Tainted Trust [Leni Robredo x Bongbong Marcos]

Chapter 2: Courtship Mission

Bongbong's consultant immediately scolded him upon discovering that he went to Leni's victory party last night. His consultant laid out to him the possible risks and damage that his irresponsible action may cause to his image and to their future plans.

"Wala namang scene na naganap. I doubt that there will be issues circulating around. Besides, vice president na siya 'di ba?" He tried to redeem himself.

"That's the point. She just became the vice president, the media would create headlines, assumptions of what response will our party show after the proclamation. We decided to remain quiet for the next weeks and secretly observe her to find loopholes and flaws, 'di ba? But with what you did baka maging weary pa sila lalo and baka mas tayo pa yung magmukang masama sa media." She retorted. "What if Leni tells the media that you attacked her that night and they are able to prove that you really went to her party even if you weren't even invited? Ano? Sira na tayo niyan agad." She followed.

"I doubt she'll speak or talk about what happened last night." He sounded so sure. "We can't be sure. You went to her party nga 'di ba? With you saying that you think she won't speak much about it, I assume nothing bad happened pero she's an enemy. Kapag naisipan niyan gumanti sayo by making up stories against you, patay tayo diyan." She countered.

"I really doubt she would even elaborate our encounter." His consultant started to wonder why he seemed to be so sure of himself. "Teka. Ano bang nangyari? I need to know it in details so we know how to patch loopholes." His consultant asked.

"Something... Let's say... Something." He uttered vaguely. "Something? What do you mean?" Bongbong just flashed a snarky smile hinting what happened. His consultant's eyes grew a bit in surprise.

"May nangyari sainyo?!"

"Oy, teka. 'Wag naman tayong maingay masyado." He chuckled. "Wait, okay. Tell me about it, pa'nong nangyari yon?"

"Well, I'm not going to put it in details. I was kind of drunk, she was jnder the influence of alcohol too then it happened." He sounded slightly bragging. "Wow. I didn't expect this."

"So... I've been thinking this morning... Siguro I can make my way into her, alam no 'yon? Get close to her and then once na mapalapit na 'yung loob niya sa'kin, that's the time na aaksyon ako na mapaamin siya about the cheating that they did in this election — from her own mouth." He formulated the plan amusing his consultant. "Sounds like a plan..."

After a while, the called on their most trusted fellows to inform them about the plan and they gladly helped him in ironing it. "So in this part, everyone is going ought to be silent. Basta Bongbong will be befriending Leni — make sure it feels real — then paaminin mo siya, si Ralph, marunong mag install ng recording device sa gadgets, this would help para may strong evidence tayo." One of his colleagues instructed.

"Why don't you make her fall in love para mas swak. You know how to get girls." His consultant suggested, Bongbong laughed. "Titignan natin. Kung kaya, eh di gagawin." He agreed. "Basta sisiguraduhin ko na 'yang pandadaya nilang liberal party e manggagaling mismo sa bibig niya." He followed.

"Once na makuha natin 'yan, we'll make it goes viral, destroy Leni's image then in case na you made it possible na maging kayo, we can end it up like she cheated on you and then we'll make sure na saatin manggagaling yung source. We'll make it appear like we're so concerned to the country and then you'll run for the presidency next election." His consultant clarified, Bongbong felt so thrilled to drag her down.

—

Weeks after the one night stand incident that happened between Leni and Bongbong, Leni dragged herself into some heavy workload to keep herself from thinking about it. She desperately wanted to keep it off her mind as after some days of feeling remorse about it, she felt herself getting quite interested about Bongbong and she knew she shouldn't.

She shouldn't because it is wrong and it is very unlikely that such romance would become possible between them considering how huge rivals they were and how different they are, he was an elite politician while she remains as a simple one, they were too different to be real.

However, they both work for the people, for the country and it was inevitable for them not to bump into each other. Her eyes slightly grew, she immediately turned around to cover her face upon seeing him at the Malacañang.

He couldn't hide his smile upon seeing her, he walked towards her and greeted her brightly. "Hello, Ms. Vice president." He shook her hand. "Uh. Yeah, uhm, hi. Hello." She awkwardly chuckled and shook his hand back and immediately pretended that she was up to a lot of tasks to do for the day.

Bongbong thought of a nice conversation starter to begin the plan with her but then President Duterte suddenly interrupted borrowing Leni's time to talk causing Bongbong to miss the chance so he just decided to look for her office and scrutinize every part of it leading him to an idea to win her heart.

After a long talk with the president, Leni went to her office and got herself surprised to see a stem of rose lying on her desk. There wasn't any card or hint of who it was from but she felt so touched with it. It has been ages since she last felt someone wooing over her and doing such romantic acts.

The next days remained the same, a stem of rose lying on her desk everyday, consecutively and consistently and it made her wonder who was behind this romantic gesture, she wanted to at least thank the person incase but she didn't know how to trace him down, she also didn't want to ruin the surprise.

One dead afternoon after she had some good reads at the library of the palace, she walked back to her office only being stunned to see Bongbong suspisciously inside her working area. He was facing back, he was unaware of her presence until she cleared her throat startling him.

He immediately hid the rose her was holding behind his back. "Leni!" He uttered in surprise. "Kanina ka pa diyan?" He asked as he turned following her direction to keep the rose hidden behind his back, it was inevitable for her not to notice his hands seeming to hide something.

"What are you doing in my office?" She asked. "And may tinatago ka ba diyan sa likod mo?" She followed. His chest felt so heavy with her sudden questions. "Ha? Wala. This is nothing." He denied.

She glared at him."Show me your hands." She demanded leaving him with no choice but to reveal what he was holding. Her furrowed eyebrows faded out as she saw him holding a stem or rose.

She looked up to him waiting for an explanation. "Fine. I guess there's no more reason to deny. This is for you." He spilled and handed her the rose. "For me? Para saan?" She asked still not moving to take the rose. "Eeh... I just want to continue to the streak." He retorted. "Streak?" She recalled the consistent leaving of roses on her desk for the past few weeks. "Are you saying na ikaw yung nag-iiwan niyan sa table ko everyday?" She interrogated.

"Well, not all the time, sometimes I lack time to drop by kaya I ask your personnels to leave one, but yeah. It's me." He confessed and scratched the back of his head. A small smile appeared on her lips, "Bakit? Para saan?" She asked.

"Well, I've been harsh on you during the campaign period so I wanna make it up to you kaso I didn't know how so I did it in a Marcos way." He explained, "Wow. Marcos way. May ganon pala?" She chuckled. "Anyway, thank you but you don't have to do this to make it up to me." She continued and smiled at him.

"But I want to." He abruptly cuts in. "Hindi na kailangan, senator Bongbong. Para ka namang nanliligaw sa ganito. It's fine." She retorted and tapped his shoulder. "Eh, pwede ba?" He asked as soon as she sat on her seat.

"Pwede bang ano?" She was lost for a moment. "Pwede bang m-"

Someone knocked on her door to hand her over bills to be reviewed for the hearing tomorrow. "Salamat." She thanked the personnel. As soon as the personnel left, she went back to Bongbong.

"Where were we?" She asked. "Nothing." He smiled at her seeming to be fascinated by her. "I'll go now. See you around." He suddenly bid, despite that she was sort of amused by his response, she didn't want to sound so eager so she remained seated. "Okay, see you." She replied and smiled before he left.

To be continued...