"The Proposal: An Intro to The Retreat"

"The Proposal: An Intro to The Retreat"

by:

Virgilio F. De leon Jr.MD

The drive to the Retreat house was something that Jinyo did not even notice. The sky was dark and threatened rain but for the most part seemed to have held off on her behalf. She swears that she probably could not handle anything else going wrong this day. She needed to be out of the city. Away from everything at least for this difficult time.

"Eyes on the road Jinyo." She scolded herself when her thoughts strayed to other more painful things. Her phone began to ring. It was that cheerful tone that she had put in the day they bought her phone which could only mean that it was her mom. Jinyo stopped her car and accepted the video call. 

"where are you Jinyo?" Her moms obviously aged but pretty face came on. With eyes that seemed to be looking at everything. The same eyes that made Jinyo conscious growing up.

"I am half way toward the Retreat house." She had tried lying to her mother before but she knew she was not good at it and it was better to tell the truth since her mom was like a Detective in the novels she likes. She always gets the answers that she needs.

"Oh. So who broke your heart this time?" They both knew that Jinyo only went to this particular place to get away. To heal. To be where he once was. When Jinyo pursed her lips together her mother knew that it was serious and so no longer pressed her for a name.

"It is good that you are on your way to the Retreat house. You know that it is peak season and we are all understaffed as we are at the other branches...."

"Mom what are you saying?"

"Well I am saying that if you do this one favor for me I can give you the deed to that Retreat house and you can run it as you see fit."

"Really?" It was not like her mom to just give away something so profitable. She did not earn her reputation for doing things easy. "What's the catch?"

"Well. Since I can't send anybody there you'd have to take care of the single guest that booked that place for a month."

"A month?"

"Yes. A month and the place is yours."

"I still don't see the catch Mom."

"You will." Her mom whispered to herself.

"What was that?" Jinyo forgot her pain for just a little but it was slowly creeping back now.

"Jinyo. Treat this guest well. If they have no complaints at the end of their stay then the place is yours. He would have wanted to you to have it anyway."

"Who is it?"

"Someone you might not even know."

"Which means I might know them."

"I didn't say that. Call me when you meet them ok? He will be with this manager.Ciao."

Jinyo did not even have the time to answer back. Her mom already knew her answer. It was comforting to know that she was still at her tricks and here she was thinking that she no longer cared. Jinyo looked at the boxes of books at the back of her car. At least she would have time to read her books in the evenings when she was done.