NIKOLAI'S POVSeven years ago, I almost lost Maya, and those years without her felt completely empty. Para akong pinapatay araw-araw. It was a slow, torturous death that was far more painful than the physical trauma of my near-fatal accident. It was soul-crushing. Araw-araw, nilalason ko ang sarili kong utak sa pag-iisip na hindi niya naman talaga ako minahal, na baka tumakbo siya dahil napilitan lang siya.Dahil sa huli, sino ba naman ako? I’m just a ruthless, arrogant man who stole her from my own brother. I called her names to guard my pride, pushed her to the limits, and even tried to play with her heart just to remind myself of the bad blood between our families.Maybe a twisted part of me back then wanted her to suffer, to pay for the sins of her mother that tore my own parents apart. Maybe I wanted to hurt her, not physically, but mentally and emotionally, to balance the scale of pain in my head. I wanted to see her break so I wouldn't have to break alone.Pero hindi ko kaya. I
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