It's now the next day after your birthday, and it's Saturday, meaning, it's the weekend. There was a mass, and people greeted the pastor as they were leaving the church, and the mass ended just a few minutes ago. "Good morning, father." "Greetings, bless you." People left the church as soon as the mass had ended, but some stayed to send more prayers and meditate. Me, my father, and my mother smiled as they walked through the church entrance, bidding goodbye to the people who had attended the mass, and I stood behind my mother in my white floral dress, shying away from the crowd while hiding behind her. "Thank you so much, Family Marin, especially Fernando Marin. Such a lovely family, may God bless you." The people said as they praised the three of us. "Thank you for attending this Saturday's mass as well." My parents bowed. My father nudged me to bow, which I immediately obeyed. I bowed as my gaze fell to the floor, and I remained there until I heard footsteps walking into the c

A few days passed, and the church was painfully quiet, the place was getting dirty. The holy mass is still held, yet both of my parents are absent, and I had to be the one attending.My mother is in the church's room, which is also considered a confession room, on the second floor all day. Even in the past few days, I felt worried every minute. I have to walk from my house to the church to knock on the door and bring her food every day.One time, I caught her creaking the door open, but her eyes widened as she saw me standing just outside with a tray of food, and my heart cracked as I saw her appearance; she has a black eye, bruises everywhere, fuzzy hair, dark circles under her eyes, and she was extremely thin."M-Mama..." I sobbed as I put the tray of food on the floor and hugged her."What did papa do to you?" I cried while wrapping my arms around her waist."Allura, I'm sorry. Callista, baby. Let me call you that... I'm sorry, Callista, come back." She said with a hoarse, cracked

202211:11Silence. Remorse.Only the ticking clock could be heard inside the room, especially the hazel-eyed woman, whose eyes were filled with void and blatantly stared into the frigid atmosphere."Allura..." Fernando said in a barely audible voice."Years ago, the young guys who are now a dangerous criminal organization known as Regio told me that if I don't show myself up to you, they'll help me get out of my case in prison, but they deceived me, and I willingly accepted my sentence." My father said."After your mother died, I've been having dreams, sometimes, even nightmares about her, and she never left me, she never did." He said."After you woke up from the coma, your stepmother... she took care of you, pretended to be your mother, and the one who helped you graduate.""Regio is dangerous, even if they were still a child." My father faces you with tear-filled eyes. "Y-Your stepmother... I had no choice... She- She plays a role in this. Without her... w-we're-" He added, but co

FLASHBACKSAfter a week of knowing my past and from the juvenile, I decided to live with Araoluwa, since I had nowhere to go. Regio isn't an option. That one week was the worst in my life; I was staring at the wall for days, refusing to eat, until I finally decided to pull myself together, since being like that wouldn't help me at all, and now I'm here."So, have you decided, Allura?" Amanda asked while the two of us are standing in front of the training ground just outside the mansion. "Do you want to train to be able to be one of Araoluwa's members and be my right-hand man? Don't worry, you're free to refuse, Allura, no pressure!""U-um," I gulped in nervousness as I saw the training ground, people were being beaten up, there were gunshots everywhere, mentors were being ruthless with their trainees, members were being yelled at, and they were being forced to do laps around the training field if they made one mistake."Ah right, you're still a newbie. Don't worry, the mentors won't t

"It's more like a masquerade ball!"Amanda announced to Araoluwa at the long table while reading an email she received from a certain business organization that will host an event at the nightclub that would be similar to a masquerade ball."Really? We're invited to that?" Goro blinked. "Seems a little extra bro.""Nothing is extra, Goro," Hasen laughed. "My acquaintance owns that luxurious club in Tokyo. They're also hosting a little masquerade ball for their business event, and he decided to invite us, bringing us a special invitation letter.""Especially because Jin is the one who brought it!" Hasen laughed as he slung his arms around a certain man's shoulder who was sitting with them at the meeting table."U-uh, it's not really that necessary. I just issued the invitation. I can go home now!" Jin said as he scratched the back of his neck. He'd just returned after months away and is Araoluwa's most trusted friend. I had never interacted with him before, but I had seen him once just