THE FIVE WIVES OF MR. ZHARTIE

The legal wife, the work wife, the housewife, the trophy wife, and the wife who got away; walking aimlessly in the middle of the night, I wallow in misery, wondering who am I among the five.

My assignment is simple, to spy on Mr. Zhartie while I take care of him as his live-in nurse. It’s a no-brainer job, really. I’m to report to Silas everything and get paid for it, but my foolish heart made things complicated when I let myself fall in love with Mr. Zhartie —the dying tycoon and founder of Zhartie Technology Incorporated — while I’m still madly in love with Silas, a computer genius who became multi-millionaire as a teen.

It was a year ago when Silas accidentally stumbled upon me in the hospital where I work. From there, the hospital director, who had nothing but admiration for the young global phenomenon, happily fired me to work for Silas as his corporate spy.

I could have refused, right? It’s not like he is a mafia boss who can kill me if I decline the fat check he’s offering me, but I don’t care about the money because I fell in love with Silas the moment I laid eyes on him. A year older than me, I sensed that beneath his breathtaking persona that oozes with so much confidence and power, there’s a vulnerability in his deep dark eyes.

Foolishly charmed, I know I’ll do anything for him, even commit a crime. From my first meeting with Silas, I then found myself in the mansion of Mr. Zhartie, employed as his night nurse.

About to turn seventy, Mr. Zhartie looks younger despite suffering from cancer in the spine that metastasized in his lungs, kidney, and spleen. He has been fighting the disease on and off for years with surprising positivity and openness to any eventuality.

“I’m ready to leave this world, if not for my wives who keep telling me they'd kill me if I die,”

I can’t help but laugh at his silly joke. I must admit, Mr. Zhartie has his signature charm that girls can't resist.

“Hi, my love,” Eva, who is in her early 30's like me, looks like a teenager. I used to watch her movies. She's pretty then, but all the more gorgeous now that she doesn't need to work. She kissed Mr. Zhartie full on the lips and I can tell how best of an actress she is. I know, first hand the foul smell of rotten medicine and juiced food that the old man breathes all day. Eva didn’t flinch though, she kissed him lovingly if not passionately.

“Don’t worry, I’ll be careful,” Eva winked at me, thinking I was guarding them because she almost gave him a heart attack the last time he got carried away. Without batting her eyelashes, Eva stripped in front of me and climbed on the bed naked, wrapping her arms around Mr. Zhartie.

I sat on my chair, watching the machine as both of them have their small talk before they fall asleep. There’s nothing sexual in the way the couple cuddles each other, sharing their secrets as if I’m not around to hear. I remembered the Non-Disclosure Agreement I signed up for before I was hired by Mr. Zhartie, wondering if I should also tell these intimate secrets to Silas. Ugh! I'm beginning to doubt myself.

***<><><>***

“I think she genuinely loves him,” I insisted when I reported how Eva is around Mr. Zhartie.

“You're so naive. She loves his money, not his rotting body!” Silas was sarcastic.

“She was being trafficked as a young star in showbiz, Mr. Zhartie came and rescued her,” I remembered crying silently as I listened to Eva reminding Mr. Zhartie about it.

“Don’t you dare leave me, Edgar, you hear?!” Eva begged Mr. Zhartie over and over again. "I don’t know how to live without you,”

“I swear that’s not purely acting,” I insisted.

“Maybe she’s just scared that the old man will leave her nothing when he dies. Mr. Zhartie is just using her, she’s nothing but a trophy wife.” Silas concluded. I realized that I'd rather be naive than be cruel like Silas for not believing in love.

"You know, love can develop beyond physical appearance. If a man saves me the way Mr. Zhartie did, I...I can love him too,"

"Why, do you need to be saved?" He smirked at me.

I sighed, Yes...maybe from you, I thought to myself.

"Anyway, enough with the gossip! Do you have business-related news for me?" Silas went back to his computer, dismissing me.

“I-I will try next week, promise.” There it is again, my heart breaks whenever I disappointed him.

***<><><>***

“Your vitals are okay, what’s wrong? Do you need anything?” I'm worried as I wiped, what seemed to be tears, from Mr. Zhartie's eyes. Eva is long gone and I must admit that my patient sleeps better when his naked young wife is around.

“I’m okay, I just had a lovely dream,” he tried to smile despite the pain, feeling the sting of the medicine I put in his IV.

“Can you tell me about it?” I’m interested, not because I’m prying for Silas, but because I like it when Mr. Zhartie tells stories of his past, like how he grew up poor at the docks, carrying cargo at a very young age to earn money for food.

“It’s about Ruthie, my first wife,”

Ah, the legal wife, I thought.

“I won her in a bet you know,” he bragged.

“What?” I chuckled, “You’re joking,”

“It’s the truth. She was older than me by five years. I was fifteen and she’s twenty,”

“..and you won her on a bet, how?” I can’t imagine how barbaric it is for a girl to be married off through a bet, like a cow being gambled away.

“She’s my ate (an honorifics for older sister), we grew up at the docks together. I’m an orphan and she’s the daughter of a ruthless butcher. She’s nice to us -- street kids -- we all want to marry her someday. Then her father arranged for her to marry Rocco, a thug who collected tong (protection money) from people at the docks who earn as little cash as they can. Ruthie loathed Rocco, he’s one ugly man, you see,” Mr. Zhartie rarely talks in long sentence, but tonight he is in the mood.

I smiled. Yes, I can imagine how Mr. Zhartie may look back then, despite the wrinkles and saggy skin, I can tell that he was a handsome man in his youth.

“And then…” I know, I must let him sleep but I can't get enough of his stories.

“I asked Rocco for a fistfight in exchange for his fishing boat and Ruthie,”

“What?! But, you’re just a kid,” I realized later that a fifteen-year-old in the 21st century is a baby compared to a teen in the early 20th century. Back then, honor was more important than anything else. No matter what, an honor fight was acknowledged and respected by everyone working at the docks, including the most ruthless among the goons.

“And a small one too. Rocco was a giant, an ugly one,” Mr. Zhartie chuckled.

“How did you win then?”

"He may be a giant, but a stupid one," Mr. Zhartie laughed a little before coughing hard.

"You have to rest," I loaded his IV with his medicine and watched him sleep. The boat he won became three and then he became known as the cargo boss, with a fleet of boats to carry goods in between the docks in his town. With Ruthie, he has three daughters.

Fearing that I only have gossip to bring Silas the following week, overhearing Agatha talking to Mr. Zhartie, is a breakthrough.

"He's a new money and as you said before, we need him," Mr. Zhartie consoled Agatha. Though past sixty, Agatha has no plans of retiring or leaving the board of ZTI just yet.

“Ugh! I’m hoping you’d tell me what to do,” she sounded impatient.

“You're my teacher, Aggie. I learned everything from you, remember?” Mr. Zhartie chuckled.

That night Mr. Zhartie told me about Agatha, his work wife.

“I came in the city, thinking I’m rich but I'm nothing but a poor uneducated boy from an unknown province. Agatha was Don Manuel's secretary. He controlled the transportation industry including the routes of my cargo vessels. Thinking that I can venture into the trucking industry, I march into his office like I’m somebody and never felt so humiliated in my life when he told me how much money I should have to invest in his company,”

“It’s not enough?” I asked, not interested in the business, but I know Silas will be pleased.

“Enough for me to be offered a position in his warehouse, loading and unloading cargo. But, Agatha taught me the ropes of the business. Told me to invest my money in me. So I went to business school at night and she introduced me to who’s who of the business world.”

“What does Agatha’s boss think of this?”

“Hated my guts, but Agatha turned me from a frog to a prince. Taught me how to dress, talk, and breathe business. Before I knew it, I sold all my shares in the company and invest in computers. Agatha was the only one who believed in me, then. The rest, as you know, is history,”

Yes, I googled Mr. Zhartie and learned of his rise to fortune, everyone does.

***<><><>***

Silas was pleased with my report the next time I visited his office.

“I know she’s his business weapon but she’s old now and their only son is weak,” Silas murmured to himself.

“May I ask why… why you are doing this?” My curiosity got the best of me.

“Business… I want to be the number one in the global market,” he said, absentmindedly.

"B-but..."

He leaned in to kiss me and as he did I forgot what I was trying to say. He made love to me that night, a reward for being a good spy. It motivated me to find out more about Mr. Zhartie, though I'm beginning to be fond of him despite myself.

***<><><>***

“What did your first wife thought of you having…I mean… divorcing her because of Agatha?”

“Ruthie? Oh, we didn’t divorce. She understands my need. I traveled a lot and…we have a bond that others don’t understand. When I’m overseas, Ruthie even calls Agatha to tell her what she needs for the kids,”

“Wow! Really?”

“Yes, I’m good with all my lovers and their all wives to me…but…”

“But…What?”

“Anna Lia…she’s…she’s the one…”. Mr. Zhartie began to tear up as he told me about his Anna.

Mr. Zhartie talked of an adventure in a remote province where he planned to invest, there she met Anna Lia, the love of his life.

“I never knew what love is until I met her…my other wives didn’t know. Oh, I courted her for months and when I was able to make her fall in love with me, I married her…”

“Married her? B-but you said Ruthie is...”

“I know…it was… a tribal thing… something in the province…anyway...”

He was quiet for a moment and then he sobbed. Alarmed, I checked his vitals and tried to calm him down.

“What’s wrong?” I asked, massaging his arm.

“That was the best two years of my life and then her family learned the truth and they're gone. I searched and searched for her but…”

He sobbed and I needed to sedate him so he could sleep. Now I know that Anna Lia is the wife who got away and the wife that Mr. Zhartie loved the most.

When I reported this to Silas, I knew it was a useless piece of information to him. To my delight, he made love to me that evening, but he then accused me of being a hopeless romantic.

“Don’t fall in love with me, this is business. Is that clear?” He said in a commanding voice.

I blinked and nodded, though my heart was breaking into pieces. In his defense, he is clear from the very start that he has no intention of marrying anyone, not giving me false hope about what we have. I'm the one who agreed to this one-way relationship. Yes, coz... that's me...stupid!

***<><><>***

For me though, Vilma is the one I can relate to. Maybe because we believe in TLC (tender, loving, care) approach in falling for a man, even the wrong one. Vilma is the most domesticated among Mr. Zhartie's wives. In her late forties, she was simple yet sophisticated. Though she doesn't live in the mansion, she manages the household and makes sure that she cooks the best food for Mr. Zhartie.

“Oh, we fight alright,” Eva once told me about Mr. Zhartie’s wives. When she’s in the mood to talk, I get a lot from her. Maybe because I've seen her naked so she became comfortable around me.

“Especially Vi, because I came after her,”

“How did Mr. Zhartie meet her?”

“She’s his secretary, but she spoils him a lot and he loves her for it,”

Oh, that’s why she’s the housewife, I thought to myself. Vi may be older, but for me, she outshines Eva’s beauty.

“Vi is more of Edgar's mom and she hates social gatherings so much, so I'm Edgar’s favorite to bring around and show off to his friends,” Eva chuckled, delighted for being the trophy wife.

***<><><>***

Living alone in his mansion, the wives visit in turns, even Ruthie who is wheelchair-bound came with her grandson once a week. Sunday is the best though because Mr. Zhartie reserves it for his 7 kids, their spouses, and children. Even those living overseas are part of the party since the video conference is open for 8 hours as the family shares stories and meals.

There were occasional business arguments among the siblings, but they all respect their father and never allow tension in the house since it’s not good for Mr. Zhartie.

***<><><>***

"How did he do that? Make his family come together, the way that he did?" I asked Silas, unable to hide my admiration despite my disapproval of cheating men. I remembered how Eva defended Mr. Zhartie.

"Oh, excuse me! Edgar didn't cheat on us. We all fall in love with him knowing we'll will be sharing him with other women," Eva explained when I shared my thoughts about cheating men.

"Before Mr. Zhartie pursued me, he asked for Vi's blessings, likewise with Agatha for Vi and Ruthie for Agatha. He also told me the truth before asking me if I understand fully what's at stake in agreeing to have a relationship with him," she continued.

Except for Anna Lia, I thought, who is brave enough to walk away.

***<><><>***

Silas was often dismissive of my growing admiration for Mr. Zhartie.

“Oh, come on, I thought girls like to be exclusive? How can you tolerate sharing your man with someone else? He’s a fraud who preys on innocent women, that’s what he is!”

Are you saying we're exclusive? I wondered, but proceeded in telling him what I know about the next board meeting, instead.

The following week, I’m surprised to see the four wives together, having a closed-door meeting with Mr. Zhartie.

“They’re here since this morning,” Claire, the day nurse told me when I arrived for my shift.

“Just knock when you need to and leave quietly after,” she instructed me.

I wanted to listen to their talk but I only got bits and pieces of information until I heard them mention Silas' name and learned of their plan to kick him out of the board. Silas wanted to take over the company as chairman. The piece of information I gave him before allowed him to buy off stocks from other members. Now he owned almost half of Mr. Zhartie's company, enough to get himself voted as the new chairman of the board.

I should feel happy for Silas but… I feel for Mr. Zhartie too. I learned to love my patient, you see. Yes, he is flawed alright, but…but he tried to build not just an empire but a family who loves him a lot.

***<><><>***

Walking to Silas’ office, I don’t know what to do. I’m torn between winning his heart by telling him the strategy of the family to stop his take over of the business and preserving the legacy of Mr. Zhartie, whom I learned to respect and wanted to protect.

Looking glum, it’s too late for me to see the woman who is in Silas' office.

“Err…. I’m sorry…”. I looked at the woman in her fifties, with a kind smile and a welcoming warmth as she looked at me with knowing eyes.

“Hi, you must be Mei,” the woman asked me to sit with her at the conference table.

“Y-yes…” I was told that Silas stepped out.

She introduced herself as Silas’ mom.

“He’ll be here in a minute…he told me to tell you to come back later but...tell me first, though…”

She looked at me, contemplating.

“H-how...how's Edgar?”

***<><><>***

Yes, Silas’ mom is Mr. Zharties' wife… the wife that got away… the love of his life. I found myself confessing everything to Anna Lia. It’s one thing to destroy a business and be a pawn in doing it, but it’s another thing for me to destroy a father and son relationship.

"Silas grew up with my father who poisoned his mind about Edgar. My father felt betrayed when he learned that Edgar was married and I was the third wife, but you see... I love him and...he was never dishonest with me,"

Shocked, I didn't know what to say.

"Help me, Mei. Help me to make Silas forgive his father,"

***<><><>***

I was watching outside the conference room of the ZTI towers when Silas came in with his business dream team, ready for the annual stockholders meeting. Watching from the monitor, I was privy to the take-over meeting that Silas planned. I squeezed Mr. Zhartie's hand as he saw his son for the first time. He watched his confidence and brilliant mind at work.

"He is exactly like me, he is truly my son!" Mr. Zhartie felt proud despite the true nature of his son's intention for his company.

I remembered when I brought Anna Lia to Mr. Zhartie and they shared a hug that broke my heart.

"I miss you so much!" Mr. Zhartie sobbed uncontrollably.

"I'm sorry! I'm sorry!" Anna Lia kissed Mr. Zhartie.

"I understand, it has to be done,"

All along, Mr. Zhartie is in contact through a third party to make sure Anna Lia and Silas have everything they need. Anna Lia may have gotten away but Mr. Zhartie is always with them every step of the way, providing for all their needs and supporting Silas in his education and endeavors. With Silas' brilliance and Mr. Zhartie's financial support, Silas became who he is today.

The other wives are welcoming to Anna Lia.

“We’ve been waiting for you…”

“Edgar has been waiting… for a long time…”

“Welcome to the family,”

Though Mr. Zhartie never told his other wives about Anna Lia, they all heard him utter her name in his sleep.

***<><><>***

When Silas, who earned a point ahead in the vote, secured his position as the majority stockholder, his mother entered the conference room together with Mr. Zhartie's four wives. They merged their shares and voted against Silas who lost by only one point.

Stunned! Silas couldn't forgive his mother's betrayal until Mr. Zhartie asked everybody to leave so he could meet with his son. After pushing Mr. Zhartie’s wheelchair to the conference room, I left, but not before seeing the hurt in Silas' eyes when he looked at me.

With the hope in my heart despite being broken, I knew that Silas will finally meet the five wives and his father. It's up to Silas to forgive Mr. Zhartie because I know that no amount of success can mend Silas' broken heart.

Stepping outside the ZTI tower, I felt the raindrops drenching my face as my tears flow generously and thought to myself…

The legal wife, the work wife, the housewife, the trophy wife, and the wife who got away; walking aimlessly in the middle of the night, I wallow in misery, wondering who am I among the five.

***<><><>***

Mei and Silas wed a year after Mr. Zhartie died. Now the new chairman of ZTI, Silas swore to Mei that she's unlike any of his father's five wives, coz she's his one and only wife -- the wife who gets to stay by his side.