MAX woke up at eight o'clock the next morning. After taking a bath, she went downstairs and straight to the kitchen.
"Nanny, why haven't you finished cooking yet? Did Hero wake up late?" she asked her nanny, who was still cooking in the kitchen.
"No. He told me last night that your classmates were coming so I didn't open the cafeteria," she replied.
"Why? What about your income and your customers?"
"It's okay. Since you left, we've never had a guest in this house. And what more, they're your classmates. I didn't even wake Hero up early so he can rest. I thought you'll be tired after your activities and even stay up late so..."
"Is he still asleep until now?" she interrupted.
"I think so. I haven't seen him come out yet." She prepared the food for her at the table. "Have some breakfast. I'll just finish cooking this dish before I head out."
&nbs
"AREyou going out?"Hero stopped walking when he heard Max's voice behind him. He turned to face her. "Yeah. Lance and Miggy invited me to the funfair," he replied.It was almost six o'clock when their classmates left. Max wanted to end the tutorial earlier but they asked for an extension as they were enjoying the lessons. He was so tired he felt his brain drain from it. The fair would be the best stress reliever."Do you want to come with us?" he asked hesitantly."No. I, uh, I got something else to do. Thanks, anyway.""Okay! I'm going first. Good night!""Good night! Have fun!"He hesitantly waved goodbye before heading out the door."Oh! Where's Max?" the two immediately asked when he came out."She said she has something else to do," he replied simply. Actually, he didn
"THATwas unfair, don't you think?"Hero looked at his aunt after Max had vanished from their sight."She just saved your friend. The least you could have done was to thank her."She's right, he thought. He shouldn't have scolded her. What he said was not wrong. He's worried about her. It's Liam, after all. But how he said those words...Max was obviously upset."I know. I'm sorry, I just got carried away," he replied."You tell that to her.""I know. I'll talk to her tomorrow."After his aunt finished tending to Miggy, he and Lance took him to their boarding house."Are you sure you're okay, man?" he asked, still worried about his friend."I am." Miggy sat down on his deck. Lance sat beside him while Hero sat on the other deck across from them."That guy
THEmass would start at 10 AM. Max still had thirty minutes to prepare. After taking a bath, she opened her wardrobe and examined her clothes. She decided to go with her black floral-print long-sleeved knee-length chiffon dress and paired it with a black suede two-inch block-heeled sandals.She excitedly looked at herself in the human-sized mirror and was very satisfied at how the outfit looked good on her--or rather, how she looked good on it. But the excitement was replaced with hatred when she saw the old Kathrina--sweet, naive, and stupidly in love with Hero.Do you wanna go back to that weak Kathrina? Did you forget your rule: Never trust anyone?"No!" She violently shook her head.She was about to take the dress off when suddenly there was a knock on the door."Are you done yet?" It was Hero's voice. "Nanny asked me to check up on you. We're a
"WHATa small world!"Hero didn't know if Miggy was only kidding but he didn't find it funny at all. He had been morose and silent since they hesitantly left Max with Liam. However, remembering how confident she was the other night that Liam would never hurt her, somehow assured him. But the thing is, he felt betrayed--her not telling him about Liam."You, guys! How did you meet Liam and why do you seem to hate each other that much?" Belen asked them as soon as they entered the house."He is one of our rivals in Manila. That person is annoyingly arrogant, acting like he is the leader of their group," Lance replied."Is that all there is to it?" she said shaking her head.
"ISN'Tthat the new transfer student? He's really handsome, isn't he?"Max rolled her eyes when she heard Lisa giggled behind her. They had just arrived at the campus cafeteria and were looking for a good spot when she saw Liam at the counter; female students lining up behind him naively giggled and were thrilled just like Lisa did.Well, she wouldn't argue on that. Liam had been a campus crush ever since they were kids.Soon they found a good spot and put together two empty tables side by side to accommodate their group. She purposely chose the seat where she could see what Liam was doing. On the other hand, she was aware of the other pair of eyes observing her: Hero's."Let's line up at the counter," Darwin urg
"CLINGY!"Max pushed Hero lightly, pretending to hate his embrace when, in fact, she wanted it to last a little longer. She pulled herself together and get back to her composure. "It's time for class." She turned around and secretly giggled."Look who's talking! Hugging e like a pillow in the middle of the night," he murmured.She made a halt. Thankfully, she was not facing him so he did not see how red her face had become when she remembered what she did the night before the classroom quiz bee. She reset into her ill-tempered self before facing him again. "Are you blaming me now?" she asked with a raised eyebrow."No, I'm not," he replied defensively, returning to his new normal self. "I told you, I..."
TWOweeks. Hero had been irritated for two long weeks since Liam's appearance in Cas-U, but much more so because Max had not been herself lately. Or rather, she was back to being the cold-hearted, ill-tempered gangster he once knew. Although it's really like her to beat people up when she's annoyed or mad, he suspected that Liam had something to do with what was happening to her. Her smile during the science quiz bee preparation had vanished, and worst, she punched him--much to his shock as she had never done it before, not that he thought she would never do it to him.The door of the detention office opened and Max came out of it. He was sitting on the bench in the lobby outside, then stood to meet her. "Are you alright?" he asked worriedly.She just stared at him. Then her gaze fixated o
"HOW'SHero?" Max immediately asked as soon as she got to the eatery. She heard what had happened to him on the rooftop so she left the class and rushed home."Auntie, please be gentle! Ouch!" she heard Hero groaned from the kitchen before his two friends who were guarding the cafeteria could answer.She got past them and then straight to the kitchen. She was devastated to see his face, fist clenched in anger."Oh, Max! You're here!" said Belen who was the first to notice her. "Are you hungry? I'll fix your dinner after this."She secretly heaved a sigh and slowly let out some air to calm herself down. "I'm fine, Nanny. Let me take care of him for you. You can go back to the eatery.""Oh, thank you! And please tell him again not to roam anywhere so he won't get into trouble with some thugs. Look at him," she complained, shaking her head as she left the kitchen.Hero averted his eyes from her as she continued to treat hi