"Are you and Dad arguing again?" Noah asked despite having a hard time breathing out those words. "OF course, not, honey" I defensively replied. Then I assisted him in lying down with me and wrapped my arms around him. "Your dad and I were simply talking about something. But we're not arguing, okay?" I caressed his shoulder to help him get back to sleep. Luckily, he stopped asking questions, instead, he wrapped his arms around me. "Don't get mad at Dad, please?" he replied as he squeezed off his face inside my armpit. "Dad said he loves you, Mom. But he said that you don't love him anymore. Why? Are you mad at him? Did he do something bad to you?" The last thing I want to happen is to comfort Noah with a lie so I nodded, "He did something bad to me, honey. And because of that, I couldn't find it inside me to forgive him." "Why?" he asked as I expected. "Because they turned our life hell, Noah, including your life. And I will not stop until your grandmother
"Are you sure Norman will not be attending the meeting?" I asked Elaine the second I stepped foot into the office. "Got his confirmation a few minutes ago, Mrs. dela Vega. I'm afraid he can't come to the meeting. But he'll be here afterward to discuss you with the updates of the shopping malls." "Please, get me a cup of coffee, Ms. Elise. Thank you." I ordered before I dropped my butt on my seat. "Is he kidding me?" I pointed the question back to Elaine. "How am I supposed to face those people alone?" "He said he trusted you will do a good job at the meeting, Mrs. dela Vega," Elaine replied, but those long curve lines on her forehead tell me the other way around. The meeting was about presenting our new products to our new investors from South Korea. Apart from that I only knew a few Korean words, so I was not that confident enough to get the proposal approved. "Fine," I snorted as I left with no other choice. "Another thing, Justine Stroem, one of the shopping
Justine glanced at the flash drive as it landed in front of him with his mouth sealed, telling and proving to me that he knew something about the incident. Guilty beyond a reasonable doubt is my verdict. Yet he never told me anything since I got discharged from the hospital after a long two months fighting in a coma. Instead, he advised me to forget about the incident and live with him for good. Whatever his reasons are, I wanted to know the truth, not his side of the story, but the truth. "Everything in this flash drive tells me a lot of stories, Justine," I continued, "and do you know what kind of story has been telling me right after seeing the footage? The side of the story where I believe you are the person behind the incident. So, if you are not going to tell me, to at least defend yourself, I will believe with what I know - that you have been lying to me all this time." Finally, Justine did something apart from being frozen while listening to my lecture a
'The audacity to interfere with my paycheck!" Mauricia's furious yell broke my eardrums. She stepped foot into the office with her feet moving forward without stopping. I was about to say something when Mauricia struck a hard slap right straight onto my face. Hard enough my soul was almost thrown away from my body. "How dare you cut off my salary, you ungrateful whore!" she growled. "Not because my son knelt before you, means we are going to. I will never bow before you, Yvanna. You don't deserve my respect, bitch! you're nothing compared to me." Similar to Jennie and Jennifer, I also cut Mauricia's salary in half and donated their halves to the foundation I built intended for those employees who were maltreated by the company - by Muaricia and her husband. All of them don't deserve to receive six figures a month for not treating everyone fairly. All our employees were working hard, day and night, to maintain the company's noble image. What I did, not telling t
Seeing Mauricia shut her mouth without asking further questions as if she just got scolded by her parents was like I was watching an intense drama on television. To make it more annoying, I smirked at her. And it worked when Mauricia bent the tip of her brows while looking at me in the eye, filled with excitement. "I know you better than Yvanna. You are more ruthless and heartless than me. Do you think I would believe you now?" he added. "Don't blame your Mom, Norman. She knows nothing about her. Look what happened to her shopping malls. She remained clueless about her people smuggling our inventories behind her knowledge." "I already knew that, of course," she defensively replied. "It's just I felt pity for them if I am going to do something about it. Please, believe me, Norman. That woman is poisoning your mind. You shouldn't believe in anything she said." Norman removed Mauricia's grip before he departed his seat and dropped his butt on the other chair. His acti
As we walked through the crowded school hallway, flanked by two police officers, the sound of whispers and murmurs filled the air. With my hands cuffed and the weight of judgment on my shoulders, every student we could pass through stared at me with contempt and suspicion. But I know deep inside me I am innocent and didn't do anything wrong, even if I was too embarrassed to meet their gazes. "Do you have any idea what the hell is going on?" "Isn't she the mayor's wife? So, it's true that she cheated on her husband?" "She deserved to be locked up in jail. People like her must not be part of this school. I even heard that she was having an affair with one of our professors." "It's not just that. Didn't you guys hear what she did last night? That woman beats her husband's two sisters in the toilet room. She better not get back to our school. She's an embarrassment to our prestigious university." Out of the corners of my eyes, I saw their faces - classmat
Since I found Justine betrayed me, I couldn't find it in me to trust men. I started to build up walls and became hesitant to open up. It might take a lot of time and effort to learn to trust again. However, it is crucial to give ourselves and others the chance to rebuild trust. Tanner hadn't done anything wrong with me yet. He saved me from those monsters in the precinct. Fifteen years. They claimed that I'd be locked up in jail for fifteen years, the price for what I did to Jennifer and Jennie. I can't live and rot in jail without sending them to the burning hell first. "But you must tell me what exactly happened in the toilet room so I can defend your case," he added. "Can you do that for me?" "Do you really believe me that I didn't do all that to them?" I asked. Tanner was put into profound silence as he focused his undivided attention on the road ahead of us. His sudden silence tells me that he isn't similar to the police officers. "As your attorney,
But instead of pushing him away, I stayed on his shoulders and continued weeping until I woke up on my bed and found out it was another day. I looked around, trying to remember what happened last night. instead of Norman, I found a few cotton balls coated with blood, which I believed, was mine, and a medical kit. What was more startling was that my clothes were already different from what I wore yesterday. Then I hopped out of bed and went outside to look for Noah. But to my surprise, a lot of police officers are wandering the mansion. "Wha's going on?" I asked Mr. Emilio as soon as I reached the living area. "Good morning Mrs. dela Vega." To extend his greetings, Mr. Emilio bent half of his body. "It's about Jennifer and Jennie. They were arrested this morning." "What? For what ground?" I asked. Not that I hated it but I was just surprised like everyone else. "Where's Norman anyway?" "The mayor was trying to negotiate it with your attorney, Ms. Summer. Ev