The Billionaire's Contracted Wife [English]

While Mrs. Garcia was in deep thought, Ashley couldn’t help but secretly look at her. She felt that there was something wrong about the couple. They were supposed to be husband and wife, but they never acted like one.

While Ashley was deep in her train of thought, Dr. Garcia placed his utensils down and got up. He wiped his mouth with a napkin and said, "Well, we should start with your examination, Mr. Jones. We still have a lot to do, and time is of the essence. Are you ready?" He asked while his eyes flickered over to Mrs. Garcia.

Tanaga only nodded while he sipped his daily dose of coffee.

If he had any choice, he wanted to go back to their room and sleep. He’s still tired from what they had done the night before. Given a choice, he wanted to postpone the examination for at least a day. However, it doesn’t seem like it’s going to work. He finished his coffee and also got up. 𝗳𝚛𝗲𝕖𝚠𝚎𝚋𝗻𝗼𝕧𝗲𝐥.𝚌𝚘𝐦

"Sweetheart, this examination would probably take all day. What do you plan on doing?" asked Tanaga nonchalantly as he gave his wife a quick peck on her lips afterward.

"Don’t worry about me, Tan. I’ll keep Mrs. Garcia’s company. After you’re done, just go lay down and rest easy, and once you’re done, maybe we can have a vacation afterward and go sightseeing!" Exclaimed Ashley excitedly, a smile plastered on her face.

"Are you sure? I could always cancel the examination. It won’t make that much of a difference if I do anyways. It’s not like I’ll die soon or anything," Tanaga admitted.

His private doctor decided to intervene.

"I’m sorry, Mr. Jones, but it’s detrimental that you have your examination right now. This way, we will be able to determine what type of serum Dr. Garcia needs to create for you. If you postpone it any further, it’ll take a much longer time," he explained to Tanaga.

Tanaga sighed, "Yes, yes, I know. I just wish I could postpone the exam to rest since I didn’t get a wink last night," He said as he kissed Ashley on the forehead and turned to follow Dr. Garcia.

Dr. Garcia practiced medicine at home. Since he’s a specialist, he only went to the hospital if he needed surgery of any kind. Other than that, he stayed at home, and never went out. He had his own laboratory where he created his serums for his patients.

===

Once all the men were out of the way, Ashley tried to see if Mrs. Garcia knew how to speak Tagalog. She knew deep in her heart that she’s Filipina, and she wanted to prove it to herself once and for all.

Ashley tested the waters by beginning helping Mrs. Garcia with the dishes, picking up the plates, and bringing them to the sink while trying to start small talk.

"Gosh, It’s been almost a year since we were back home, and I really missed the Philippines right now. How about you, Tita?" Ashley asked nonchalantly.

Mrs. Garcia turned around and looked around before she answered. "I’m not sure when was the last time I was back home. To be honest, I don’t even know where home is," she admitted, her eyes filled with sadness. Tears began to form in her eyes, and Ashley noticed it immediately.

She looked at the doctor’s wife worriedly.

"Tita, why don’t we sit and talk about it? I’m sure they’re busy now examining my husband, and Dr. Garcia won’t be out for a while. What do you think? These dishes are not going anywhere, and you seem in need of a friend," she comforted the older woman.

Mrs. Garcia was hesitant, but she really wanted to get it out of her system. She had wanted to talk to someone about it for years, and this was her chance.

"I don’t know. I just don’t want to be seen conversing with you when my husband comes out of the room. He always warned me not to associate myself with people from the Philippines, even though I have no idea why. I’ve asked him why on multiple occasions, but he always has the same answer, saying nothing good would come if I did. I already listened and followed it for many years, even though there’s nothing wrong with the two of us sitting down for some tea, right?" She asked, wanting some assurance from Ashley.

"Of course there’s not. Let’s just drink some tea so we can relax. It’ll be quite fun." Ashley said as she grabbed Mrs. Garcia’s arm and ushered her towards the garden, which she had passed multiple times, but not spend time looking at its surreal beauty.

Ashley’s eyes widened when she saw how beautiful the garden was. There were beautiful flowers that were blooming all over the place. There was a fountain with an angelic statue, which water was spouting out from. She thought it was cute and decided to take a picture to send to her family back in Houston.

Mrs. Garcia had a broad smile on her face as she watched Ashley take the picture.

For some reason, Ashley reminded her of someone. But she just didn’t know who.

Once Ashley was finished taking pictures, she finally found a spot and sat down.

"This is nice. Fresh air, a beautiful garden surrounded me, and the scent of many flowers surrounding me. This is the life," she admitted as she leaned on the chair she was sitting in the sunlight.

"You know, I still remember a year ago I was only dreaming of going overseas, getting a good-paying job so I could not let my parents worry. Now, they live in America, and I’m traveling here in Europe. What a life," she said.

Once Ashley opened up the conversation about the Philippines. Mrs. Garcia began to think. She asks herself, where exactly in the Philippines was she from? What about her family? Did she even have any? Suddenly she began to feel a headache coming her way, so she tried to clear her mind.

She took a deep breath to try to calm down and did it a couple more times before her mind began to clear, and the headache that was forming slowly faded away, turning into nothing but a mere shadow.

At this, Ashley asked, "Mrs. Garcia, are you alright? Is there anything I can get for you? Any medicine, some aspirin, a glass of water, perhaps?" She asked worriedly, also quite scared at the fact that Mr. Garcia could and most likely would blame her for his wife’s condition if anything happened.

Mrs. Garcia only smiled at Ashley, grateful that she cared and was worried about her. She then gently picked up her hand and looked her straight in her eyes.

She said, "Child, don’t worry about me, I’m fine. I was just exhausted, I was thinking about if I had family in the Philippines, and that’s when I began to feel quite lightheaded. But I’m fine now, you don’t need to worry. I’m just exhausted from all the hosting duties, ’is all."

There it was, the answer to the question Ashley was thinking about. Mrs. Garcia did in fact not remember anything. She became even more suspicious of Mr. Garcia, and the possibility of him hiding it even from his wife only made it even more suspicious. So, Ashley decided to dig deeper to see if she could find out more.

"Mrs. Garcia, if you don’t mind me asking, do you remember anything about the Philippines? Any relatives? Family? Did something happen?" Ashley asked, awaiting the other woman’s reply.

"I don’t mind at all, really. Even though we just met, I feel like I could trust you. It’s a very long story, but we have all day anyways, but before I tell you, would you like a drink? It’d be rude to leave you parched," Mrs. Garcia asked.

Ashley nodded, and Mrs. Garcia got up to go to the kitchen, leaving Ashley all alone in the garden, dumbfounded with her questions not exactly answered.

===

A moment later, Mrs. Garcia came back with a tray of cold drinks and some cake. She put it down on the lawn table before sitting down and made herself comfortable.

"So’ where were we? You have asked me if I remember anything about the Philippines? The answer is no. I had an accident a long time ago. A car accident and I was badly hurt. That’s what my husband said. Anyway, I was disfigured and in a coma for a couple of years. When I was woken up, I had lost my memory." She stopped for a moment trying to recall what Dr. Garcia told her what happened.

’She had an accident, she was disfigured, she was in a coma and when she woke up she didn’t have a memory of her past life. What she knows now was everything Dr. Garcia had told her... What if he was lying and they are not actually husband and wife? What if...’ Ashley has a horrid look on her face thinking that...

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A/N [1] Tita is an endearment way to call an older lady not related to a person. In English, it’s Aunty.