LEFT OUT

In an urban city located in Northern Philippines Carmi and Benny are entrepreneurs operating their businesses in real estate and the oil and gas industry. Two professionals to engage in their career in business. Having two kids Yoyong a youngster in his secondary school course at an exclusive religious private school and Lenlen his sister taking her elementary grades school course in another exclusive religious school run by religious nuns. Their parents choose to send them here for security purposes having their businesses and they know society scrutinize them silently having all the special privileges they enjoy. to have a car and a huge house to live and the five gasoline stations supervised by Carmi is an envy by their family and friends. Benny is the operations manager of the biggest and largest real estate company in the province based in Dalican City. A city of twenty million people bustling with different kinds of businesses. It became the center of trade of many people coming to the city everyday to sell there products then buy back supplies and sell them to the localities they come from. Carmi's gas stations are busy catering to the gasoline supply of commuters. Benny's office supervises how many buildings are completely occupied and make forecast if they need more buildings to put tenants in either a renter or an owner. By running five gasoline stations Carmi has her own team to operate her business. He has to train her gasoline boys about the risk of get away drivers who ran away not paying the gasoline or hold uppers who get into the cashier who asked for cash at the middle of the night. Because of this she has a security camera just incase incidents like these will happen, They have to monitor the gasoline tanker drivers to be sure that there will always be enough supply of oil and gasoline. The cashier has the additional work attending the convenience store for the drivers needs. The same thing shoplifters are on the rise to be in the look out when customers leave the store. At home they have a housekeeper to do all the household chores besides a gardener to trim the trees and their garden of fruits and vegetables. Of all these activities Carmi has to hire her own personal driver to bring her to the gasoline stations after her children are dropped by at their schools. Benny and Carmi and their children seldom eat outside but they find themselves to eat together at dinnertime. This way their family are supposed to be a close knit family despite their hectic schedules. They are seen to be in church on Sunday as a family which is a very important phase of family life. Bring their children to church has been both their families tradition, Sometimes Yoyong stay after Sunday Mass to participate in the church activities but Lenlen goes home with her parents. They can go to a friend's house if they are invited even for a slip in with friends. These made Carmi and Benny satisfied with their jobs. In Carmi's mind they can expand their business if the opportunity arise. In the real estate business industry is not a simple business. It requires partnership and trust with shareholders to put their money to make profits. Benny is expecting too much of climbing the ladder to a higher position and increase the value of his shares. His team have been working hard with him. One day when they have a board meeting before going there he noticed that his files are infringed and no clue why they looked strange. He called his assistant to find out why his data cannot be retrieved but his assistant is not around not even informing him of his whereabouts. He attended the meeting. The shareholders are eager to see his presentation about the present company operation. He didn't answer them but left the meeting early saying he has an important matter to attend to. But the real reason is he can't show any report at all. His data is tampered and he has to investigate what has happened. He decided not to tell anybody not even to his wife Carmi. He went home to retrieved his own file but the office file is really tampered and can't be reconciled. How could he explain to anyone? Whom he will ask for help? His assistant is nowhere else. He wonders what is happening. He can't withstand so much hustle that he decided to call to buy an airline ticket going to the neighboring friendly country to Singapore not informing his family at all and no plan at all to say goodbye to them. He knows the business of his wife can keep her going with their family affairs and their real estate company share is sufficient to answer whatever amount they wanted from him. Benny left without a trace. Carmi has been informed about shares having been overtaken by the company and Benny is no longer connected to them. With this shocking news she didn't know what to do but secure the safety of her children. She place them at the school boarding houses thinking they will not be affected by the family's turmoil. They can attend to their classes and focus on their studies. She attended to her daily business affairs diligently and attended church to spend her time silently to pray for strength and guidance to God. Asking on how to handle the horrible situation properly. How come her husband totally abandoned them without any call or sign to let them know where he might be. Being left out Carmi have no courage to look for him , to discuss things with him. She decided to wait until he calls and to carry by herself the burden of having children to cherish and to hold. To sacrifice for them to provide whatever they need as no other else to care for them but herself. When they come together they refuse to talk about someone who left them out alone to fend and work together for their own good. Carmi didn't contact the company at all. She is afraid she might escalate the situation and they will give more problems rather than solutions. Several years has passed Yoyong in his memory remembers what her mother said, 'You're father has left" and that's it. As if he has expected it to come, as other families did, when he heard their stories and he is not an exception. That is how the world treats families to put pressure to break family bonds. He concentrated and focus on his studies to become one of the best physicians in the hospital where he is working. Her mother became his inspiration to strive and excel in his chosen career. The frustration of having a broken family pushed him to spend his time alone. To help others like him to cope to their problems with their single mother or single father raising their children alone. .To follow her mother's footsteps Lenlen decided to take over their business from her. She looks into expanding their business to manage more gasoline stations. For all those years that went by no one exerted any effort to look deeper into the disappearance of Benny at all. They didn't try to look for him but made all the best they could to live.GP