Setting: Church
The Church service has just ended and everybody is now flocking towards the exit. Amongst the crowd, Esperanza who by now has exited and is stationed by the sidewalk is gazing around and about constantly turning her head here and there looking for someone. The crowd is starting to get to her, swirling around her in a daze.
Where the heck is Alfredo? She asked herself. Then, as if someone had heard her thoughts, Alfredo emerged from sight walking towards her direction. At last, for the weeks that have passed by she has gone unnoticed by her husband-to-be and now she is grateful that she is going to be in his company again.
As she observed him as he neared her, there was something different in him that she hadn't seen in a while. A beam of radiant energy seems to pass through Adolfo. She notices his enticed eyes more determined than ever. What can this mean? She asks herself. She knows that something was up ever since he decided not to see her after the Sunday masses. Thousands of thoughts pervaded her but the most dominant possibility is taking hold of her, gripping her tightly. Is this the calm before the storm? Is this a sort of long abstinence or quiet before the day of celebration that is their wedding?
Alas, she construes to herself, these are the signs of a man ready and focused to get to something. This definitely is the calm before the storm, the abstinence before the celebration…our wedding is at hand.
As he nears her she pretends not to see him such that he may call her attention as such how a man customarily calls to attention a maid. Then what happened was certainly not expected, he casually passes by her like a breeze sweeping her and then was gone the instant she felt it. It is quite obvious to her that he did not even notice that she was there at all…or maybe he noticed her but he deliberately ignored her. No way, maybe he was just too engulfed with something else, maybe his work; that he forgot all about her. She is stunned; her heart sank at the thought. Thousands of questions thundered her head. But how can he just walk past me without seeing me at all, me, his fiancé? How would– Esperanza's train of thought was shattered when she overheard two passersby chatting. "I hear Alfredo is in love with this girl from- " was all she hears from the conversation. Before she could hear more the two sped past her so that they are outside her range. She wanted to follow them at the urge to know more but she decided not to since she knows that all people talk about nowadays are just plain gossip. At that moment when she heard it, more questions troubled her, are the two referring to me…or someone else? She shuddered at that thought alone.
Esperanza dismisses it as soon as the conversation drifted away. She suspects at first but did not believe it. Now, she throws off all suspicions. He cannot possibly be cheating on her considering that they are both engaged and about to be wed. She dismisses all possible counter-circumstances but deep within the beatings of her heart, she still suspects.