“Minah!”Minah looked over her shoulder as soon as she heard her younger sister, Leigh, call her name. Leigh was glancing through her classroom window. Minah was eighteen and in her senior year in middle school whereas Leigh was fourteen and is now in her sophomore year. “Minah…” Leigh hollered once again.“What?” she finally ceded, whispering. She then gestured to her to leave otherwise she'd get caught by her teacher red-handed.Minah looked away from her and glanced at Mrs. Gipitulan for a moment. It seemed like the teacher was in her glorious moment explaining today's topic in class. She looked back at Leigh and finally got the gist of distress written on her face.Couldn't bear to see her sister like that, so she finally took the courage to raise a hand. “Excuse me, Ma’am. May I go out?”Mrs. Gipitulan and a bunch of other students' eyes landed on her. “Again? Where to?”“Toilet, Ma’am.” And for the nth time, she came up with the same alibi. If she would say she is going to cu
Leigh halted in the middle of the living room. She was fidgeting back and forth. A tear of dissatisfaction on her face was evident.Minah casually placed her backpack on the ragged couch before turning on her heels to face her.“Are you mad or just very thankful?”Leigh spun around, ready to confront her at last. Minah could not help but raise a brow when she her annoyed expression.“Thankful?” Leigh responded in an incredulous tone. “Do you realize what you just did to Damon? You are way too old to—”An exasperated sigh escaped from Minah's mouth. “Excuse me, Leigh. Eighteen is definitely not too old. Do you see any wrinkles on my skin? Does my hair look gray? Do I smell like land or earth?”A thin and awkward smile formed on Leigh's dry lips. Could not she be any more cringe? “You just smack a boy who was three years younger than you... Don't you feel sorry for what you did?”“Why on earth would I feel sorry for him? Did he even feel sorry for you? What does his age have to do with
Dumangas, Iloilo PhilippinesMinah entered the famous boutique shop, completely deadpan. The man who had been standing by the watches' display was looking at her from afar.Juan Miguel Fuego.She was able to get the man's contact number right off the bat. After the confrontation Diana had with him the previous day, Diana resigned from her job in the rest house. She had been suspecting who the owner was.And her mother was right all along, the property was owned by Juan Miguel’s friend whose name is Bernardo Reyes and her mother had no idea about it. She was even over the moon when she got the job, completely clueless about what was going to happen ahead of her.Bernardo himself got Minah's call and he was the one who handed Juan Miguel's phone number to her after introducing herself briefly. Almost immediately, Minah called Juan Miguel and told him she wanted to meet him. Of course, without hesitation, the man agreed. He even sounded excited and happy.Juan Miguel canceled his flight
Catching her breath and tears swelling in her eyes, Minah's body was covered with beads of sweat. Fear and agitation were quickly creeping into her heart. It was past midnight and the fire trucks were roaring down the street, breaking their used-to-be quiet neighborhood.Diana tried to call her on her cell phone earlier but Minah deliberately ignored her. She knew herself too well, talking to Diana right now might just end up starting another argument. It was going to be hard to force herself to speak to her Mother when she was still too upset. Minah would be staying at Lara's apartment unit in the meantime to calm herself down. She would only be coming home when she feels like it's time to come back. No one could make her come home even if Diana begged her to.Lara's unit was also located on the eighth floor of the building where they lived. Lara had been living by herself since her mother, Celestine, got accepted to work in Singapore as a domestic helper. Her mother can only visit t
There were too many questions Minah wanted to ask, however, her head was aching so bad. She clutched her head, almost pulling her hair out. She wanted to know what kind of connection she had with Night. Why didn't he try to contact her relatives or close friends and let them know where she was? Friends? No, she didn't have one. But why was this man keeping her? Someone opened up the door but Minah did not bother to look who it was. Mrs. Dolor and Patricia stepped in, the former was holding a tray in hand with a pitcher and an empty glass in it. Mrs. Dolor's eyes were filled with concern as she watched Minah's state. Then, she turned to face her boss. “Dra. Rosauro is on her way now,” she informed him. “Keep an eye on her,” Night told them and turned away. Minah followed him with her gaze as soon as he left the room. She was grimacing in pain but she could not look past the deep ugly scar on his right shoulder. THREE small knocks brought Night back to his senses. He was in his li
“We have our reasons,” said Nathaniel as if he was able to read the question she had in her mind. “And if you are ready, you can get all the information you need in the envelope.” Reasons. Whatever they were, she was dying to know. If they were able to recover Leigh's body, why did they hide it from her adoptive family? More so, what does her sister have to do with them or with Night? Setting aside the newspaper and magazine, Minah picked up the other picture that was flipped over. Her forehead creased when she saw a picture of two unfamiliar men. They were both wearing slacks and long sleeves. She raised her face and glanced at Nathaniel who was looking intently at her. "Who are these people?"“Those pictures were taken two months ago. The man in a white shirt was Vincent Fuego. He's the son of the businessman, Juan Miguel Fuego."Fuego. Vincent Fuego. Minah had a bad feeling about him. So, this was Juan Miguel's son to his legal wife. The woman whom her mother failed to steal he
Three years later “That was great, Vintah!” the gay designer named Dacy Santino cheered in glee. He followed her to the dressing room after waiting for her for hours to come out of the studio. The paid photoshoot wrapped up successfully. Dacy owned the store that was getting more popular since she became the brand ambassador. Vintah was Minah’s stage name. Her agency, Bold & Beautiful suggested it. A few months after her reconstructive plastic surgery three years ago, she jumped right into catwalk training. Minah took off the shawl she used during the photoshoot and placed it right in front of the mirror. Her manager Molia, who was also her personal assistant, reached for it and carefully put it inside the bag where her other belongings were being kept.Minah glanced at her own reflection as she pulled her wig off. The surgery went so damn well that she would never forget how Juan Miguel and Margaux reacted when she called them via video call as Damara. She wanted them to be the fir
Seated inside their service van and arms crossed against her chest, Minah's face was sulky and her stares were intense. She could see Jay-Dee walking out of the building's exit where the photoshoot took place. The bitch was still carrying the flowers in her arms, sniffing them like a fool. Because she was in a hurry catching up with Jay-Dee, Minah had no choice but to pair her mid-thigh length cocktail dress with her three inches red stiletto.She still could not believe that Night was in Bangkok. He did not send a word to her, and she did not even receive a simple heads-up from Nathaniel.Now, here she was, waiting for the bastard to pick up the woman she hated the most. She had been bugging Nathaniel for months, asking about Night's plan for her. It wouldn't be such a biggie if Night wasn't taking hold of her passport. But the bastard took all her belongings which makes it harder for her to leave the country.She did everything she could do including searching every corner of Innif
Minah was in the warden's office. She was sitting in the middle of the room, crossing her legs as she waited for the man to come into the room for ten minutes already. She was the very first person who visited Vincent in prison ever since the judge sentenced him of his crimes—that he'll forever rot in jail. “What the fuck are you doing here?” the guy immediately groaned as soon as he saw her inside. He was about to head back to the door but he was stopped on his track when the cell guard motioned him to get back inside. “I don't want to talk with this bitch. Bring me back to my cell right now…” But instead of letting him out, the guard moved and left the room to themselves without a word. “Dammit! Where the fuck are you going?!” Vincent screamed. He was doing that for seconds before ending up kicking the door in frustration. He then turned to her with his venomous eyes. Vincent looked like a mess now. Far from the one who blocked her way to the front gate of the Fuego mansion wit
April 2021 Bangkok, Thailand Tobias was sitting on the lounge chair in the lobby, facing across his cousin named Blair and his brother Gian. They were all waiting for Jay-Dee, one of Bold & Beautiful’s top models. The woman went to the restroom to do some retouching before finding where they were at. They were the ones who hired Jay-Dee to be part of Bold & Beautiful four years ago. Nathaniel bought the company from his Thai friend although, in the end, they kept the latter's name in the contract as the owner. Since things started to go south, he planned to pull Jay-Dee out of the current agency and offer to work in Tempted Wear instead as soon as her contract expired. The Tempted Wear was established by Tobias along with his brother Gian just a few years ago. Unbeknownst to Tobias, his brother attempted to buy Trimmed which was owned by Celine, Minah's business partner. But that didn't even happen since she disappeared all of a sudden. And so did Celine. “When are you coming bac
It was love Six months later Barcelona, Spain It was around sunset and Minah was at the beach, watching the beautiful waves crashing onto the calm shore. The air was breezy, blowing off the hem of her clothes and her hair which she let untied. It hadn't reached eight hours yet when her plane landed in Spain from the Philippines. After checking in at the hotel while she stayed in Barcelona, she decided to get out of her suite and take a stroll along the place's pride, the white sand beach. She could not stand being in the room all alone. It was calm, however, the silence was quite deafening for her. Six long, lonely months had passed, and yet, Minah felt like the pain, guilt, and agony in her heart didn’t even subside. She left the person who she thought she'll never lose. Angel, Tobias, and her baby… She could still vividly remember how her heart stopped beating when she found out her baby was gone. She was supposed to grieve, and let her tears flow, because as they say, that
Deaths BGC, Taguig The black and brand-new Chevrolet Camaro was parked on the side of the road. The people who attended the funeral dressed in all white turned their heads to the newcomer, especially when the door opened. A pair of feet-wearing elegant and famous Stuart Weitzman high heels emerged from the driver's seat. When a fair-skin woman appeared right before them, a collective whisper from the attendees began to flood the entire place. The woman was wearing a classy midi black dress and an oversized wide-brimmed hat that covered almost half of her face. Aside from her pointed and pretty nose bridge, the only thing that was more apparent was her lips in bright red lipstick. But those people didn’t need to see her whole face to recognize who she was. Minah was holding a bouquet of black roses in her other hand. Her free hand was slid into her pocket. Whispers became much louder this time. some were exchanging glances every time she stepped closer, drawing the distance between
Pregnant Minah heaved out a huge sigh while waiting for the elevator to reach the floor she was going to where her hotel room was. She was checking in at a four-star hotel around Mandaluyong ever since she left the condo unit that Tobias and Nathaniel bought for her. She's got body pain and a slight fever again as she drove back home from the Fuego Building yesterday. It seemed like she'd go down with the flu for real this time for doing a bunch of things at once. She felt dizzy while she bought some medicines at the drugstore she'd dropped by. She had taken some Ibuprofen and Chlorphenamine maleate before she hit the road again. Although her body pain had slightly gotten better, however, she felt physically weak and flabby this time around. By the time she reached the hallway of that certain floor, she immediately saw Nathaniel. He was sitting on the carpeted floor and his back was leaning against the wall of her hotel room. Déjà vu. It felt like she had already encountered the s
Justice Served Tobias stared at his wristwatch, quarter to seven. Was Minah awake already? Had she had breakfast? Was she feeling better now? She didn't let Tan in last night. He was itching to press the passcode of her unit but he knew he had to stop himself from doing so. Barging in right now might piss her off again. They needed to talk over it because he had so many things to explain to her. Shortly after, he finally decided to get into her unit when he was beginning to suspect that maybe she wasn't there anymore. He tried to track her down using his phone but the result was she was still in her room. Tobias transferred to their unit, replaying the footage last night. His heart ached when he watched the confrontation she had with Nathaniel. A few minutes passed after Minah told them to leave her off, and she went back to her unit. She finally appeared on the screen, all dressed up, and was holding a suitcase in her hand. She was talking to someone over the phone but their co
Vengeance Nathaniel clenched his jaw. Minah was provoking him to pull the trigger, he knew. The woman’s voice was harsh, cold, and icy; they matched the mean expression on her color-drained face. If Nathaniel didn't know her for a long time, he'd have believed every word her mouth spat. That she lacked conscience and mercy and had zero remorse for all the crimes she committed. But he knew her through and through. He knew that she was only torturing every bit of herself at this very moment. He could see how pale she looked now that she was bare-faced. He knew she was trying so hard to hide the pain and havoc in her heart but she couldn’t hide the agony in her eyes. She was weak, desolated, and scared, yet she still managed to look like a woman with an indomitable spirit. Minah experienced nothing but betrayal these past few weeks, and as heartless as Nathaniel thought he was, he needed to add more to her suffering. But Jesus! He felt sick knowing that he was causing this woman a
Nathaniel Cassandra was now taken into custody. Sitting on a gang chair across from Mrs. Dub was Minah who was silent 'till now. She may dislike the idea of being in the same space with Tobias, but when Angel clung to her and begged her to come with them, she had no choice but to get into his car. They took her to the hospital for medico-legal and to conduct a general checkup as well. Tobias was not speaking a word, too. But even then, Minah could tell that he was putting blame on himself. He was probably thinking right now that he was such an irresponsible parent for not being able to tend to Angel. She wanted to comfort him, thinking that she was able to hit him back in the pool. But she refrained from doing so. She was in no position to do that. They were not a married couple—not even friends. In Tobias’ eyes, she was his enemy. The nurse came in and informed them that Angel had to be brought into a CT scan room immediately. Tobias glanced at her, with Angel sleeping on his sh
The Hero Minah was clutching the pouch that was sitting on her lap way too hard as if she could gather the air she'd be needing later on there. A taunting smile was still plastered across Vincent's lips while his eyes remained focused on her. Ava on the other hand was giving her an “I-told-you-you-can’t-mess-with-us-bitch” glare, seemingly proud about what her brother was doing to her. Isabel seemed bewildered, for sure she didn't have a clue about Vincent's plan at all. Neither did Juan Miguel and Margaux. They had no idea about what lay behind her calm state at the moment. “Vincent, what does Damara mean? Can anyone here explain to us what’s happening?” Margaux asked. When she got no replies from anybody, the old woman stared at her, confused. “Hija, I don't quite follow.” Minah took her time rising to her feet even though itchiness slowly began to crawl all over her body. It was only a matter of minutes before the rashes became visible, that soon, she'll have a hard time brea