Last week, our discussion ended with the Pepe and Leonor’s sorrowful and tragic love story. Without a doubt, our national hero truly and wholeheartedly loved Leonor. She could have been Mrs. Rizal, had the circumstances and fate went their favor. Sadly, oftentimes, it has been universe’ humor of orchestrating people to meet, letting them experience vigorous yet ephemeral happiness, and not allowing it to last a lifetime. Maybe, in another universe, Pepe and Leonor had their happy ending.
Be that as it may, life goes on. Let love find you again. So as in the case of our national heartrob. In this week’s edition, the center of our topic is Pepe’s lovelife after Leonor Rivera, which I called Post-Leonor era.
Consuelo Ortega. The Rebound Love.
The two met when Rizal was still not over Leonor’s love and memory. Consuelo is the Daughter of Don Pablo Ortiga, a noble man from Madrid, which Rizal always visited. The two became really close and Rizal even wrote poem to her. Aside from the fact that Rizal had not yet move on from Leonor, Historians said that another reason why their lovestory did not blossom was because Consuelo got engaged to Eduardo de Lete, Pepe’s contemporary.
Seiko Usui. The cute two-month love affair.
O-sei-san, the Japanese woman, whose beauty captured our national hero. They met in Japan when Rizal received an offer to work at the Spanish Legation. They have a lot in common, they got along very well and shared the same interests, particularly. However, Pepe’s love for our country is deeper, hence, when duty call and he had to leave Japan, she bid her last goodbye to O-sei-san. They never saw each other again.
Gertrude Beckett. The One-sided love.
After he left Japan, destiny brought our protagonist to London and met another woman, Gertrude, daughter of his landlord. She had a huge crush on Pepe, so to say. She was very vocal about her affection towards Pepe and was never shy of expressing. Unfortunately, Pepe was just out of her league. Our national heartrob did not reciprocate her love and just Gertrude (get rid) of Beckett. Okay, next.
Suzanne Jacoby. Another girl next door
The sister of Rizal’s landlady. Rizal’s lovestory could be titled: Pepe and his landlord’s relatives. Their lovestory story took place in Belgium, now it is safe to say, that our dear Pepe had already transitioned from being the national heartrob into an international one. It was a short-lived love affair and not that well-documented.
Nellie Boustead. The one where two of our heroes almost killed each other
She was the reason behind the almost duel that took place between Pepe and Antonio Luna. Despite such duel not having been realized, history will tell us that Pepe emerged victorious. Their relationship was a serious one that Pepe even told his friends of his intention of marrying Nellie. However, the two eventually broke because of reconcilable difference, one of which is about their religion.
Josephine Bracken. Mrs. Rizal
The last woman our hero loved. In February 1895, the two met when Josephine brought her adoptive father who has cataract to Rizal for operation. At that time, Pepe was already in exile in Dapitan and just less than two years before his execution.
In his timeless poem, Mi Ultimo Adios, Pepe dedicated its last line to Josephine, “Adios, dulce extranjera, mi amiga, mi alegria. (Farewell, sweet stranger, my friend, who brightened my way).” She even sculpted the now famous and record setting “Josephine Sleeping” while he was in exile in Dapitan.
Documents also show that Jose Rizal, a day before his execution, wrote a letter of retraction to be approved by a Cebu bishop in order to marry Josephine. Oh, what love can do to a man, and what man is willing to do for love. By knowing Rizal’s lovelife, we saw that Pepe was also just an ordinary guy when it comes to this crazy little thing called love.
Mabuhay ka, Pepe!