In the middle of my journey back to the mansion, my tears couldn't stop pouring. I wanted to cry out - to scream Norman's name. Curse him to get struck by lightning in the middle of the daylight. Why? Why would he go that far threatening everyone to me? I didn't do anything to him - he and his entire evil family did to me. They ruined my life. Now that I want to forget everything they did and move on with a new life, they won't let me. "Please, speed up the car, Mister," I begged the cab driver who kept on stealing a glimpse at me from the rearview mirror. Imagine my surprise when the cab driver recognized me when he defensively replied, "I'm so sorry, Mrs. dela Vega, but this is the fastest we could take. I am simply following the required speed limit." he awkwardly smiled at me and bowed his head. Leaving with no other choice, I learned to be patient. I have to. But as soon as I stepped out of the cab, I sprinted to the main house at the speed of light, ignoring

As soon as the old witch disappeared from our sight, everyone expressed their full support by clapping their hands. Tears of joy were also evident on their cheeks. Everyone then approached me, one by one, and expressed their gratitude toward me until nothing was left in the room but me and Elaine. "Give me all their resumes, Ms. Elaine. Put them on my desk before the end of the night. I'll check them once I get back." I said before I departed my seat and slid to the doorway. "Do you have any other appointment that I am not aware of, Mrs. dela Vega?" she frowned shortly while checking my schedule from her iPod. "I am going to visit Norman in the city hall. Don't worry, I won't take long. I am going to tell him in person about what happened earlier instead of sending him a message." "This is noted, Mrs. dela Vega. I'll inform your driver right away." Elaine bent half of her body before she disappeared from my sight. On my way to the city hall, I kept on reach

"That's enough! Get back to your seats, NOW!" Tanner's anger reverberated throughout the hallways. I have known Tanner for eight years, and it was the first time I saw his eyes wide open and his veins pop out of his neck. He barely gets angry even if he gets humiliated all the time by Norman and his friends. But right now, he has become another person. The monster side of him. "Those who will not get back to their seats will get an F from me." he added, "At the count of three... One -- Two --" Some of the students disappeared from their spots before Tanner could reach three, but some of them who were not afraid of failing his subject, including Jennie and Jennifer remained. In fact, the two of them eagerly slide toward Tanner. Each of them grabbed Tanner's arms while giving me the tip of their brows being raised, believing our professor would take their side. Little did they know Tanner became my friend before he became a university professor and met them.

"Are you and Dad arguing again?" Noah asked despite having a hard time breathing out those words. "OF course, not, honey" I defensively replied. Then I assisted him in lying down with me and wrapped my arms around him. "Your dad and I were simply talking about something. But we're not arguing, okay?" I caressed his shoulder to help him get back to sleep. Luckily, he stopped asking questions, instead, he wrapped his arms around me. "Don't get mad at Dad, please?" he replied as he squeezed off his face inside my armpit. "Dad said he loves you, Mom. But he said that you don't love him anymore. Why? Are you mad at him? Did he do something bad to you?" The last thing I want to happen is to comfort Noah with a lie so I nodded, "He did something bad to me, honey. And because of that, I couldn't find it inside me to forgive him." "Why?" he asked as I expected. "Because they turned our life hell, Noah, including your life. And I will not stop until your grandmother

Justine glanced at the flash drive as it landed in front of him with his mouth sealed, telling and proving to me that he knew something about the incident. Guilty beyond a reasonable doubt is my verdict. Yet he never told me anything since I got discharged from the hospital after a long two months fighting in a coma. Instead, he advised me to forget about the incident and live with him for good. Whatever his reasons are, I wanted to know the truth, not his side of the story, but the truth. "Everything in this flash drive tells me a lot of stories, Justine," I continued, "and do you know what kind of story has been telling me right after seeing the footage? The side of the story where I believe you are the person behind the incident. So, if you are not going to tell me, to at least defend yourself, I will believe with what I know - that you have been lying to me all this time." Finally, Justine did something apart from being frozen while listening to my lecture a