CHAPTER 1

"Why is it when a woman or a man is heartbroken, it's drama? Why if it's gay, it's comedy?"

That line became the beginning of a friendship between Bella and the gay Daayiee. He is what Bella considers her best friend now. The gay is always unlucky in love. In fact, because of the man he loved with all his heart, he lost his livelihood. That's the reason why his life was supposed to be easy, but it ended up being the same hardship as her life.

She knows the story of his life based on his stories. His life was never easy in the province until he went to the city. Save a little, and he and his cousins set up a business in the province.

His cousin Faith married a rich man, causing them to increase their investment in the business. Everything is fine. In fact, he has already built a house for his brothers. But she met Bruno, a man who made him hope a lot and promised him good things but in the end, also left him.

The man is the reason why Daayiee's savings were depleted. Bruno has a wife and a child, but the man here allegedly promised that he would leave his wife, take the child, and that he and Daayiee would be together forever. He said he loved Daayiee very much, but he could not leave the child because he was small and it would hurt him.

He said that the child is always sick, and Bruno wants to have a business to support his child. Because Daayiee loved the man, he became blind. He still owes some money just to give to the man. That's when his relationship with his cousin broke because Faith told him several times not to trust Bruno. But because of love, Daayiee ignored what his cousin said. He said that he owed Faith hundreds of thousands. However, Faith wasn't angry at this, just disappointed. Faith was kind, as far as she knew. She had seen her even though they hadn't talked for a long time.

Faith doesn’t care about the money. She just wants Daayiee to stop his madness of Bruno, something that his martyred friend can't do. Daayiee himself was ashamed of Faith and her husband Zach so he left the province, preferring to save money, so as to pay off the couple his debt.

They both met when they both applied at a resto-bar. They are still working in that resto until now. And until now, Daayiee has not been able to escape Bruno's shadow. Although they don't see each other often anymore, whenever Bruno asks for something, Daayiee still can't bear not to give the man some money.

She also scolds him and he admits that what he is doing is wrong, he really just can't stand the man because he knows that the latter needs a lot. Even when she told him that Bruno was a useless man for wasting the money that Daayiee wholeheartedly gave him, he was as if deaf and didn’t hear anything.

When Daayiee doesn’t have any money to give, Bruno tells him that he will never be able to leave his family. He said that there was even trouble one time, Bruno's wife rushed Daayiee. It was a big scandal in the province that shamed the gay man. Bruno's wife is said to be a woman who grows up in the street. In short, Bruno left Daayiee hanging, but Dayiee still loves the man. Sometimes he said, he wants to beat him, but he loves him as a friend. On the other hand, she understands the inexplicable love that seems to keep flourishing.

She was familiar with that because her mother had been like that to her sister since they were little children. She doesn't know how her Ate Miabella sprung up in their family. They could not get along with each other even then. They didn't fight but she felt as if she was embarrassing to her, as well as their mother.

She didn't even think that she was the one who earned the privilege of being able to study in a private school even though their mother was already busy working just for that. When they were in elementary school, they both attended public school, but when they went to high school, his sister asked their mother to enroll her in a private school.

She took an exam to become a scholar. Although she passed the free tuition fee, the expenses in a private school are still different. There are other fees and supplies that a student needs. All of that was granted by their mother, even though her sister always fought against their mother. If her sister looked up, she would look like a princess who just got lost in the poor house.

Every time the parents have a meeting at the school, she even forces their mother to buy some new clothes and she puts the powder and lipstick on their mother. When they have no money she will say "Aren't you ashamed to show up in old clothes?”

She was very angry with her sister. But every time she fights with her, their mother scolds her. Her mother said she just gave in to her sister because she had high dreams in life. She knew, her sister had always been their mother's favorite. She also knows that their mother thinks that her sister will be the one to get them out of poverty. When they were young, she saw in her a different kind of determination to be successful, to be very high, to be a real princess, if that was possible.

Her sister fulfilled her dreams. Only, in these dreams, they are not included. To this day, she probably feels ashamed that she comes from a family like theirs---broken family. Or is that what you call a family that was never a real family?

Their father had another wife, his real wife. Her father left them while her mother was pregnant with her. She was born in Bulacan, but just a month after that they moved to Laguna.

She didn't finish school, even though she wanted to. She just completed her vocational course in bartending, even though she would have liked to go to college. Her mother prioritized her sister's education and since they couldn't go to college at the same time, she gave way. She ventured that when her sister graduates, she will send her to a good school.

But her sister only sent money to them for three months after she graduated and started working. And since their mother couldn't handle the heavy juggling of work so that she could study, she was the one who told their mother not to worry about her.

She cried secretly. She didn't want to upset her mother. She was a good mother, but she happened to love her eldest daughter very much who was even ungrateful. Her sister never once let them come to her house in Manila as guests. She sent them several times, just to clean up. They were given money afterward. But she shouldn't have done that because she felt that they became like her maids there.

When she married her rich boyfriend, she did not take her as a maid of honor or even a bridesmaid. Even if she had her measurements for a gown by a famous designer, she was like an extra there. Their mother told her not to sulk. She said it was just a coincidence that they were in the province and the wedding required the participation of the bridesmaids, which she could not do because she was far away. That was her sister's explanation.

In her mind, she was her sister, how could she not give her even a small role in her wedding? If she really wanted her to be a part of it, why didn't she summon her and let her live in her house in Manila first, after all, it was big. It was just an excuse, it embarrassed her again.

Maybe, because her friends are rich. It's a different world now for them. And they are far from her. She is angry with her sister because of what she did to their mother. She was also angry with his brother-in-law because he didn't even help them. Apparently, it's like he's tolerating her sister.

"Ate and bayaw didn't even help us with anything, not even a squint. They would have at least given you ten thousand pesos so that you could buy new clothes and eyeglasses." She had said that to her mother when she couldn't take it anymore.

But her mother said it is not her sister and brother-in-law's obligation to help them. She just didn't say a word. On the other hand that was true, but her brother-in-law was really rich, how could he not care about them? He didn't even visit them much before.

She just understands her sister, just like what her mother wants, because her sister is right, that they don't know anything about the life of her brother-in-law who is the owner of a big corporation. But she doesn't care who he is, even if he owns an entire country! It's just that he's too arrogant not to persuade them, especially their mother since he's marrying her sister. Of course, as a mother, her mother was looking for that kind of appreciation. She would have wanted to reprimand him if she hadn't hesitated so much when she saw him.

There was a strange image that formed in her mind every time she looked at the man. She was so scared that she couldn't understand it. It seems like a small thing to talk about. She just swallowed everything she wanted to convey.

Three years have passed since then. Right now her sister is in America, although her brother-in-law is in Manila. That was the last news she heard from her sister when their mother called her last month to say hello. It's like they're already dead if she considers it. Even the dead are good, they were visited, but they aren’t.