in and out which made me think it was about to open so I asked Antonio about it.
“Huh, it would need a bulk of effort before it could top my restaurant”
Those were the words I heard when I opened the topic to him. “Perhaps, yes”, I exclaimed.
Months have passed and TRES DELICIEUX’s sales started fluctuating. Antonio was alarmed so he ordered his marketing staff to investigate and research about what’s happening and they found out it was VICTORY, TRES DELICIEUX’s rival restaurant that was the reason for their decline of sales.
“That damn restaurant!”, Antonio furiously uttered. Victory was much smaller and quite simpler than TRES DELICIEUX, although its theme was a mixture of different cultures so everyone would find its tongue in it. It was found out to be owned by a certain Maricar Montemayor, an undergraduate 25-year old woman who acquired wealth due to her perseverance and hard works.
“No, she couldn’t be any better than I, she’s just an undergrad, she’s just a woman!”, Antonio shouted.
The DOUYA awards, the prestigious awarding ceremony for the different restaurants in SOMEL TE-NE was then fast approaching and TRES DELICIEUX was doing its best to retain the post.
Days later, the DOUYA award was held and VICTORY notched the number 1 spot, replacing TRES DELICIEUX, which only came in the second spot.
“How could all these happen to me?”, Antonio regretfully asked.
I gave no answer. I only knew that Antonio was so upset but there was more to him that really filled me with terror.
He wanted to meet Maricar in person, although they have seen each other several times during conferences. I didn’t know what he was planning to do then, but I let him do what he pleased, in spite of the doubt that I had in mind, regarding his intention.
So Antonio set up a date with Maricar. It was a rather strange idea for two rivals to sit in one table for a dinner, but it did happen.
“I didn’t know you look cool?”, said Maricar.
“Huh!” , grinned Antonio.
They basically just talked with each other the whole night. The discussion was about their favourite foods.
After that dinner, I’ve noticed a lot of changes with Antonio. I suspected he fell for Maricar and I was right. His intention of making Maricar fall for him so as to control her turned to be a failure.
Once Maricar knew about Antonio’s feelings, she used it to her advantage. In one of their dates, she asked Antonio to sell all his shares to the shareholders of the company.
“If you really love me, you will do it for me. Let’s just be in VICTORY together”, she said.
“I’m sorry Maricar, it is my long time dream to have such a restaurant –I’m sorry I’m not ready to leave these things behind”, Antonio explained.
So the two argued with each other until it came to a point that Maricar unintentionally said that she was a hoax lover of Antonio , that she was just using him to win the battle.
She knew she didn’t want to say this because he was already falling for the man but she did it to cover the embarrassment she felt.
Antonio was deeply hurt. It seemed like he was brought in agony. The worst part of it was that he got determined to bring VICTORY down.
“I’m gonna bring her down!!!!”, said Antonio with his eyes burning.
After that encounter, they have not seen each other.
VICTORY then was preparing for the ASEAN Summit. The Philippines would be hosting it and it has chosen EXPO FILIPINO, a large convention in Clark, as the official venue with Maricar’s restaurant as the official food sponsor.
The pressure to Victory was just so huge that they couldn’t afford to fail, knowing that the summit would be delegated by leaders of the Southeast Asian nations.
Antonio knew of this and he thought it was the perfect time to have his revenge.
“She will reap what she sowed”, he said quietly.
On the last day of the summit, he sabotaged the delivery of the food that instead of Asian cuisines, he had them replaced with spoiled exotic foods.
“Oh my God”, exclaimed Maricar after witnessing the commotion the pungent food has caused, shortly after they were served. She couldn’t say anything more after that.
It has been a big slap on the face of the Philippines because the members of the convention felt like they were disrespected and decided not to tackle the remaining agenda which were supposed to be deliberated on that day.
Meanwhile, the Philippine Judiciary filed charges against VICTORY and its owner for disloyalty to the nation. Maricar lied down and wept on the floor upon receiving the copy of the case.
When Antonio knew about this, he felt guilty and morose so he admitted his sin and served the corresponding punishment.
Maricar, in the hope of forgetting what happened, left the country and sold Victory to a certain businessman in Manila.
Seven years later, she came back from Italy. The plane where she went on board landed at the Diosdado Macapagal International Airport in Clark. She was about to go home when she passed by the blue arch. There she saw a familiar face – one that rendered back all her bittersweet memories.
But love might be really so powerful that after all that had happened, Maricar had the courage to know who the man really was. She rode off the car and called the man. “Antonio?”, she said in a doubtful voice. A face turned to her. She got an assurance then that it was indeed Antonio.
Tears poured down their eyes as they were saying their apologies to each other. Maricar knew that TRES DELICIEUX has been under a new management just like VICTORY and that was how I got the restaurant.
After a year, they got married and had their family, then built a new restaurant named MARCONI.
