To say that I was shocked would be an understatement because the truth was I was beyond surprised by what he said. More importantly. I just couldn’t believe it was happening, like we confessed our feelings to each other after we almost made out on the dance floor and what’s worse on the school ground! How fucked up can that be, right? “Felice,” he called and went to me immediately when I almost fell down on my knees. My legs were like noodles. I was staring at the air blankly, still couldn’t believe this is happening. Shit. I couldn’t even count the times that I have been cursing the situation in my head already. I felt Greg assisting me because I really couldn’t feel my legs already. I felt that if I stand, I’d eventually fall. That’s how my knees were trembling. “Come here, let’s go inside.” I heard him say. The next thing I knew, we were already inside a classroom and he let me sit on the teacher’s chair while he sat on the platform. He reached out for my hand which made the
“If you’ll give me a chance, I’ll make sure every fear and pain will be worth it, Felice. It will be a rough road, but I will never give up on you. That’s the thing that I could promise.”I slowly watched his head bow down to me. Then I felt my hand being lifted until his soft lips touched the back of my palm. My mouth parted even more. I closed my eyes tight. Shit. “I will respect your decision, Felice, whatever it is, I will hold on to it.” Slowly, he looked up and met my gaze. As if on cue, I felt my heart skipping a bit the moment our eyes met. I felt my eyes watering as my emotions heightened up the moment we looked at each other in the eyes. It was as if all the emotions that I have been hiding from the moment I realized that I like him piled up. It was overwhelming me. I felt like my chest were burning up and it wasn’t because of an ailment or something, it was the prosperous emotions that I have been trying to contain this whole time. I bit my lip so hard that I could alrea
What happened that night did not left my head the whole morning the next day. We were not given a rest day or something, so we really didn’t have a choice but to go to school. It was a normal day, students were back to regular programming, but as for me, I wasn’t really sure. It didn’t feel normal at all. Damn. It wasn’t normal. I couldn’t help the smile occurring on my lips as I stared at his texts earlier. From: GregGood morning. I’ll see you later. I shook my head. I still wasn’t sure what he meant by this, I mean we’re really going to meet here in the campus? Well, I don’t know. Nevertheless, I just agreed to it. I felt light, to be honest. My heart is like floating in the air right after he drove me home last night. Gosh, I remembered having to make excuses with my Mom last night because I didn’t call our driver to fetch me. I just thank God that she didn’t ask any more details when I told her that I hitched a ride with a classmate. It was pretty chill. My situation with Gr
My week was totally fine, it was wonderful, actually. Since it was an aftermat of the midterms, our professors were usually not present, and if they are, they just gave us some readings and of course some wanted to check our scores. So far, so good. My grades were better, my love life is kind of beautiful, I was not longer a ticking time bomb. Gosh, I’ve never felt so relieved ever since Greg happened in my life. “Felice!” I quickly turned around when I heard our helper yelling. My forehead creased as I put down the book that I was reading. It was a Saturday morning and I was on our living room, reading my favorite book. It was just a chill morning for me. I got nothing to do, so I just spend my time reading. My parents were outside and they seemed to be talking about business again. Well, what’s new? “What is it?” I asked as I anticipated our helper. When she arrived in front of me, she was all smiles. Her left hand was holding a box of heart-shaped chocolate, while the right ha
The weekend was fine, I guess. I mean aside from the teasing of my cousins, there wasn’t any topic about my secret admirer already. That gave me a relief because I was really scared that I might slipped and they will know who that admirer was already. Gosh, that would be a major headache if ever. Thankfully, the topic was diverted to Karrie. I don’t exactly know what’s the catch between her and her special someone, but based from the reactions of herr brothers, it seemed that she had some sort of an LQ with her mystery man. And her brothers seem to know about it, huh. I mean, I don’t know. She didn’t really tell me about it. Everytime I asked and tried to go to that topic, she would immediately drop the conversation. I had no choice but to respect her decision on that. In the end, that Saturday was spent with my cousins. It served as our family bonding to some sort even though the adults were as usual having their business talks. When Sunday came, I just stayed in the house and read
“Oh my gosh! Are you sure?!”“Yep!” “Where did you even heard about that?!“I don’t exactly know the first hand source, okay, but someone told me that they were seen last acquaintance party! Sir Greg even drop the girl home!”“Oh my gosh! That was so sweet!” “It’s risky! I mean, hello, they are professor and a student!” “What?!”I shut my eyes tight and massaged my forehead as I hear those conversation. I didn’t know how long I was stunned there. But fuck. Did I heard that right?! Someone saw us that night?! Oh my freaking gosh! Could it be that we were that blind item that I saw earlier?! And hell, he’s not even my boyfriend, yet! I mean, not officially since he was still courting me, but then yeah, whatever! Somebody saw us! My heart was rummaging my chest. I was just a few minutes away from my first class, and I just went here in the cafeteria to get some candies, and those were what I heard! Oh, gosh. I couldn’t take this. Do they know?! Does someone know?! I was panicking i
The whole rumor thing was still the trend when we got back to school the next week, however, it started to go down already. And I was thankful for that because honestly, it was really bothering me, and I didn’t know how to act or what to do with that still going around. I feel like I was going to vomit every day because I was so anxious about them finally finding out that it was me. Gosh. Thank God, they didn’t though. Greg was right when he said that it will eventually die down. Well, I really hope this will die down. “Felice!” I immediately turned to our helper and creased my forehead. It was a Monday morning and I was at our kitchen counter and preparing for my clubhouse as usual. “What is it?” I asked. I saw her smiling from to ear then she showed me a huge heart-shaped box - a very familiar one. “From the admirer!” she excitedly said. I gasped and stared at the box that she was holding. Oh my gosh! He still sent me chocolates?! I immediately grabbed the box and was abou
The last days were bliss. I was just so happy, I couldn’t ask for anything else. I mean, what else could I ask for, right? Everything was in place, well except for the fact that Greg and I are still in the shadows, but then I just have a good feeling about this. I mean, what are two years to wait, right? Once I graduate, we will finally be legal in the eyes of our parents and of society. As long as we don’t hurt or stepped on other people, we should be fine. I should be fine. Everything’s just so happy now. Gosh. And I think I was just so happy that my mom began to make it a big deal already. “You look happy,” she commented. Her eyes were narrowed towards me as she was peeling her apple. We were currently eating breakfast together since I woke up very early again. I cleared my throat and shrugged. “Oh, it’s nothing, Mom, just about school and all,” I said and didn’t even bother to look at her. I just kept my eyes on my plate and continued making my clubhouse as usual. Daddy was ju
All my life, I have been trained to be the best. I was trained to always follow the norm, the standard. I was little miss perfect. They turned me into one, and I had no choice but to be one. I didn’t have much freedom growing up because there were a lot of expectations from me. They were all watching me. I couldn’t move freely because every move that In make, they will always have a say about it. When college and Gregory came, that’s when I first got a taste of my freedom. It was forbidden, but every time we go out on our own, I just felt so free. I felt like I was spreading my wings and flying to wherever I want to go. I was out of the limelight. No one was giving a fuck about what I do and no one was judging me from head to toe. But then that freedom with Gregory has its perils. I was so much ready to fight for him, but it turned out that he was not worth to fight for. Greg is my first love and my first heartbreak. What he did to me and to my family was just so much that I couldn’t
“They will announce you already as the new CEO, hija, at the gala.” My mother said while we were in the living room. It has been days since that meeting with the family and currently, we are preparing for our departure two days from now. I just gave her a smile. “I know, Mom,” I answered before looking back at my laptop where I am reconnecting with my former boss and Flannel’s requirements for school next academic year. “Alright, you should bring Flannel to our designer, then. We need to look gorgeous in the gala, hija,” she said while smiling from ear to ear. I just rolled my eyes and nodded at her. I went back to making my Flannel’s requirements again. She didn’t bother me anyway. She just stood and went to my dad’s office. I shrugged and continued what I was doing. I want to finish everything before our flight to the US, so all I would think about once we get there will be just the house where my parents will be staying and how I will get back to work again. I was lucky enough b
I honestly don’t know if it is the right time to do this meeting with the family because of what is happening in the family, but then we have no choice as we were running out of time already. We need to do this now since we also need to go back to the US already. I don’t know but, I just felt like I needed to get away from this all ready for me to start over again. “Are you ready?” Mommy asked again when we were getting out of the car in front of the building. I looked around the lobby and saw that there were a lot of employees eyeing us. Mommy was walking with her head up. I was beside her and we were walking side by side as we went to the elevator. A lot of guards were with us. I didn’t even know why Mommy brought these guards with us. I mean, it's not as if we are going to war here, you know. Tsk. I shook my head and just walked with her though. When we reached the office, Atty. Lockheart was already there, waiting for us. Mom went immediately to our lawyer."How's your paper?"
Everything was chaotic. We were the talk of the business world for I think weeks. Yes, the issue was that long. Aside from the chaos outside, we also had inside fights of course, but then unlike before, Mommy and I didn't make Flannel available to any of our relatives. They can lash at us all they want but they are not touching my daughter.I've heard the worst things from them. They had their presscon and we just stayed silent because we didn't want this to grow like wildfire. May they want to? But then I won't give them their satisfaction. The important thing is that my daughter knows my truth and I have already explained to her what happened and why this is happening. It took me a lot of courage, but I was just so blessed that she was able to understand and that she didn't make it hard for me to explain. She understands why I needed to do it for her and she also understands why she cannot see her father yet. It's been four weeks and during those times, I did nothing but make sure
"Let's go, Felice!' I wasn't able to say anything and I just let my mother dragged me out of that cafe already. I was still so stunned because of what happened. My mom was ranting while we were on the way to the car. My daughter was asking me questions but I couldn't answer them because I was still so preoccupied with what happened. All the things that my mother was saying in the car were like air that passed by me. I couldn’t comprehend what they were saying and I felt like I was floating and everything around was just background noise. All the way to our house, I was just staring at outside blankly. I couldn’t believe what just happened earlier. Everything was chaotic when we got home! I was so shocked to see a lot of reporters outside our village and even outside our house. Shit. What the hell is happening?! “Get Flannel inside now! Secure everything inside and outside the village, am I clear?” I slumped my back on the couch. I saw Maia getting Flannel out of the living room, w
“Shall we talk about our setup, then?” I asked Greg as I watched him looking at Flannel who was enjoying her ice cream. He has been silent for the last few minutes that we were here. I sighed again and just looked at him. I saw him gulp and then he cleared his throat. "Uhh, yeah…" he said and looked away. I raised a brow on him. I don't know why he couldn't look at me, to be honest. I just didn't dwell on it and started talking. "We will be going back to the States," I started. That's when I got his attention. His eyes widened and looked at me confusingly. "What?" he asked unbelievably. I sighed. "You know that Flannel's school is in there and my decision in managing the company remotely is final, so we will really need to go home, Gregory. Plus, my parents are going with us, too."I saw how his lips parted when I said that. He gasped hard. "But what about me, Felice? How can I be with my daughter?"I let out a sigh again. "That is why we need to talk about it. We can have an a
“Are you ready?” Maia asked my daughter as she was getting her ready for later. “Yes, I am! I am!” she said excitedly. I quickly avoided her gaze. We were on the couch in the living room and I was watching her as she was getting dressed by Maia. She was wearing a pink dress and cute white doll shoes. She looked like a princess twirling around. I was staring at my daughter who was all smiles already. I couldn’t look at her. My heart felt like it was about to go out of my chest already. I don’t know what to feel. My body was trembling already and I could feel the cold embracing my whole body. I took a deep breath again, trying to calm myself. I closed my eyes for a bit. “Felice,” I froze on my feet when I heard my mom calling me. I let out a sigh before slowly turning to her. “Mom,” I called. She gave me a different kind of look. I couldn’t tell what she was trying to tell me. I find it hard to read her face at that moment. In the end, she gave me a small smile. She then went ne
Ever since the incident five years ago, I have always taught myself to be very careful of the decisions that I will be making in the future. Being careful means choosing whom to be with. When I gave birth to Flannel, I vowed to myself that I will never be near my relatives again and I will never introduce her to Greg. But really, life is just so unpredictable, huh. I mean, just when I didn't want to come back to the Philippines when my father got sick leaving me with no choice but to come back anyway. Then, I was able to fix my family which I thought to be so impossible already. Now, I am just not sure if I am willing to let destiny decide whether I should let Flannel meet her father. I don't know. I am just so confused right now. "Felice…" Maia called. I closed my eyes and covered my face with both my arms. I bit my lip and looked down. I was on my bed in an indian-sitting position. My head was aching and my mind was haywire. I couldn't think straight, honestly. Flannel was with
After that exhausting meeting and commotion, I went home to our mansion already. We were supposed to have a meeting in the afternoon, but after all the drama, I just couldn't take it anymore. I needed to rest already and I needed to relax first. I needed to see my daughter. She's the only one that could calm me now, to be honest. I sighed and closed my eyes. I took a deep breath before going out of the car. I held onto my shoulder bag and went inside our house. It was already 3 in the afternoon and the living room was so quiet. It made me wonder then if Flannel is taking a nap or something. All I saw were our helpers. They were doing their chores. I sighed and decided to go up already. I went to my room but it was empty. I was about to go to Flannel's room. When I bumped into Mommy on the way there. I immediately arched my brow on her. "Mom, is Flannel sleeping?" I asked but instead of answering she hurriedly went to me and held both of my shoulders. "Oh god, what happened?! Are y