Her Joaquin by yellowsublove (10.05.13)

 

 

 

Juliana: "Kaya gusto kita dahil sa genuine concern mo para sa anak ko." 

Chichay truly cares for Joaquin. She feels his weird, mean ways is a cry for love. "Kailangan lang niya ng tamang pagmamahal," she once told her perya family. 

And this concern in some ways mirrors the one shown by Betchay to Joaquin, even before he was born, even without her having met him. Betchay made the great sacrifice of giving this boy his father, even if meant the loss of her love story, her dreams of a future family with Jaime. 

Juliana's Joaquin has his father in his life thanks in part to Betchay's sacrifice. How they are now is not how Juliana imagined things to be, but she has her husband and her son nonetheless, and they are slowly realizing what it means to be family. 

When Joaquin ran away to the perya, it was Betchay in her perya costume who stopped her song for Juliana so she could help her look for her son. We all know how this story first opened with a song, unforgettably played by a marching band. It was Betchay's song for her Bunnyber... and later the words would come true:

I saw the sign
And it opened up my mind
And I am happy now living with you
I left you

And Betchay did leave, but not before giving Jaime's mother and brother what little money she had left, not before she told her Bunnyber that the only way she would ever forgive him was if he truly became the father his son needed. 

Now Juliana is learning from Betchay how to be a loving wife, how family should always come first. We saw Juliana momentarily shedding her company president persona and for the first time we saw Joaquin smile at the sight of his parents caring for each other. 

Now it is Betchay's daughter's turn. Chichay, who came to replace Nanay Puring, the faithful nanny who loves Joaquin like her own son, is now the one who says with fondness: "ang alaga ko." 

"Ang Sir Joaquin ko." Even after Chichay had ceased to be his yaya, he is still her Joaquin. 

And there is a certain kind of poetic justice that Juliana is showing fondness and trust in Chichay. The daughter of the woman Juliana thinks she can never replace has become her trusted eyes and ears. Chichay, daughter of the man who is in search of the boy with a bullet in his head, was led to Joaquin by his own mother. And with this we know this trust will soon be challenged and tested. 

Joaquin, the son loved and treasured to the point of being once imprisoned in his own mother's heart will in time become like a true son to Betchay. He will be her Joaquin, future son-in-law, the one who first "swept her daughter off her feet."