Illyria

Chapter 1

 

“Ria, and where on earth do you think you are going?” 

 

I sighed in despair when I heard my step sister’s voice. Darn, I was so close on reaching the damn door for crying out loud! Timing was never on my favor.

 

I  faced my step sister. “Via, I am just going out to get some air, this party suffocates the hell out of me it’s boring me to death! Plus it’s been a long time and I want to see how thing’s changed around”.

 

“Can’t you do that some other time? We’re announcing my engagement to Jared tonight! You know this occasion is important to the family, I don’t want Jared’s family to think that this is so unimportant to us..” Via hasn’t finished her litany yet when I butted in.

 

“Via, everybody knows that this engagement is a façade and it’s actually a company merger, and besides, I’d bet my ass that half of those people in the lobby didn’t even know that I exist.”

 

My name is  Illyria Lorenzana, 25 years old and the daughter of the shipping magnate Alejandro Lorenzana of Alejandro Shipping Lines. But as I said, I’d bet my sweet ass that not everybody knew of my existence. When I was born my mother passed away giving birth and after 4 years my father re-married a socialite who happened to have a love child and that was Vivian or Via, as the family fondly called her. Via was older than me by three years and my father grew fond of her that he ended up adopting her legally, and that made Via a true Lorenzana by law.

 

It’s just life’s irony that the closer Via had became to my father was the time that I grew stranger and stranger to him. I grew up with barely no affection from my own father. He was busy molding Via in his own hands. I was jealous at first but then  I just grew tired of it and eventually accepted the things at face value.  At fifteen, when I  told my dad that I wanted to finish school and pursue college at the States together with my mom’s sister my father hadn’t even buzzed about it. He just told me I was welcome to come back.

 

So I went abroad and built a life of my own.  I rarely visited Philippines and barely talked with my family. I pursued what I loved most - painting. I took up Fine Arts in the States while also took her time traveling around the world for good subjects. For that I had to thank my father. He might not be affectionate to me but he provided for me and its good enough reason for me to return and give back my support. My father was ill and made some grave decisions in the past and now our Shipping Line is at stake. Via took charge after ,my father but unfortunately the only thing that can save my father’s empire was for a buy out by another company.

 

And that was what this night was all about. Allende Air and Sea Transportation was the company that bought the Lorenzana Shipping, and tonight will be the official announcement of that said merger and Via’s engagement to one of the sons of Allende’s CEO.

 

I looked at Via and I noticed that she was trembling. My heart went out to her. I had never seen Via like this. Via’s always been tough. But right now even her designer gown and shoes couldn’t hide the stress in her eyes. She was sacrificing her happiness for my father’s ambitions. And worse, I knew in my heart that Via was doing it for me as well. I am family. She was the so-called “sacrificial lamb” on this situation. To be honest, one of the reason I left was because it was tough being with Via. She was a nice person but she was an over achiever and I always ended being the second best compared to her. But Via was never a bad person. “She could be annoying though, at times..” I bemused. That was my snarky brain talking though.

 

I decided to break the ice. “I am so sorry Via, it’s very inconsiderate of me, let’s go back inside then, there might be somebody out there who’d willing to sweep me off or something.. Where is your fiancé anyway? What’s his name again, Jerry? Jerrod?”

 

 

 

Chapter 2

 

Via sighed a little and we both decided to walk inside the party. “His name is Jared, Ria. He’s one of the sons of Jaime Allende, the founder of Allende Transport, he was also a VP of the Operations of the company,” she sighed again and looked at me.  “ I bet you’ll like him..”

 

I rolled my eyes to my step sister. “Trying to sell him to me dear sister?” I teased. “Careful, he might just fall for my charms and sexy bod!”

 

Via smiled a little that didn’t even reach her eyes. “I bet he would..”

 

“What did you say?!”

 

“Nothing, I said he’ll be here soon, he was just stuck in the traffic.”

 

“Wow, he was very excited to be here huh?” I couldn’t help being sarcastic.

 

Via eyed her. “Behave yourself, Ria, please.” Even when stressed, Via could still be the party pooper.

 

“Yes, mother.” I answered cheekily and got an eyeful from Via.