— “Is that… Isay?” he whispered with a rough voice.
My mother lifted her head and nodded emphatically:
— “Yes… it’s you! My God, after more than twenty years you’re still alive, still here!“
My heart pounded.
— “Mom… do you know Santiago?”
They both looked at me. Neither spoke for several seconds. Then my mother wiped her tears and sat down.
— “Lina… I have to tell you the truth. When I was young, I loved a man named Santiago… and this is him.”
Silence filled the room. I looked at Santiago — his face pale and confused. My mother continued, her voice trembling:
— “When I studied at a technical school in Manila, he had just finished university. We loved each other deeply, but my grandparents didn’t approve; they said he had no future. Then… Santiago had an accident and we lost all contact. I thought he had died…”
Santiago sighed, his hands trembling:
— “I never forgot you, Isay. When I woke up in the hospital, I was far away and had no way to reach you. When I returned, I learned you already had a daughter… and I didn’t dare come near.”
I felt my world collapse. Every word tore my heart apart.
— “Then… my daughter…” he said breathlessly.
My mother looked at me with a broken voice:
— “Lina… you are Santiago’s daughter.“
The silence was absolute. I could only hear the wind rustling the trees in the garden. Santiago stepped back, his eyes red, his hands limp.
— “No… it can’t be…” he murmured. “I didn’t know…“
My whole world felt empty. The man I loved, the one I thought was my destiny… turned out to be my father.
My mother hugged me, crying:
— “Forgive me… I never imagined…“
I said nothing. I just let the tears fall, salty and bitter like fate.
That day, the three of us sat together for a long time. It was no longer a boyfriend’s introduction, but the reunion of souls lost for more than twenty years.
And I… the daughter who found her father and lost her first love, could only remain silent, letting the tears continue to fall.
After that night, everything changed but nothing was broken. The romantic love between Lina and Santiago had ended, but a deeper love had blossomed: the love between a father and daughter.
Lina suffered for many weeks, but she found comfort in the tenderness and boundless love that Santiago showed her. He told her about his past, the lessons he had learned, and why he felt like he had lost something (“lost something very valuable”—which was her mother and the child he didn’t know about).
Her mother, Isay, and Santiago began to rebuild their relationship. It was no longer the youthful romance, but the companionship of two adults, now raising their daughter together.
A year later, Lina had her graduation ceremony. She stood between her mother and Santiago’s embrace. Santiago smiled, his eyes no longer having the cool look but the warm affection of a father.
“I want to meet your mother. I don’t want to keep hiding anything.” — Those words, instead of leading to a marriage, led to a family.
Lina did not marry the man she loved, but she found a more complete love: the complete family she had never known. She was no longer the daughter of a single mother. She was Lina Santos, the beloved daughter of Isay and Santiago, who were brought back together by destiny in the most unexpected way. She realized that sometimes, what you think is romantic love can be a family miracle in disguise.