Smoke and Mirrors

Chapter 1The city of Cagayan de Oro, the very definition of hustle and bustle, may it be rain or shine, is always busy. Even on an arduous rainy Sunday morning. The wide, blue skies in the yonder were covered with dark, grey clouds that soon yielded countless raindrops in haste, showering over the road full of taxis, jeepneys, vans, and personal use vehicles, honking endlessly along with the loud pitter-patter of the rain in and giving birth to an unholy, inharmonious melody joined by the hollers of vendors promoting the products they are selling, the wet footsteps of strolling and chatters of civilians, workers and the mirthful giggles of children singing while playing on the side of the road, finding joy in the chaos around them.The brisk breeze blew by Habagat propelled in every direction, sprawling like wild coyotes hunting for some prey that caused the passersby to shiver in gelidness, even though some had worn jackets and extra thick clothes be

Chapter 3Damped, Adler thought as he pursed his lips, and a thought immediately came across his mind."Hold on, one second," he told her before turning on his feet and heading back to his bedroom with quick yet profound footsteps.When he arrived, he hastily grabbed his phone from his nightstand, opening his lock screen then started dialing his mother's phone number, the pressure of his thumb pressing on the screen gets harder and harder as well as his rising vexation. He finally pressed the call button and placed the phone on his ear while heading to the bathroom to grab one of his towels. Adler grit his teeth strongly while listening to the dialing sound produced by his phone, impatiently waiting for his mother to answer the call from the other end as he relentlessly took the towel hanging on the tiled wall then left the bathroom, hurrying downstairs.When he arrived, his irritation faded and like a strike of lightning, pity immediate

Chapter 5"What do you mean?"She was silent for a moment, rubbing her arm whilst looking in a different direction. She looked like she was mentally debating with herself about something. "You don't look so well, carrying them might give you a hard time."Thinking that she doesn't trust him and is worried that he won't be able to handle her things well, he grabbed the handles as he decided to lighten the heavy, awkward atmosphere surrounding them by chuckling softly. "I may look like some snowflake right now but "strong" is my middle name," he said wittily that made her give off a small giggle, and he had never thought he would hear something so beautiful."Is that so? Then I'll leave them to you, strong sir," she replied jokingly, going along his pretense while striding behind him and he thought that the atmosphere between them seems to have gotten lighter. "Please lead me the way," she told him with a small smile that made the corner of

Chapter 7 While Adler started to sleep soundly in the comfort of his sovereignty of pseudo-clouds and the ice pack she brought him, Carylle rested her back against the door she had recently closed and heaved a sigh whilst thinking how eventful the entire morning was. For one moment, she was freezing like the Philippines' hell-like temperature dropped to negative zero degrees that she felt like she was going to get frostbite, and now she is in a warm room, she feels awkward being left alone. But she doesn't mind, the excuse was reasonable anyway. Remembering her fiancé's appearance made her facepalm inwardly, his dazed self who was completely disheveled, obviously perturbed and taken away from his ecstasy and his reaction when she introduced herself to him, the chaos between him and his mother when he called her. It wasn't his fault though, she came to his house unannounced. Their meeting was a fiasco, and it was beyond disappointing

Chapter 9 Adler woke up with the scent of spices tickling his nose like a pungent finger poking into his nostrils. He opened his eyes and indulged in the strong, spicy scent of spices but not too spicy that it hurts his nostrils, it was just mildly tangy and pleasantly aromatic that it comforts his stinging anterior naris and oozingly strong that he can almost taste it in his mouth, particularly his tongue. The fragrance made his stomach growl. His headache was gone but his head still a little heavy, and the swirling dizziness, which he often likened to a fish being twisted and twirled by the roaring ocean’s waves was gone while his muscles that were too heavy to boot earlier felt a lot better, but the stinginess still remained. Driven by the spices’ scent, he somehow felt nostalgic when the spices’ fragrance invaded his nostrils, it was a scent that he had