Ch 004: Feelings Wavered.

Manuel sat in the car enjoying his ride back home and playing some of his favorite tunes when the radio of the car tuned to an unexpected destination, a channel he didn’t like at all.

“Welcome to Refine radio station, 97.2 FM. We have our TV channel which is currently channel 79 on TV station. We are here once more with some exciting news for you. Headliners first, Han Manuel, the heir to Han Empire will be turning 23 in a few months, rumors has it that he will officially be the owner of Han Empire by then.”

Manuel just sighed. Richard tried changing the channel but Manuel decided to listen to the news just a little.

“The sole bridge linking Town K and Town N collapsed this morning with 2 casualties and two deads. Former Minister of State was arrested for embezzlement of state mone, part of which he already started using. He is under severe torture to explain where he hid the rest of the money, according to our refined resources. That said these are the major points we will be discussing today.”

Manuel hissed and shook his head. The reason why he hated the media, they were full of lies. Very few spoke the truth while others told partial truths, twisting the whole truth to their readers and viewers taste.

However, Refined TV and Radio station took the cake for the blatant lies they gave without even blinking. People seemed to be aware of their faked acts of love and their lies but cared less because they adored listening and reading exaggerated tales.

Refined Media was one of the media houses he hated the most yet people followed them the most. Of all the better news houses out there, they would go for Refined News house without blinking an eye.

“Dude, your mom really looks dejected.” Richard’s voice brought Manu back from wonderland. He looked through the glass window that was tinted black and saw his mom sitting outside the house with messy hair and her face was swollen red from excessive crying.

This was the side of his mom that he hated to see the most, it pained him so much seeing his mom in that state. His father’s death was the main reason why she became like this. For over 10 years now, she hasn’t remarried and she hasn’t been herself. In fact the memories of her smiling were fading from his mind because she was so dejected.

Manu being her only reason to be alive was why she will panic at every time. Being weak was what she cursed all along, because if she was, then maybe nothing would have killed her husband, then maybe nothing bad will ever happen to her family. They will live together forever, happily. That was her earnest prayers. When Manuel wasn’t answering her calls, she got scared that something bad might have happened to her son. She panicked and decided to sit outside hoping for him to return home to her. She didn’t want her son to die and leave her like her husband left her. He was the reason why she was still breathing.

“Mom!” Manuel called immediately after jumping out of the car. He didn’t even wait for the car to pull to a stop but just jumped straight out, followed by Richard. They were too worried for her that they had to come out and see her. She looked terrible.

“Mom I’m home. You don’t need to cry anymore.” He tried to comfort her. When Leera jerked her head up and saw Manuel standing before her, she was filled with joy that she hugged him tight. The tears poured even more as she hugged him even tighter. A single tear dropped from Manuel’s eyes because of what he knew which no one knew but him… His little secret!

************

Meanwhile, Annabel had chosen one of the finest gowns her eyes feasted upon alongside another shorter gown. Luckily for her, Brent had given her his debit card so she paid for the dresses and walked home with Leah. They were both laughing as they discussed happily. Annabel didn’t notice but Lea did and bought one of the newspapers.

It was the Refine Newspaper, their favourite newspaper. Unlike Manuel, Ann enjoyed reading the Refine Newspaper, she loved tuning to their Radio station and watching their news. In fact, everything about the Refine News got her supper excited. She knew the Refine News told a lot of lies but she loved the lies. She believed the News were just their creative minds in action and nothing more. Nothing beats the power of imagination, it can create a bomb that can destroy the whole world.

Lea, just like Manuel hated the Refine News because the lies were more than exaggerated. They would not even tell a small lie but one that is very big. She accepted some of their reports as true but some were just so untrue naturally and yet people, thousands of people bought the news as if they were truths. Lea however enjoyed their love articles. The main reason why she will buy the Refine Newspaper was because of their wonderful love stories. So in a way, she liked it.

“I wonder how Brent will dress this evening?” Ann told Lea who sighed.

They both were best friends with Brent Zupher who was richer, 2x richer than the both of them combined times 3. Brent however was prohibited by the two girls to ever spend his money on them unless they ever asked him to do so.

The girls met him 5 years ago and quickly bonded with him. He was a rich kid with terrible manners and those two taught him a lesson he will never forget. They became friends and best friends eventually. Brent got used to their lifestyle and he blended well. That was one of the reasons the girls crushed on him. He was not just handsome, the good looks, but he had a beautiful heart they all saw. He was rich but decided to mingle with poor them.

Ann’s crush grew stronger everyday and then it seemed to be yielding fruits when Brent was staring at her yesterday. She had a feeling Brent was reciprocating the feeling and that evening they were going to officially become boyfriend and girlfriend. The thought of it made her blush so hard.

“Why are you blushing?” Lea asked Ann. Ann however just shook her head and climbed the stairs of her house. That was a secret she didn’t want to tell Lea just yet. Besides, the two girls had promised each other not to ever fall in love with Brent. They didn’t want a situation where he will pick one of the girls and the other will become left out. But when Lea started hanging out with somebody else, Ann thought perhaps she and Brent could have a chance.

But then again, she needed to be sure of herself because moments ago, her feelings had wavered when she stared into the beautiful emerald green eyes of that stranger.