2Heart raised her eyebrows when Lush arrived at the mansion. He was reluctantly invited to a late-night dinner with his family. Ignoring his Mommy’s deadly stare, he quickly approached his smiling younger sister.“Hi, sis,” he greeted, causing her eyebrows to twitch as he kissed her on the cheek.Then, he turned to his mother, squinted his eyes, and said, “Mom, you’re getting younger, a,” he remarked. “Where have you been? You didn’t even reply to my messages.”“What? I replied. You better check your phone, Mom. You’ll see my reply,” he proudly said.“When?” Heart asked sternly.“Just now!” His proud response made Delight smile while shaking his head.“You’re really crazy,” his father teased.“What’s important is that I replied! Mommy is always high blood,” he added, sitting beside his father.“How’s Babuela?” He inquired about his father’s grandmother.He never forgot to ask about his father’s grandmother all the time. Carmenzita was quite old, over a hundred years, seemingly impos
3Ruth’s head pounded as the police officer’s words played like a broken record, repeatedly echoing in her ears.“We still have no lead on your husband’s disappearance, Miss Eduardo. The people who took him remain unidentified, but we’re doing everything we can.”“Useless!” she angrily exclaimed at the officer before being grabbed by her cousin, who shook her and shot her a disapproving look.Despite knowing she was being reprimanded for her words against law enforcement, Ruth couldn’t help her frustration.“Miss Eduardo, we’re doing our best, give us time to do our job. We can’t provide information right now; it’s only been three days since your boyfriend went missing,” the officer reasoned, but her temper remained hot.“Say it, I don’t have money, that’s why!” she retorted, annoyed, Glancing at the cop’s surname as Jimenez.Rosemarie quickly pulled her away, saying, “Thank you, sir. We’ll come back when El Niño phenomenon ended in my cousin’s head. Sorry, sorry.”As she was dragged
4.It’s extremely difficult to act against one’s will. Despite Ruth’s reluctance to work, she was compelled to wake up early and go to the company.Her mind and heart are dedicated to finding her husband. She carefully considered how she could help and made the decision to hire an investigator. During her lunch break, she has somewhere to find one.As she left her room, she found her cousin Rose, preparing food.“Are you leaving, sis?” she asked her older cousin.“I’ll be looking for a job while I’m here. It might take a while. I won’t go home until you’ve moved on from Baron’s disappearance.”She remained silent, observing what Rose was doing. She assisted her with the packed meals, presumably one for herself and another for Rose.“You’ll find something quickly,” she reassured her.Rosemarie was fortunate in her job search. In the province, she didn’t experience unemployment. During college, she worked part-time at a fast-food chain. After graduating, she became a saleslady in variou
5.The woman is unbelievable. That’s what Lush thought as the woman stared at his company I.D. with widened eyes. She then looked at his face, licked her lips, and scrutinized him closely.“Maybe you’re surgically enhanced, an impostor. Perhaps you’re not the real face of the owner. Because the owner wouldn’t stoop to the level of a mere janitress,” she said, examining his face.His lips trembled as he tried to avoid her gaze. He couldn’t tell if he should be insulted or amused. Ruth Eduardo couldn’t believe that his face was the original face of a CEO. Well, the world is full of altered faces nowadays, so he couldn't blame her for thinking someone might have copied his face through surgery.It turns out he should've been more selective about where his eyes wander. Apparently, the boss isn’t allowed to ogle at a janitress. That was what she meant by her words.“Maybe you’ll believe me if I fire you right now,” he said as he looked at her face again.Her eyes widened, and she quickly s
Her mind was drifting as she walked, holding a tray filled with food that cost at least ten thousand pesos per plate. She was directionless after the news that shook her whole being earlier. She almost dropped her cellphone because of it, as she started sobbing in the bathroom.“Your father is in the hospital, fighting for his life!”Her mother’s voice thundered in her ears and continued to echo inside her head. Her father needed five hundred thousand pesos for the heart operation he had in their province of Oas, Albay, while he was pulling the carabao in the fields earlier. She was from Legazpi City, a Bicolana who was forced to go to Manila and stop her college education due to the hardships in life. She was beautiful, if beauty was the criteria, but she lacked the height to compete in beauty pageants, so she never stood a chance as a candidate.If only she was blessed with height, she would probably be able to earn and support herself in her studies. But she was short, standing onl
Chapter 1Heart estimated how her body moved as she opened the door to her manager’s office. A blast of cold air hit her as she entered, courtesy of the powerful air conditioning inside. Along with it came the pleasant scent of her manager’s perfume from the restaurant.Vandros Montero was sitting in his chair, holding a cigarette in his hand. His face had an unreadable expression. And she was on the verge of crying, even before speaking. Heart had barely crossed the threshold of the open door.Vandros looked at her and motioned for her to come in. He remained expressionless. Vandros was a serious person. He didn’t smile and his demeanor was unsettling, but beneath that, he was kind. He never yelled at them or treated them badly. He always spoke to them with respect and professionalism, but in return, he expected their loyalty and dedication to their work, as his true nature might occasionally reveal itself if they don’t abide.Heart did as she was told. She closed the door and sta
Chapter 2 – Lux“WHO’S that?” Lux asked his Abuela as soon as he entered the Montesalvo mansion.He had just dropped off a friend whose car broke down. He had promised his seventy-eight-year-old grandmother, Carmenzita Almendrez-Montesalvo, that he would spend an afternoon with her in her favorite salon. She wanted to get a foot spa, have her nails cleaned, and get a haircut. Damn! He didn’t need grooming, for Pete’s sake. He had no choice. His Abuela was happy treating him like a little boy, even though he was already thirty-one years old. Well, they were the only two who were always together from the beginning. “Oh, here you are,” she said, just having put down the phone. His grandma didn’t have a smartphone. She was the only person in the world still relying on a landline. She had a phone and a registered SIM card, but she didn’t use them. She didn’t have any social media accounts either. She didn’t know how to use modern cellphones. She would only make calls on her basic ph
3Heart is waiting for a call at five o’clock in the afternoon inside her apartment, but there’s still no call. She feels like a cat that can’t give birth in her current state. She peeks through the wooden window, gazing at the road, hoping that a luxurious Nissan Calibre owned by Vandros might pass by in front of their gate.She can’t stay still, constantly holding her cellphone, sitting down, standing up, and then pacing back and forth. The young woman’s eyes keep darting to the clock. It feels like time is racing, and the seconds tick loudly in her ears, matching the rhythm of her anxious heart.Her mind is far away, focused on her father, whose situation is unknown at the moment. Her thoughts are negative; she imagines the worst, that her father is already dying. She stops in her tracks and tears fill her eyes. Maybe her father is suffering right now. Oh God. Heart covers her face with her palms. Her mind should not dwell on such scenarios. It’s wrong. She should be thinking that