when we believed in mermaids

The laundromat I regularly visit has been showing an odd fluctuation in its price lately. "This coat isn't easy to wash. We're probably the only store that's willing to clean this at a loss. The market price is 55 dollars per item, but I'll give you a discount and only ask for 200 dollars for four items." I look at the boss' mother, who's new at the laundromat. I'm a little pissed. Still, I hand her my membership card without saying anything. This laundromat is opposite my residential area, and they had a promotion during their opening. I topped up ten thousand dollars on the card because I pitied the owner for raising a child alone. Unexpectedly, the owner's mother looks at me and says sarcastically, "That dumb membership card means nothing to me—you have to pay me in cash. You youngsters are too lazy to wash your clothes, yet you're more than willing to use your brains for nonsense like this. My son is too kind to let you take advantage of him like this." I grab my clothes and leave. It's time to use my brain for some nonsense—I think the laundromat should have a new owner.

Sa araw na nakipag divorce si Calista Everhart, ang divorce papers niya ay kumalas sa internet, at naging headline agad ito. Ang rason ng divorce ay nakahighlight ng pula. “Baog ang asawa, kaya hindi mabigay ang pangangailangan ng asawa.” Sa gabing yun, ang asawa niya, si Lucian Northwood, ay hinuli siya sa stairwell. Ang boses nito ay mababa habang sinabi sa kanya, “Papatunayan ko sayo na hindi ako baog…”

Hemera Hestia Monsieur is half Pinay half Spanish. She has a broken family. Her parents were already divorced since she was young. That's why she stayed with her mother in the Philippines. She doesn't t have a stable job. And she only has one friend that she trusts. She always receives an indecent proposal. But she's a very positive woman who always sees the good side of anything and everything. After losing a job, she tried to find another job. And luckily she found one. She decides to live with her best friend who is living in an apartment with some male friends. There, she met a man who she can lean on and was comfortable being with. She never feels safe around some guys. But then, that man changed everything.

Can money buy everything? Even love? Edan O'Connor, a millionaire, heir to a major investment company, promises his father to marry in front of him, on his deathbed, to fulfill his last wish, there is only one detail, his father does not tolerate his girlfriend, Vivian. So Edan decides to hire a girl to pose as his new girlfriend and fake a fake marriage in front of his father. At the hospital, Edan meets Alma Contreras, a beautiful and humble young woman, who has her mother hospitalized in need of surgery that she cannot afford. Edan proposes a deal, he will pay all his mother's medical expenses, if she pretends to be his girlfriend for a few days and an acted-out marriage. In the midst of desperation and need, Alma accepts. But there are two details, suddenly, what was supposed to be a fake marriage, becomes a real marriage and thanks to a last “minute surgery, Edan's father is saved, changing the course of his contract completely. What will happen when in the middle of the performance, true feelings begin to awaken between Alma and Edan? How will Vivian, Edan's real girlfriend, a pedantic and toxic woman, take the fact that her boyfriend has married another woman? Will love to be able to overcome the barriers of money and social class?

Celine Galvez, a graduating law student and a famous man hater from the University of the Philippines, dedicated her life to fulfill her promise to give justice to her father's death. She pledged to make her family her greatest priority in everything, until she met Lorenzo, the notorious playboy and star of Ateneo Medicine, who slowly wrecked her principles in a way that she surprisingly found pleasuring. Will she be able to keep both her promise and Loren whom she learned to love, when all the hindrances are starting to surface against them? How can she forget him when he left a beating heart that reminds her of him every day? Should Celine just move on and live alone with their child, or will she risk it all to find the star that once fell for her?

I'm admitted to the hospital for gastritis, but my boyfriend shoots to his feet after receiving a call. "Chelsea has a fever. I'll go check on her; I'll be right back!" He runs off without waiting for me to say anything and doesn't return for the rest of the night. That night, I see a short clip that Chelsea Calloway has shared. "I'm not afraid of any illness with you by my side." I comment, "He is pretty good at caring for others."

Roberta was weakened due to constant blood donation to Zora, while her Alpha mate Alpha Marcus was always there for Zora. When Roberta returned home, she kept getting hurt by Marcus's cold words. So she proposed rejection in despair. However, Marcus refused to accept her rejection, and even imprisoned her. When Roberta finally managed to leave Marcus, her Alpha mate began to regret it. When the truth came to light, could Marcus win Roberta back?

My African American Mom married a rich Japanese man. As I moved the skeleton of my new bed next to the window, I felt a gaze focused on me. Outside my window, was the house next door. The house shape was similar to ours, so it also had a window facing mine at the same level. Standing there on the other side was a skinny Japanese boy. As soon as I laid eyes on him, he stiffened, then shyly smiled and waved. His hair was all over the place, seeing him in his tanktop I thought to myself that he must've just rolled out of bed. But wasn't it the afternoon already? The boy says something but of course I can't hear him with my window closed so I slide it open. "Eto....hi." He tried in English. If someone were to tell me later I'd come to care about him deeply, I'd find that hard to believe. For as long as I could remember I've always felt empty. And that emptiness, I hid on instinct.

Mark Leaf Reyes, a newly transfer student in a school in Manila, fell in love with a guy named Elm in whom a friend warned him not to. Eager, Leaf swam into his curiosity and soon later drowned into a kind of love he was not prepared to give. TRIGGER WARNING: Suicide

Masaya at makulay ang buhay ng isang artista. Tulad ni Aaron, na halos nasa kanya na ang lahat: kasikatan, kaibigan at minamahal na kasintahan. Ano pa bang kulang? Siyempre, para sa kanya ay wala na. Pero paano kung isang araw ay may magbago. Paano kung isa sa mga ito ang mawala sa buhay niya? At pumalit ang isang responsibilidad na hindi niya minsan na isip sa tanang buhay niya.