A family trip was always on my list for a long time. During my elementary school and teen years, whenever any of my classmates came back from a trip with their family, I always wished to do the same thing with my parents, too.Going somewhere together, spending time with one another, talking, playing games, eating, laughing, perhaps could give our family a chance to bond. There were so many times when I told my mother about going on a family trip. It didn’t have to be outside California, somewhere near the state would be fine, too. Just for two days, away from home, this routine life, somewhere peaceful, would be nice to think about our bond.But that never happened. Both of my parents were too busy to fulfill the obligation that their little boy had. My mother was a total badass businesswoman at that time, working long days and nights, doing everything to save the Astor Empire while my father was working hard between the legs of random women.It was fascinating to see how my parents

The last time I saw my mother laughing at a joke, well, that was an eternity ago. The more I tried to figure out when that time was, the more I got a vision of those awful days of the scars on her face, broken ribs, hands, and black eyes. There had to be a moment where she smiled, which came from her heart. Not some show, but that memory didn’t come to my head. Simply put, there were none.Her downfall began after she married my father. The beginning of the marriage had some joyful moments to share, but as the infatuation crumbled down and reality slapped hard on this young couple’s faces, the love that compelled them to tie the knot became extinct.Slowly, their family of two grew from three to four, and indignant hit them harder. The more they tried to survive the waves of hardship, the more they were drawbacks from them. So the love that they worshipped was once adrift on a deserted island, from where it was hopeless to bring it back. They worked to put food on the table all day an

Romance. What was the definition of romance? In my understanding, it was a moment or collage of a few flashes that stayed with a person for the rest of their life. Whenever the person they cherished came to their mind, it was those moments that spontaneously knocked on the door of their heart that thrived a wide smile on our faces.The romantic life I had with Celine was the complete opposite if you compared it with other couples. There were good and bad moments in every relationship on this planet, but the good memories that I had with her somehow weren’t anything private or a secret conversation that was meant to stay only between us. Now that I reflected on those days with Celine, there simply wasn’t one of them I could recall and smile.The days I spent with Celine before breaking up with her over the phone were more over texts than words, as we hadn’t seen one another for three months now. The last time I saw her was when I went to Paris to celebrate her birthday with her model f

“I believe in you,” Selena told me as soon as we set foot in my apartment.“Believe what?” I asked, frowning.“That Gavin and you were in love the entire time. Pretending to hate him must be tough for you.” She pressed her lips together and gazed at me with sympathy as if I was a poor little soul. “The way you portrayed the role of being your boss’s hater, I must give you credit for your excellent acting. If I was in your place, I would be a mess knowing there was no future with the man who stole my heart. By the way, what was it about him that stole your breath,” She sat on the couch, folding her legs together.All these were quick. A few moments ago, she wasn’t buying a word I was saying to her, but after a twenty-minute car ride, she was a fan of my love story, and it didn’t sit well with me.Selena knew me better than anyone in this world ever knew me till now, even though she could leave me behind when it came to telling my preferred stories. Sometimes I wondered if I really ever

The number of parties I attended by the end of my one-month marriage was equal to the number of sleepless nights that I spent in the Astor Empire working my ass off. One thing about marrying Gavin that left a significant mark on my head was the amount of attention I began to receive. Everyone at the parties wanted to talk to me, and reporters and paparazzi went insane just to get a shot of me. Even though I only went for a walk yesterday, some magazines featured me in their fashion section, dubbing me the “new fashion icon of California.”All these were insane. The way people were taking an interest in me was something that I never experienced before in my life neither did I wish to have that in my life.I was a quiet child who had a pretty tranquil life. I lived most of my school life alone with the books, assignments, and the part-time job that paid me well enough not to ask my parents when it came to pocket money. I never had a single friend in my entire teenage life or even after