Chasing Diamond my heart mission

"Kuya, pumayag ka na! I'll help you find the one since Lolo wants you to be married soon." My sister, Jill, was talking too much about a date she wanted to prepare for me. "Then tell me first, who's my date?" I faced my sister, my expression serious. The pressure was suffocating—why did Lolo want me to get married all of a sudden? "Ahm... Me and Lolo set up a date with Ate Diamond. Don't worry, bro, she's pretty, sexy, and smart. Enough to make you loyal." "Who's Diamond? I don't even remember who Diamond is." I looked at Jill, the tension tightening in my chest. "Please, bro, just try! You will know who she is if you just try, so pumayag ka na!" "If I don't?" I didn't look at Jill as I spoke. I wanted her to get mad at me so she would finally stop talking. "You don't have a choice, Kuya. Ate Diamond is already your fiancée." With that bombshell, she walked upstairs and left me hanging. Why is this freaking Diamond my fiancée?! How did this even happen? When I stood up to clear my head and go out, Lolo arrived. He had just come back from the farm—he loved going there, always spending his time tending to the land. "Ahm, Lolo... Why did Jill tell me that I have a fiancée, and her name is Diamond?" Asking Lolo anything was terrifying. He turned to me, his face deadpan and stern. "Because you are too stupid. You're already twenty-nine years old and yet you're not married. You haven't given me any great-grandchildren." "But who is Diamond, Lolo? I don't even know her!" "You will know who she is... if you agree to the date we prepared for you." Before I could even process Lolo’s words, he walked past me, leaving the heavy silence of the living room to swallow me whole. Diamond. The name tasted foreign, sharp, and completely unwelcome on my tongue. How could they link me to a stranger? How could they expect me to just slip a ring onto someone's finger when my heart was still anchored to someone? I stepped out onto the porch, the cool evening air doing nothing to soothe the burning frustration in my chest. Five years. It had been five long years since Deia packed her bags and left for abroad, leaving behind a shattered promise and a misunderstanding that had practically torn my life apart. When she rejected me, she didn't just walk out of my life—she took the best parts of me with her. Every single day since then, whether I was enduring the brutal discipline of training or facing the quiet isolation of the barracks, her face was the only thing that kept me grounded. I had survived everything by telling myself that one day, I would make her proud. I would find her, chasing her, and win her back. But now, this. A blind date. An arranged fiancée. I leaned against the railing, gripping it until my knuckles turned white. Lolo and Jill were forcing me into a corner, completely unaware that the only woman I ever wanted to marry was thousands of miles away—or maybe closer than I thought. How was I supposed to sit across from this "Diamond" and pretend to be a willing partner? How could I look at another woman when my soul was still fiercely, desperately guarding a space meant only for Deia? If I agreed to this date, it felt like finality. It felt like giving up on the only girl I ever loved. But looking back at the brightly lit house, knowing Lolo’s stubborn resolve, I knew I couldn't run away from this confrontation. I would go to this date, but only to make it completely clear to this stranger that my heart was already taken.