I went to visit Andres in the hospital, he was better now. I hope he really is. He was not on his bed when I arrived, a nurse mentioned that he was on the field now playing ball with some guys he was confined with. The hospital was encouraging more physical activity to prepare them to be with the world again. He gained weight but not that much to make him look like the old Andres that I knew.

He waved at me when I was approaching him. He seemed much better than the last time I saw him.

"Come on Pancho! Join us! We haven't played ball in ages!" He screamed. He looks happier now. I was surprised to see Enrique with him, he survived.

"Enrique! You're here! You're alive!" I said as he approached me and gave me a hug.

"Sí amigo. Estoy en Baguio." He replied. With Enrique around I don't think that Spanish language will die soon. He said that he was in Baguio working with the air force there.

"What are you doing here? Are you in this hospital too?" I asked him.

"No. I am not. I was just visiting Andres when I heard about what happened to him." He replied.

I joined them and the rest of the guys in the hospital for a game of basketball, it was a close game, we won just by two points! If the doctor's advice would be followed, Andres can be home in two weeks, it was a good thing that he responded well to therapy and his medication.

I went to the war office right after visiting him. The military was computing how much damage Manila and the Philippines had since the war started. They were using the data that we gathered over the past weeks They might come with millions of pesos but for me it is priceless. No money can ever buy back what we lost, from lost heritage and lost people. 

There were lists of people who had served the war, a lot of them died and will be commemorated in the Filipino American war memorial in Manila and Bataan. They were lucky because they were recognized and recovered, but as for those who weren't. Some were laid in random places and unmarked graves.

After almost a month, Andres settled well in our new home which is Uncle Poldo's estate in Rizal. He rode horses again but still wasn't able to race or play polo with me. Hugo joined us riding horses all over the ranch. Andres was happy to reunite with his horse named Alvaro. He got him as a gift from pápa as a pony just before we left for Spain. Alvaro was technically his horse but most of the time Uncle Poldo uses him all over the ranch.

The next week, I invited Camila to have lunch with us. We first went to church then have a slightly festive lunch. We had grilled chicken with a side of rice and some vegetables. I haven't had this in years! The war has made eating meat a luxury and made it less accessible for everybody. Pápa looked very good as if he hasn't experienced any war. I don't know how he really feels after knowing that all of the housing districts that he developed in Manila is now gone in a blink of an eye. Some of his friends and their families were murdered too. I don't know if Hugo told him what happened to his family.

He said that we will be staying there until our house will be rebuilt. I guess it would be a long time. The restoration of Manila will begin next year when funds are ready. Then he lost his smile when he remembered Patricia. Máma and Rosa will be here when the roads are safe again for travel after a few months. Máma said that Rosa and her takes care of five orphaned children aged ten and below. Maybe she's pouring her love, energy, and dedication to children after losing Patricia.

The weather in Rizal was much cooler than Manila. The rain started to fall as we had our lunch and the rain showers were normal as we entered the rainy season. Andres and I shared a new room here again. Maybe this is the start of living as we did before the war.

One rainy night while I was deep in my sleep I heard Andres shout over a bad dream. I was startled and was waken up in the middle of the night.

"Pancho! Pancho! It's all coming back to my head! I don't want to see it. I don't want to remember it! Ahhh!" Andres kept on shouting so I approached him and comforted him. He was like a mad horse but when I tapped his shoulder and rubbed his back he started to calm down.

"What was it all about Andres?" I said. Guiding him to sit on my bedside. His head was all sweaty despite of the cool weather.

"It was sunny, during the time when the Japs held me as a war prisoner. I was clearing up a railroad that the Americans blew up. I was doing it with my bare hands and a rake. The Japs were behind us and forcing us to do faster. One of us fell in and was so weak because we haven't eaten in days. He looked me in the eye, I was supposed to help him because the Japs kill men who fell on the ground. But Pancho, I was too late. I was too late! This man was seeking for my help and I didn't help him!" He shared.

"It's not your fault Andres. You helped this man by looking at him making him feel he isn't alone in his dying moment." I said, then tapped his back again.

I handed him a glass of water after he told me some of the things he saw. I was thinking of a topic that can take his attention away from that dream.

"Remember when we were in máma's hometown, we used to sail around the sea? Remember that?" I asked him. He nodded along and is waiting for me to finish the story.

"It was a good day, and the sea breeze were on our faces, our hair flew with the wind. I was nine and you were ten during that time. We were on that boat and we docked in the middle of the sea, we both jumped into the cool water and swam around the boat." I added. His worries were replaced with ease and smiled upon remembering that memory.

"Remember when máma almost had a heart attack when we pranked her for not getting our heads out of the water quickly after we jumped? She thought we drowned and pápa was about to jump and rescue us." Andres added. Then he started laughing. Okay, I succeeded. I don't want him to suffer the same fate like Michael's friend Mario who killed himself because of depression.

"Andres, Enrique was asking me before if maybe you can date his sister Victoria? Enrique thinks that you can be good for his younger sister." I asked him. Maybe he needs to date now too. He was a serial dater when we were both in Madrid.

"Well you're a little late Pancho. I think Victoria and I are now dating. We exchange letters when I was in the hospital." He replied.

"That's good to hear Andres." I am successful in taking away his mind of his traumatic past. I hope this flashbacks will stop soon.

Andres and I talked about a lot of things that night like we used to. He was telling me on how he was thinking on accepting pápa's wish on working in our company when we can operate again. I told him that we will work together and be a team like what we always do.

Not long after the first time I invited Camila over, I invited her again for lunch. Camila charmed Pápa, Andres, Uncle Leopoldo, and Aunt Nancy. Hugo and Victor were with us that day too. They all loved her. Then uncle asked me when would be our wedding, that I shouldn't let a charming lady like her get away from me. Camila and I looked each other eye to eye and laughed. The war just ended and my uncle cannot wait to host a wedding where he and Pápa will be inviting two hundred people or more, it would be a cultural melting pot once again but people would still group according to what they please and hold prejudices among each other. I hope this thing will change.

"I think that would be soon, but not now. The war was just over. We don't know how can we start a family in a situation like this." I replied. Camila flashed a surprised look. She didn't know that I was serious.

"Pancho, how about I give you a position in our business? You and Andres could make a good team." Pápa asked.

"I don't know. I wasn't able to finish college. I don't know how businesses work." I replied.

"You can study again here in Manila. In University of Santo Tomas or La Salle they will accept you when they reopen and I think they will credit all of your credentials from Madrid." He replied.

"Camila, you can be the woman of the house. I will build Pancho and Andres houses not far away from our ancestral home in Manila. I know you could be a great mother to my grandkids and a wife to my son." He said, facing Camila's direction. During our parents' time women weren't allowed to work. So they weren't made to go to university. Their parents thought that young women will just be wives, and their only job is to raise Catholic kids. Pápa assumed that we will live the way they did but I don't think that Camila is only limited to raising our children. She can do a lot more than that.

I saw Camila's reaction. She doesn't just want to stay at home and raise kids like her mother did. It's 1945 and the world will continuously change. I remember how I told her about how modern European women were. She wanted to work, and be like them.

Not long after, Pápa gave me an engagement ring that he had commissioned from a jeweler friend of his, it was a basic less than a carat diamond ring set in white gold. I asked Camila to marry me. I asked her to marry me when her family invited me for lunch in their estate in Pampanga. I wrote to Máma and she said that she would go to our wedding and would do anything just to reach home in time.

Camila and I agreed that she would still hold her surname. She agreed to be Señora Camila Rodriguez de Fàbregas. We planned a very intimate and private wedding which was very rare in our time. I don't really want to host a banquet, it will be filled with people I don't know and friends of our parents. Camila and I wanted to host dinner inviting only our closest family and friends.