Collet was to celebrate another birthday, so the Golden Villa was busier than ever. Salsa planned to conduct Collet"s party in the Golden Villa this year and wanted to open up the property for guests. The Golden Villa was such a prestigious property that she wanted to boast around the guest to let them know, she and her daughter lived in such a grand mansion.Aviona had always been discreet of allowing guests in her mansion previously so not everyone had the chance to see the grandeur of it and for the last twenty years and Martin took the same decision. He was so unwelcoming with guest that Salsa was having hard time inviting her friends from Mexico to stay in the Golden Villa. Salsa do not much have friends in the elite community because aside from her scandalous and proud character, she always looked down at anyone as if they were nothing compared to her. Not only that, the elite community too was aware that Salsa was once a mistress, so they never gave her much of an acknowledgement even after she became Martin"s legal wife.
Salsa don"t really care of how the elite community was treating her because she thought she was above them all being the Madam of the Chan"s, besides Collet had been greatly accepted and respected and she"s okay with that fact.
"Madam where do you want to put these?" Her hired organizer asked about the grand chandelier Salsa recently bought for such occasion. There were several people in the Golden Mansion at the moment, all were service workers who worked for the organizer and the interior designer Salsa hired to work on the things she wanted in the house.
"I want them hung around the center," Salsa answered him as she pointed to somewhere high around hallway. She bought another chandelier to adorn the Golden Villa and more furniture that suited her taste. For the last twenty years, the Golden Villa didn"t receive any makeover or renovations and it still looked the same as it was, the way Aviona left it. Salsa thought everything was already out of the trend, old and unmodern so she thought of redecorating it and probably do some renovations that would suit her taste. She"s the Madam of the Chans and so she can do whatever she liked with whatever Aviona left.
For the last twenty years, she hid under Aviona"s skin—wearing her dresses, her perfume and imitating the way she looked so Martin would be okay. She also dragged Collet into the act, making her imitate Ava so that Martin can cope up with his loss. Martin suffered a thorough depression making him totally incapable of doing anything good, but with her act—she pretending as Aviona and Collet pretending Ava—Martin got better eventually. During the process of Martin"s healing, Salsa took advantage of his unsound mind to make the man marry her, believing that it was Aviona he had gotten married again and she cautiously did the ceremony in Mexico so no one can intervene. After that, Salsa dragged Martin back in his home country, announcing their marriage and the rest was history.
Martin got better through time and he became comfortable of the fact that Salsa and Collet was his family right then until the time that Salsa and Collet needed not anymore to play pretend. Collet stopped dyeing her hair and tanning her skin when she got into high school, but Salsa continued for Martin"s pleasure. When Martin got better, he made several affairs to women who looked like Aviona and in the attempt of stop his womanizing, Salsa had to give in to his preference—someone who looked like Aviona so she continued dyeing her hair deep black and tanning her skin so she can keep Martin under her leash.
"Madam, how many guests are you expecting?" The organizer came to ask her. The clean up in the Golden Villa was just an initial preparation for Collet"s birthday and so they needed some of the details.
"Around a hundred or two," Salsa answered looking around, trying to imagine how the Golden Villa will look like after her retouch. She"s needed to make everything in the Mansion, reflect her and not Aviona. She had enough of living under Aviona"s shadows but was forced into it because of the need to satisfy Martin"s preference but only until that. She didn"t want to compromise anymore and so she wanted to wipe out anything that reflected Aviona aside from her looks.
The men who was handling the chandelier thought it would become easy to hang the Chandelier where Salsa wanted it by going through the second floor so they stepped into the fabricated stairs only to be stopped by the head maid.
"Madam, you know the Master didn"t want anyone in the second floor." The head maid reminded Salsa. For the last twenty years, Martin kept the second floor inaccessible for one reason, every part of it was a memory of Aviona for him, specially the master bedroom whom he had locked her for weeks. Everything in there was still the same, including Ava"s room that was still full of baby stuff.
"Even you are not allowed so I don"t think these workers are welcome," the head maid announced to Salsa"s shame.
When Martin got better, he kept Collet and Salsa in another house and whenever they come and visit in the Golden Villa, they stayed in the first floor and was always unwelcomed in the second floor. Collet understood this as he knew her father was thoroughly drowned in the memory of his first wife and had kept all her memories there but Salsa was not okay with that so she was always waiting for the time that Martin will outgrow his obsession of whatever Aviona left—and now was the time. Martin had not been visiting the Golden Villa for the last three months and had kept himself busy with work so she thought, her husband wouldn"t mind of her cleaning up especially that because it will be for Collet"s birthday.
"Go away! Don"t show that face of yours on me again!" Salsa dismissed the head maid. Ever since, that head maid was always annoying her but she can do nothing about her because Martin was close to her.
"Fine, but remember I warned you," The head maid went on her way while Salsa was still raging with fire. Even when she was already the Madam of the Chans, why can"t everyone respect her like they respected and adored Aviona?
"What are you looking at?" Salsa turned to the service workers who were in the stairs, "Just finish that G.o.ddam thing!"
All of the service workers lowered their gazes and the ones who were handling the chandelier went to the second floor to start their installation.
Salsa who was mad about how the head maid made her looked little, stormed up in the second floor and went straight to the master bedroom and started throwing things around. She was so mad of how Aviona made her looked like a trying hard copycat even when she"s already dead.