All Chapters of The Stranger I Slept With: Chapter 1 - Chapter 5

PROLOGUE The Night Everything Changed “Hindi ako papayag.” Mariing ibinagsak ni Criliah ang invitation card sa ibabaw ng mesa. Sa harap niya, tahimik na nakaupo ang kanyang mga magulang. Walang bakas ng pag-aalala sa kanilang mga mukha. Para bang ang pinag-uusapan nila ay isang ordinaryong business meeting at hindi ang kinabukasan ng sarili nilang anak. “Criliah,” malamig na saad ng kanyang ama, “hindi ito bagay na puwede mong tanggihan.” “Bakit hindi?” “Dahil napagdesisyunan na.” Napatawa siya nang mapait. Napagdesisyunan. Iyon ang salitang paulit-ulit niyang naririnig mula nang bata pa siya. Napagdesisyunan kung saang paaralan siya mag-aaral. Napagdesisyunan kung sinu-sino ang dapat niyang kaibiganin. Napagdesisyunan kung anong kumpanya ang mamamahalaan niya balang araw. At ngayon… Pati ang lalaking pakakasalan niya, ibang tao pa rin ang pumili. “I don't even know him,” mariing sabi ni Criliah. “You will learn to know him.” “And if I don't want to?” Tumayo ang kan

CHAPTER 2The Man Behind the Name“Hindi ako papayag.”Iyon ang unang sinabi ni Criliah matapos ang ilang segundong katahimikan.Her father sighed.“Criliah, we've already discussed this.”“No. You discussed it. You decided it. I was never asked.”“Because this isn't something you get to decide alone.”Napatawa siya nang walang humor.“Exactly. That's the problem.”Mabilis niyang kinuha ang bag niya at akmang aalis na sana nang magsalita si Kael.“Let her go.”Napahinto si Criliah.Her father looked at him.“Kael—”“She needs time.”Napalingon si Criliah sa kanya.For some reason, mas nakakainis ang kalmado nitong boses kaysa sa galit ng kanyang ama.“Don't act like you understand me.”Kael simply looked at her.“I don't.”“Good.”“That's why I'm not stopping you.”Napakunot-noo siya.Ano ba talaga ang lalaking ito?Hindi ito katulad ng mga lalaking nakasanayan niyang makilala.Most men around her either tried to impress her or tried to impress her family.Kael did neither.He simply

CHAPTER 4What Really Happened Twenty Years Ago“Your grandfather didn't save my family.”Kael's words echoed inside Criliah's head.“He destroyed it.”Then he walked away.“Kael!”Hindi na siya lumingon.Criliah stood frozen in the middle of the living room, staring at the door where he had disappeared.Her mother looked equally shocked.“Criliah…”“Mom.”She slowly turned toward her.“What did he mean?”Her mother couldn't answer.“Mom, please.”“I don't know everything.”“But you know something.”Her mother lowered her gaze.That was enough.Criliah knew there was another secret.And this time, she wasn't going to let anyone stop her from finding it.---That afternoon, pumunta siya sa library ng mansion.The old family records were kept there.If Kael was telling the truth, then there had to be something in their family's history that everyone had been hiding.She opened one cabinet after another.Old documents.Business contracts.Photographs.Newspaper clippings.Nothing.Until