Chapter 1

Arra's straight and soft hair is gently blown away by the wind coming from the open window of her father's car as they drive in a slightly narrow road to hee father's house. She can smell the fresh air, feel the cold wind on her bare skin and underneath her clothes. It's too different from the warm, dusty and polluted air in Manila, where she used to live for eighteen years.

If she can choose, she would rather stay in Manila than live with her father in a very faraway and remote area in the province of the Bicol region. But her aunt already passed away where she used to stay, and she doesn't have relatives in the city where she can stay. So she has no choice but to live with her estranged father.

They used to be very close to each other when she was young. Her father loves her so much and gives her everything that she wants. But everything changed when she started to ask him about her mother. Her father refused to answer her questions and since then, her father became distant from her.

Arra's father used to be a cop in the city but was transferred to a remote area in the Bicol region with a higher salary. When her father left her in his older sister's care and went to Bicol, they started to become estranged from each other.

Her father just called her sometimes and seldom visit her. She asked her aunt why his dad suddenly changed his attitude towards her. Her aunt told her the reason why her dad changed his treatment to her. Only because she looks like her dead mother as she grows up. And it hurts her dad every time he saw her because her mother betrayed him. Her Aunt Lina also told her that her mom had a relationship with another man and left him after she was born.

Her dad loves his wife so much that it still hurts him every time he remembers what she did to him. And since she resembles her mother's face as she grew up, that's why her father suddenly changes his attitude towards her.

Arra can understand her father's feeling. But although he was hurt by his wife he shouldn't treat her like that. She's his daughter, after all.

Arra was in deep thought so she can't hear and didn't notice that her father is talking to her. She's worried about how she will live together with her father since they were already estranged from each other. Will she forget easily that her father ignored her for how many years and now, they will live together as if nothing happened? Why he didn't explain to her the reason why he suddenly changed his attitude towards her before taking her to live with him in a faraway place? Although her aunt already told her the reason, she still wants to hear it from her father's mouth. She wants to let out her resentment towards him. But how can she do that when her father didn't talk about it? He just talked and act as if nothing happened.

"Hey, Arra? Are you okay?" her dad gently taps her shoulder.

"A-are you talking to me, Dad?" she coldly asks him when she finally back to her senses. She just look at him for a second and then set her eyes again outside the window.

"I keep on talking here but you seem in deep thought that you didn't hear me asking you. Are you really, okay?"

"Yes I'm okay," she answered again. She didn't bother to look at him again.

"Are you alright, Arra? You se—"

"I said I'm okay," she face her father and let out what she's hiding inside her heart for so many years. "We didn't see each other for how many years but you didn't care about it, but why are you acting now as if you're worried and concern to me? Why did you come back and take me to live with you? I'm already fine without you. I can take care of myself even without my aunt especially you."

Her father looks at her with a sad expression on his face. "I'm sorry, Arra. But I think this is not the right time for you to know the real reason why I did that."

"Right time? The real reason?" she smirks. "Then when is the right time for me to know the real rea—" 

She suddenly stops from talking when their car suddenly stopped at the side of the road. She looks out of the car. She can't help but worry when she saw only large trees and weeds all around. What if they encounter bad people? Who will help them in case it will happen? She didn't even see a single house they passed through. Are we at the end of the Philippines' map?

"Fuel problem. Don't worry, I always brought one jar of gasoline with me for situations like this. And we are safe here because we were already in the vicinity that was protected by the Larks' family. No one will dare to do bad things here," he explained. As if he saw her mind and read what she's worried about.  

She didn't answer what her father said. She felt annoyed. She couldn't continue what she was about to tell him because of the sudden breakdown of their car.

Her father come out from the car and filled the tank of his car with gasoline. And as he was pouring fuel she thought of getting out of the car so she could stretch her aching hips and legs from sitting in the car for so long.

She is stretching her arms when she saw an oncoming black car from the same direction where they came from. Afraid of being hit by a car, she quickly returns inside the car.

The road was so narrow, and only one vehicle could pass. Fortunately, their car was parked on the far side of the road.

When the black car approached them, it suddenly slowed down until it finally stopped right in front of their car. She frowned when the driver suddenly lowered the window.

"Good afternoon, Erni. Do you need our help?" the man sitting in the driver's seat asked her father.

Her father lifted his head and smile upon seeing the person who talked to him. "Good afternoon too, Mr. Lark. I'm just filling fuel to my car's tank so no need to help me. But thank you for your kindness."

As the car stopped in front of their car, Arra felt as if someone inside the black car was staring at her. She stared at the passenger's seat where she can feel the eyes staring at her. She sees herself in the tinted glass but she feels like someone else is seeing her. But the person inside the car seems to be just a shadow because he or she is hidden by the tinted glass so she can't see the person.

She can't understand why she couldn't take her eyes off the closed car window. It was as if someone was pushing her to stare at the person inside the car whom she can't see clearly because of the thick and tinted glass between the two of them.

What's happening to me? Why I can't stop myself from staring out the closed window? Does the person inside the car has power and he can be able to hypnotize me? Impossible. She doesn't believe in hypnotism!