Before she could process what she heard, the man was fast to push her back in. The impact caused her to hit on the ground where the pots are lining up by the fence. Her eyes widened in fear. The man walked in and shut the gate. When he turned to face her, a familiar wave of terror began to roll into her gut. She tightly gripped the flowering pot beside her as if her security relied upon it. It was as though she ran out of voice when he grabbed the neckline of her shirt, ripping it apart. However, Elaine didn't seem to notice. What she could feel was the familiar intense wave of fear growing inside her. It was an indication that the episode will start soon. And she needs to do something before she starts feeling worse. She didn't know what to fear the most; the danger that this man brought or the possible episode attack that was starting to crawl into her system. Nevertheless, Elaine knew both can kill her mercilessly. "Ah, I was about to hea

BEFORE the clock hits two, Marco and Elaine arrived at her place. She opened the car door as soon as Marco parked it in front of their house.“I can manage. Thanks again,”  Elaine said when Marco attempted to got off from his seat to open the door for her. “I guess your husband’s home already. Gigi made sure she turned the lights off,” Marco said. Gigi was Marco’s cousin who was in junior highschool. She was the only daughter of Marco’s Uncle who was a retired police officer.Elaine turn her face to their house and noticed that the whole place was dim-lighted. Marco was right, Tan was home. She could see his car parked inside their garage.“I’ll pick you up tomorrow,” Marco reminded her. Elaine earlier was forced to give him his phone number. She nodded quietly and got off the car. She already made a few steps away when Marco called her. He was quick to get off the car and walked towar

Elaine’s face turned pale and rushed outside the room. She did not wait for Tan to say another word or he’d see her almost breaking to tears just because of his angry snap. She was still confused and stunned as she went inside her room, locked the doors and sat at the edge of his bed.She thought Tan and Janine’s relationship was over. Mrs. Crisostomo even slapped her for ruining her daughter’s life. She could not even believed that Tan did not end his relationship with Janine. He was not the disloyal type of man. He believed in the sacredness of a wedding regardless the circumstances.All the De Marco men were all one-woman kind. Yeah, right, she agreed. But those men were faithful because their wives were loyal and good people. How about her? All those months they were together, could she even tell how many days or weeks Tan had ever felt happy?Why was she even surprised and hurt? Tan clearly said they owe no marital obligation to each

Elaine tightly shut her eyes when she heard Tan trying to unlock the door to her room. She gripped her chest and bit her lower lip, waiting for the pain in her chest to subside.Eventually, her breathing returned to normal. Tearful and sweaty she released the tight hold of her chest.However, she has no plans of coming out. She won’t let him see her like that. She doesn’t need his pity, but his forgiveness and acceptance. She felt her tear-stained face.Guilt.It had been eating her up for the past three years.No matter how difficult, she deserves to bear it by herself. Until she is able to forgive herself.Outside the room, Tan raised his clenched knuckle to knock on the door. The door was locked. He was holding the house key Marco gave him a while ago.Why did he go back? To return the key to Elaine? He’d be lying if he’d say that’s the reason. He foolishly wanted to check on her. She drank a lot and c

“I-is she having a heart attack or something?” asked Richard. He’s almost stuttering getting his tongue tangled up when he saw Elaine having difficulty trying to catch her breath.If Tan had his way, he wanted to kill Richard right then and there. But he let him run away when he saw his burning glare.Tan knew better. Elaine wasn’t having a heart attack, she just felt like she was having one. Her eyes were out of focus, she looked like she was separated from her surroundings while extreme fear was clear from her enlarged eyes.With such a heavy heart Tan sat beside her. He took her cold and trembling hands from her chest. It was like he was repeatedly being punched in the chest as she held them.Using her thumb, he wiped the tears streaming from her eyes. He saw her blinked then stared at her though the gaze was still not yet focused.Tan gently squeezed her palm.“Look at me, Elaine. I’m here. It’s