The Doctor's Wife

It's three o'clock in the afternoon. The loud sound of the bell can be heard again in the Manila, specifically in the Quiapo. Avah holds her personal rosary as she walks the long way to the convent altar. He was also wearing the white uniform of the Sisters in the convent.

The next time, the white she is wearing now will be black because she will finally become a full nun. When she reached the first long seat in front of the altar, she sat down. There she began to pray the Rosary, although it was long, she never tired of reciting the holy prayer.

Since childhood until now that she is twenty-six, she has been doing it every day by three o'clock. It's like a disease that even though she has a serious reason for not being able to do it, she still leave it in her mind even though it's not in front of Jesus. After praying, she left the church itself to help her fellow Sisters in cooking snacks for children like her who are cared for by the Catholic Church.

While Avah was walking, she heard Mother Segunda's voice. The good woman who took care of her when she was just a baby. Mother Segunda was just a sister then, now with the passage of time she is in charge of the entire group of nuns in the convent.

"Sister Avah." That old nun brought by age and old age, her skin is already wrinkled and her body parts are drooping just like her cheek.

"Mother Segunda, good afternoon." Avah greeted the approaching nun.

"Did you just finish praying the Holy Rosary?" Mother Segunda asked with a smile.

"Yes, Mother. I also prayed that the ceremony that would make me a nun would be easier." Avah said as they continued walking. Now they are in the garden where young people play and their shrill laughter brings life to the catholic church.

"Regarding that matter, I would like to have a word with you." Mother Segunda said.

"Go ahead, Mother. What do you want to say? Has God heard my prayer and hastened the ceremony?" Avah was happy and the joy was obvious in her voice.

"I know that it springs from your heart to choose God over anything else in the world. I also know that this is what you have been waiting and looking forward to for a long time. But Avah, you have not yet fully seen the beauty of life outside of the Convent because all you see are the undesirables." Mother Segunda answer.

"No matter how beautiful the world outside the Convent is, I would not trade my true home. And God's home is my only home, Mother Segunda." Avah was smiling while deeply looking at the images of the holy Saints and Apostles of Jesus.

"Whatever you say, my decision is complete, Sister Avah. You must leave the Convent one day in two weeks." When Avah heard her, she immediately stopped and turned to the nun. Shock was plastered on her gentle and beautiful face.

"During that time you will meditate, think about another kind of life besides serving in the Convent. I am not driving you away, Sister Avah. In fact I would like you to join me here as a full nun. But when it came out I'm like you before I tied the knot with God, I saw the beauty of the world outside. I want you to see it too and then you decide. By the second week and this is still what you want, nothing else can stop you from being appointed as a real nun."

The two just stopped in the middle of the garden. No matter how loudly the children laughed, it seemed that Avah couldn't hear it because of what the nun said.

"But Mother Segunda, my decision is complete. My dream is to become a nun. You don't have to let me out to meditate!" Begging by the girl.

"Sister Avah, as I said. Whatever you decide or publish, my decision will not be changed. All the nuns here have gone through the same test, but many have also found true happiness outside the Catholic Church. Avah , trust God. Whatever happens during your stay outside, think that it is God's will. And whatever you decide, you are a perfect nun in my eyes." There was a sweet smile on Mother Segunda's lips when she told the girl everything. And with the girl's silence, Segunda knew that she had convinced the girl.

The day passed quickly, even if Avah wanted to stop time she knew it was madness. She was carrying one of her suitcases. The suitcase carries her bibles, scanty clothes, rosaries, and her other holy things. Behind Avah are her colleagues inside. They all watched Avah's departure with sadness in their eyes. Just one more step and she was completely outside the Convent. It's good that she has saved some money that she can use in the first week.

"Sister Avah, take this with you. You need it more." Mother Segunda handed over an old and small cellphone called a Nokia 3210.

"Thank you, Mother Segunda. Thank you brothers and sisters. I promise that I will come back here and when I come back I will never leave again." Avah said.

"Be careful, Sister Avah. We will wait." Said by another Sister who is a few years younger than her.

"Alright Avah, may the Lord guide you." Mother Segunda said. Avah smiled at everyone and then she took one step towards the outside of the Convent's grounds. When she came out, the large wooden door closed and only then did she feel alone.

She stared at the cellphone and then she remembered that she had pinned the number of her friend at the Convent on the page of her purchase. She immediately grabbed the purchase from the pocket of the suitcase and immediately saw the friend's number that was given to her when their path met at the Church. She immediately called her and after a few rings someone answered on the other line.

"Hello? Who's this?" Said by her friend.

"Ah... This is Avah." She is ashamed to introduce herself to her.

"Avah? Who's Avah?"

"Avah Rodeo,"

"Oh my god! Is that really you? Avah from the same orphanage?" It's a good thing that Avah has a good command of the English language when she home school, otherwise they might not understand each other.

"Yes, it's me. I called you because you're the only one I know and have contact with. I-I left the Convent and I thought... that maybe I could stay at your house for two weeks." She said.

Immediately her friend said the words, "Yeah, sure!"

"So this is the guest room, you can use it for the next two weeks. Go on, unpack your things while I prepare some foods. I know you're hungry." said Avah's friend name Melanie.

She's a very successful Hotel and Restaurant Manager that no one would ever think that she was raised by nuns and was once an orphaned child. When Melanie said goodbye to Avah to cook, only then did she start taking out her things.

First she took out her books and bible and then her clothes. When she finished arranging her things, she left the room and went to her friend's small kitchen. Melanie lives in a condo unit that she worked two years to buy. The condo is divided into five parts. The living room, master's bedroom, another bedroom, the kitchen and the bathroom.

After they ate, Melanie got ready for her date with her boyfriend who has been with her for three years. Avah was left alone at home. Her only hobbies are reading the life of Jesus or praying because she doesn't know how to operate the flat screen television in the living room.

By seven o'clock, she finished cooking dinner. Her friend Melanie was the only one she was waiting for so they could eat together. Avah didn't notice the time anymore, maybe because of her tiredness and her trip this morning, she didn't notice that she had fallen asleep on the sofa while waiting for her friend.

Loud sobbing woke the sleeping Avah. She got up from lying on the sofa and was surprised to see some broken things and bottles on the floor while Melanie was crying loudly on one side. She was lying on the cold floor.

"M-Melanie?" Avah called her friend. She worriedly approached her friend, knelt down in front of her and gently hugged the girl. Avah could smell the strong smell of alcohol clinging to her friend's body. She was drunk on alcohol and she was worried for whatever reason she was drunk.

"Melanie? Why are you crying? Why did you drink?" Ava asked. She doesn't want to wonder if she's okay because she already knows the answer to her own question.

"Aww!" Melanie cried. She wrapped her two hands around Avah's slender body and her crying got louder.

"Aww!" When Avah repeated her friend's name, she was in tears because of the girl's situation.

"What's wrong, Melanie? I'm just here, you can take all your anger out on me." She said in her gentle voice.

"He just cheated on me, Avah! Three years! We were together for three years! But he managed to cheat on me! He fucked a random girl and is now bearing his child! Greg left me, Avah! He cheated on me! He... he will marry the mother of his baby." Melanie's crying got louder next to her friend.

After Greg met Melanie just to break up, the girl went straight to the bar to drown herself in alcohol. She thought that maybe after getting too drunk she will fall asleep and the pain will disappear. But no luck. She only got worst of herself. Messed up and wasted.

"Melanie, hold on. Let's just think that he is not what God intended for you to be with." Avah said.

"Avah, I love him! You can say that easily because you have never experienced being hurt." Melanie cried.

"Melanie, we both came from the orphanage. We never once felt like having parents, do you want the child to be like us? The child in her womb is a blessing from God, Melanie. And everything in the world happens according to God's will." Avah said.

Melanie's crying only got stronger because everything Avah said was true and she didn't want to deny the innocent child has a right to have a father.

Avah helped her friend to stand up and then took her to her own room to rest. Avah watched over Melanie until her sobbing got weaker and weaker and finally fell asleep. Because sleep escaped her, she just cleaned the house and ate a little before returning to her friend's side.

It was three in the morning when she finally fell asleep on the sofa next to Melanie's bed. Because she was used to waking up early in the convent, her eyes opened at six o'clock in the morning. She cooked her friend a delicious soup to relieve her headache caused by alcohol.

After feeding Melanie, she went back to sleep. Her eyes were puffy from her tears last night. Because she was also awake, Avah decided to take a nap in the room that was lent to her. But before she rested, she cleaned the kitchen first and everything she used to cook.

When she woke up around one o'clock, she quickly went to the kitchen to prepare lunch for her friend. But she caught Melanie in the kitchen already cooking.

"M-Melanie... I'm sorry. I took a nap." Avah apologized. While stirring whatever dish was in the pot, Melanie smiled at her.

"Avah, no need to apologise. I'm not your housemate to ask for forgiveness. I should even thank you for understanding me last night. Imagine how many chores are waiting for me if you aren't here last night and you didn't clean up my mess." Her said and smile.

"Are you okay? How are you feeling?" Avah asked.

"Better, thanks to you." Melanie returned her gaze to what she was cooking. And when she remembered what she was thinking earlier, she looked back at Avah.

"Avah, are you free tonight?" She asked.

"Yes. I don't know anyone else besides you out here so I have no chance to meet." Avah said to answered her friend's question.

"Cool! Save your time for me tonight. I'll bring you to a place you've never been. When you get there you might change your mind about becoming a nun." Melanie said and laughed even though her eyes were still hiding pain.

"Alright, I'll come, but no matter how beautiful the place you take me to, my decision to become a nun will not change." Avah said firmly.

"We will see about that." Melanie let out a soft chuckle before announcing, "Lunch is ready!" She tried to act happy but her heart is rotten and towering. Later that night, even though she was drunk with alcohol, Avah was there to accompany her in her journey.

After she took a shower, Avah put on her newest and neatest clothes. Her wood-colored skirt reached below the knee, topped off with a loose sweatshirt. Her feet are also comfortable inside her soft flatshoes that she has been using for almost two years but still looks good.

She left her room and then waited for Melanie to come out from her own room. After a few minutes of waiting, she came out. But unlike her appearance, Melanie was wearing a type of dress that only her chest and lower thighs were hidden. She is also very well-groomed, she looks like an actress in her form.

Melanie's heels are so high, she looks like a tower when she and Avah are next to each other. When Melanie looked at her friend, she couldn't help but to look at her with disgusting face! They're attending bar and won't pray in the convent. Avah is such a very beautiful woman, but because she wants to be a nun, she looks like an old lady.

"What are you wearing, Avah?" Lanie ask after inspecting her friend's clothes from head to toe.

"W-why? Is there a problem with what I'm wearing?" Avah looked at her clothes again and didn't see anything wrong with it.

"Everything... is wrong." Lanie said pointing her from head to toe. "Go get changed." She added.

"But I don't have any other sensible clothes, Melanie." Avah's replied.

"I have plenty of it, Avah. Come here, follow me." And she followed her friend. Many kind of clothes did Melanie give to Avah but the only thing she accepted was a black dress with long sleeves reaching up to her wrists, which was knee length and also had a high neckline.

Lanie dressed it up with two inches heels. Melanie also removed Avah's umbilical cord and let her long and black hair fall loose. Regardless of Avah's refusal to put make-up on her, Lanie is unstoppable. Many kind of make-up did she apply on Avah's face. She's so beautiful.

At least people will see how beautiful you are before you become a nun. That's what on Melanie's brain when she finished putting light make-up on Avah's face.

Her friend's eyebrows are thick so she doesn't need shade, her skin is also white, smooth and obviously not soaked in the sun, Avah's nose is also sharp. She also has a small but plumy lips, long eye-lashes and double eyelids. In fact, she is even more beautiful than Melanie, and Melanie is aware of that fact. Her friend's face is so gentle.

"Finished!" Lanie said when she finished putting nude brown lipstick on Avah. The matte lipstick dried on her lips that's why when Avah got wet on it and tried to erase it, it didn't even erase or spread. Everything was fine when Melanie noticed a black rosary under Avah's dress. Without a word, she removed it and put it in her drawer.

"Melanie, I can't take that off! That's my guide, Melanie." Avah said in surprise.

"Honey, calm down. Nothing bad will happen to you tonight." Lanie said and then laughed before they finally left the Condo. Avah got off the taxi around eight o'clock in the evening in front of a colorful building called Romanza.

At the entrance of the building there are big men standing to guard the place. They all wore black and had bulky bodies. Melanie called them with the term bouncer which she did not understand.

When Avah finally got inside the building, they heard a deafening scream and ringing. There were so many lights flashing that every time they hit her eyes she felt dizzy. Almost every corner of that place has a drunken friends or maybe lovers that kissing and having a good time.

"Welcome to the real world!" Melanie shouted in Avah's ear. The truth is that Melanie just wants to forget something and get drunk. But since Avah's reason and purpose why she left church is to see the other world that she hasn't seen, she gladly took her friend with her.

Who knows? Maybe she might find this type of life more interesting than praying, right?

"Melanie what kind of place is this?" Avah asked, full of concerned. Melanie grabbed her hand and then gave her a little squeeze of encouragement.

"You're with me, Avah. You will be safe. Besides, this is my type of world. Aren't you out to discover these places?" Melanie gave her a little smile and then she dragged Avah to the island of people. Melanie sat on a stool and Avah imitated her. Melanie snapped her fingers in the air and when the bartender saw her signal, he faced the two women and then asked what drinks they wanted.

"Two bottled of Rum, please," Melanie said.

"Coming up, ladies." The guy said. He turned his back to the ladies as he grabbed two bottled of rum. "A drink with a mixture of rum, lime juice, and sugar-water for beautiful ladies." He says.

"Oh, thank you." Melanie said as she accepted the two bottles of liquor. She gave one to Avah and she directly grabbed hers.

"Drink that, it has God's blessing." Melanie said after a chuckle. Avah look at the liquid. She had her first taste and it wasn't bad at all. The two of them talked even though there were too many barriers preventing them from understanding each other.

After an hour and a half, Avah hadn't even finished half of her drink when Melanie immediately had two and a half. Melanie became tipsy. The alcohol hit her. She also started to vent her anger about the two of them breaking up with her ex-boyfriend.

"He's an asshole! He even promised to marry me when the right time came. Fuck him! Screw his life, Avah! He is such a cheating bastard! Fuck you, Greg! Fuck you!" Melanie kept on screaming inappropriate words and surprisingly, nobody seems to be bothered.

Nobody in that place mind to hear such cruel words. Melanie nodded again and this time a foreigner approached her. A half Filipino and Spanish.

"Mi Señora, can I have this dance?" Said by a man to Melanie who she immediately accepted.

"Bye, Avah. Go have some fun!" Her friend giggled and then they went to the dance floor. To the ocean of wild people. Avah sighed and then fumbled for the small cellphone in her pocket. She stood up to get it but in an unexpected event, someone bumped into her causing for her cellphone to fall.

"Oh! I'm so sorry, lady! I'm really sorry." Said by a staggering drunken woman.

"It's fine." She answer her with a good smile and then she knelt down to reach for the cellphone. Just as she was about to pick her phone up, a masculine hand was quick to gather it from the ground.

"Is this yours?" What a beautiful man. She just nodded.

"You have a classic phones, huh? I'm Davien. And you are?" Avah took her cellphone. "A-Avah. My name is Avah."