CHAPTER FIVE

“I-I saw Miss Freya going into your room…”

I scratched my ears as I listen to their nonsense story. The same thing happened before. My dumb self was framed and no one believed except for Navia who acted like a savior right in front of me. Well, now that I know this, I prepared a little bomb to drop for them.

“What?” My grandma raised her voice, “Are you implying that my apo is the culprit?” (‘Apo’ is the Tagalog of ‘grandchild’) Her angry voice boomed and I saw how the maid’s hands shook in fear. I almost smirked but I kept it in. If it was in the past, I would cry immediately and deny things and that made everything worst. So right now, I’ll let my grandma handle this.

“N-no, ma’am.” I can hear the maid’s sniffs. Poor girl. Bribed by the money of evil, now she’s in that situation.

“My goodness!” Grandma tsk and signed me to come at her. I smiled sweetly and jogged my way towards her.

“Did you really take this jewelry and hide this without my permission?” She asked in a calm tone.

Now’s my chance of getting back sweetly at my loveable step-sister. I formed a frown on my face and force myself to shed a tear.

“I-I’m sorry, Mi,” I sobbed while calling her the nickname I’ve been calling her since I was a kid. It was short for ‘Mamita’ that translates to Mommy dear. She loves it when I call her like that.

“What? So you did?” Her voice trembled.

I nod, “Y-Yes. But it’s because sister Navia wanted it.” I uttered. I heard a gasp. Maybe it’s from Navia or the maid, I’m not quite sure.

“What!?” Navia roared out. I had to cover my face to hide the fact that I’m laughing silently. My shoulders shook as I continued to make fun of Navia’s little fiasco.

I remembered when she and I chatted over messenger, she told me she likes having jewelries as a collection and she loves the necklaces that my grandmother wears or display at her own jewelry auctions. Thank God my memory is still intact.

“But it wasn’t Navia’s fault!” I cried out afterwards. I just hope my acting is not that bad so Navia won’t see through me, “I just remembered that she loves jewelries and I’m not good at choosing that kind of things so I secretly took one of your jewelries and hid it so I can surprise my sister,” I sobbed harder, the tears of joy won’t stop. God this is entertaining.

Grandmother pulled my head gently so I can lean on her shoulders “Hush, I understand. Don’t do it the next time, alright? You made me nervous,” She said while combing my hair using her hands.

I took a secret glance at Navia who’s clearly fuming in anger. She turned her back and stomped towards her room. I smirked. I won this time.

When I got into my room, I buried my face in my pillow and squealed. That was quite a drama. If I denied it, my grandmother would be suspicious since there were at least three witness my sister paid to act for that performance. Even if my grandmother loves me, she has a strong will of punishing those people who make mistakes even if it’s her own grandchild.

I looked at the picture frame standing on my study table. It was a family picture I drew when I was in 5^th grade. Since my mother was in a coma and we need a family portrait to pass as our assignment, I decided to draw us – that includes Navia.

What the hell is her problem to act like this towards me? I have no idea.

My phone beeped, signalling that I received a message. I took out my phone from my purse and read the message. It was from June.

‘You busy? How about a date tomorrow?’

My grip on the phone tightened. His face is thicker than I thought! What a shameless man. This idiot, why did I even fall for him in the first place!? Looking at him right now, I wanna slap my old self. He’s not even that handsome why did I view him perfectly in my mind before? Gosh. Love makes you blind sometimes.

I replied, ‘Sure J! Tomorrow afternoon would be the best.’ I wanna puke after hitting send. This guy is really something else. What a shameless person. Does he even have a conscience? Or he’s the devil himself.

Speaking of him, since I’m done dealing with Navia, I need to find out about his background because honestly, I don’t know anything about him. Come to think of it, even when we’ve reached 5 years in the past, I never met his family or even cousins. I was too focused on him that I didn’t bother looking for important things.

I heaved a heavy and long sigh. Today is a long day. I just hoped that whatever happened in the past won’t repeat again. And it irks me to think of anything as to why Navia hated me so much. What did I even do to her? What sin did I commit that she can kill me without hesitation? It’s scary and it hurts me too. I grew up looking Navia with admiration and it turns out that she was planning on taking me to my downfall.

What shall I do to know her true intentions? I wish I can talk to someone about this and ask them for advice. Everything is scary when you’re alone.

A sound disrupted my thoughts. It was a loud bang coming from the window in my bedroom. And then I heard another one. I came closer to look at it and blinked my eyes when I saw a little rock hitting the glass window. So that’s what it is. I immediately opened it up to see who’s throwing rocks but another rock greeted me and this time, it hits my face.

“Oops.” A familiar voice chuckled. I looked around and saw who it was standing below, wearing a charming smile. He raised his hands and waved at me.

“Hi!” He mouthed and I glared at his innocent face.

“Gin!?” How the hell did he get here?!