CHAPTER 2

After I woke up, I went straight to the bathroom to take a bath. After I finished, I went out and saw Alliyah looking at herself in the mirror, specifically the bruise on her lower lip.

"You look like a mess, girl. Go take a shower. We will be late for school." I said and took my outfit for today. There's no dress code at our school.

"Did you do this to me?" She asked which made me turn to her. She's pointing at the small band aid on her lower lip.

I nodded my head. "I did. You were too tired to notice. You really need to hurry now. You know pretty well we can't afford taxi fare and so all we could do is to walk on our way to school." I said and continued what I was doing.

She just shrugged her shoulders and prepared her clothes for school.

I put on my clothes, brushed my hair, tied in a bun and put some light makeup on my face since I looked really pale from not having enough sleep.

I then put on my grey sneakers and my backpack.

"I'll be downstairs!" I shouted to inform Alliyah.

"Okay!" She shouted back.

I then made my way out and locked the door. I went outside our apartment and I saw our landlady watering her dead flowers in her small garden.

This is the first time that I saw her watering them. There has been a long summer, but she decided to water them just now. How is she supposed to save those poor things? Most of them had already turned black and fell on the ground, lifeless.

I turned my back at her after she noticed me looking at her. I grabbed my phone from my pocket when it suddenly started ringing.

I looked at who's calling and it was my mom. I answered it with a smile on my lips.

"Morning, ma!" I greeted her with a happy tone. I don't want to make it obvious that I am tired from everything that has been happening to me lately.

"Morning, dear. How have you been?” She asked and from her tone, I already knew that she is carrying something heavy on her back as of the moment.

“I’m fine, ma. Though, I was having a hectic schedule lately ‘cause our midterm is fast approaching. I am doing great. How about you? Are you fine? You sounded tired.” I said frankly.

When it comes to my mom, especially when I’m worrying about her, I would say it straight to her.

I heard her let out a deep sigh and I knew it. I was right. My gut is right.

“We are just having some issues with your father’s brother again.” She said and my fist immediately clenched when I heard it from her.

That bastard just didn’t know how to leave my family alone.

“What is it this time? What else do they want from us?” I asked. I didn’t make it obvious that I am feeling anger right now.

“Your uncle wanted to take the house from us.” Mom said and I felt like all the veins in my body is about to break.

I am already gritting my teeth. “What?!” I exclaimed. I immediately realized it and I composed myself and forced myself to calm down. “Why would they want the house now?! They already took the whole ranch and the company. They left us nothing but that house alone. And now they wanted to take it too! What the heck is wrong with those people?! When will they ever stop from pestering our peaceful life?!”

“I know that, dear. But, what else could we do?! They have all the money to take this away from us.” I could hear my mom sobbing on the other line.

“I won’t let them take the house, mom. I’ll find a way to stop them. And besides, the house is named after dad. It will take a long process before they could take that away from us even if they are going to use their money and connections. That’s the only thing left for us after what they did. How could dad’s family be as heartless like that, mom?! All we did was show kindness towards them.” I could feel myself about to cry. But, I can’t.

I got tired of being weak. People started taking advantage of me.

“It’s about what you did five years ago. They just couldn’t move on at what happened. They were never like this before you decided to file a case against them. It was a strong accusation that it almost ruined their reputation.”

I got so angry at what she said that my head started getting hot.

“I already withdraw that f*cking case!” I exclaimed. I couldn’t contain myself anymore. “And besides, is it my fault that they are born as perverted motherf*ckers?! They ass*ulted me and I was just trying to get the justice that I deserved. I’m not just gonna let them looked at me as one cheap kind of a sl*t. I am not letting them take the house. And I am going to make sure that they are going to pay for what they did to me.” I didn’t wait for my mom to say anything and ended the call.

Even if they didn’t say it straight to my face, I knew that my family is blaming me for all the misery that is currently happening with them.

My uncle started ruining our lives when I filed a case against him and his son one month after they both tried r*ping me.

But, I withdrew the case two weeks after because they started threatening us. But, the whole province finds out about it and loses their trust from him. I caused them a lot of damage in just a span of two weeks and they couldn’t forgive me for what I did.

They even told everyone that I was just pulling pranks at them because I was insecure that he is the governor of the town and my father is just a big fat loser.

They started taking everything we had. They took the things that were supposed to be owned by my father. And my father didn't even try to fight for his rights and just let his family be miserable.

I was the victim, but I was the one being blamed and is currently suffering from the consequences of their actions.

Well, the world doesn’t always work that way. Karma will be a big b*tch to them. I will make sure that I will be their karma.

I didn’t notice that I was tightly holding onto my phone that it was about to be broken. I heard it ring again. I looked at the caller.

My brows arched when it was an unregistered number.

I just watched it keep on ringing until it turned off.

I put it down again and closed my eyes. I inhaled and exhaled air. I was trying to calm myself down.

I opened my eyes when my phone started ringing again. It was an unregistered number calling again.

Now, I became curious so I answered it.

“Hello?”

I didn’t hear anyone on the other line for a straight minute. So, I looked at the caller. It was still on.

“Hello?” It was me again. When no one still answered, I started getting irritated. “If this is some kind of a prank call, I hope people like you will rote in he–”

“Rica, is that you?” I was stunned when I heard a deep and baritone voice on the other line.

It felt like I was suddenly lost for a second just by hearing his voice. And my heart, it went faster than normal.

I went deaf for a second after hearing his voice.

"Hello?" It was him again.

I blinked multiple times and came back to my senses.

"H-How did you know my name?" That was the only thing that came out of my mouth.

"Oh, how could I not know your name?!" His voice went soft and sweet and it made my heart skip a beat.

"Uhm… Who am I talking to?" I became curious.

"It hurts to know that you couldn't remember me. But, that's fine. All that matters is that I can remember you." He replied.

"Uhm… Can you just directly say it to me? I really don't know whoever you are." I even laughed lightly to show him that I don't really know him.

"If you really want to know, meet me tonight at Starbucks cafe in front of the manila hotel. Eight p.m sharp. Don't be late, hon."

"Wait–" He suddenly hung up the call before I could say another word.

I looked at the screen of my phone.

Hon? As in short for honey? Did he just call me hon?

The heck is happening? Who was that? And why the heck my heart's beat going fast?

But, how did he know my name?

Judging by his voice, he is not someone I used to know. It was the first time I heard that deep and beautiful voice.

Why did he say that he knows me? Is he a stalker or something?

But, that would be impossible. I am not even that pretty or rich to have a stalker. It would also be impossible that he dialled a wrong number because he knows my name and it seems more than that.

I hate to say this, but there is something inside me that was awakened because of him.

All my anger from earlier faded away just by hearing his voice.

How could a stranger like him make me feel this way?

I came back to my senses when someone tapped my shoulder. I turned my back and saw Alliyah already prepared to go to school.

"Let's go?"

I just nodded my head and she started walking before me and I followed her.

I save that stranger's number into Mr. Anonymous before I walked along with Alliyah.

All I could think of was him as we were on our way to our school and until we arrived at our room for our first class.

My whole day continued with me getting lost in thoughts. I couldn't focus while in class.

Until Alliyah tapped my shoulder so I looked up to her.

"It's time to go. Our class is done. You're not been your usual self since earlier. What happened to you?" She asked in brows arched.

There's only two of us left inside the room.

"Oh," I fixed my things and put them inside my bag. "I've been having a lot on my plate lately." I said. It was obvious that I sounded exhausted.

"We all have. But, we must not let the unfair treatment of life affect us. We are aiming for Latin honours, remember." She said and started leaving the room.

I followed her. It was already starting to get dark outside. And I realized that we haven't had our lunch yet when my stomach started growling.

"Come on, hurry. We only have forty minutes before our next classes." She said.

We are already walk-running to our usual spot which is at the back of the main building. It's the area where no students would actually like to stay, but it's clean.

It was only the two of us who liked to stay in that place and eat.

When we arrived, we sat on the bench. It was the only bench that could be found around. We actually took this bench from the school's sports field and we are glad that up until now, no one knows that it's here, not even the maintenance guys.

We took out our pack of food that was on tupperwares. I fried a fish earlier this morning for our lunch, but it seems like we forgot to eat it.

Then we started eating. We were eating like a hungry maniac.

We both laughed when we looked at each other.

"Why do we have to be born in an unfortunate family?!" Alliyah complained while still she continued eating.

"That's life, b*tch. But, I am sure that soon enough we will be able to eat at fancy restaurants without minding the price." I said.