EPILOGUE

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Thank you for reading until this last chapter, hoping we will see you on the next one! :)


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Ithiel was just fifteen years old when her mother died of cancer. Her mother made sure that everything was given to her, so she grinded and worked very very hard to give and earn every penny for her kid.

When she accepted and realized that Ithiels father will never support and accept her, she decided to make na mabubuhay siya at mabubuhay ang anak niya nga paraan na ibibigay niya.

She worked and worked and worked even when she found out that she had cancer, she never stopped working until she had more than enough in her bank account for Ithiel.

They had a very good relationship, but not that strong, since she kept working and making sure that she would leave something good for Ithiel when she disappeared, the memoirs with her are not enough, she is barely there, and she can give anything, she can give the latest gadget a man will ever invent and released but there are no such memories of her paling and bonding with her kid.

Ithiel didn't mind at first, she couldn't feel the loss and the longing since she was still there with her, she came home and she had a mom to call to, and a mom she could share a meal with, she had everything and she's kind of living a comfortable life.

She never felt like she needed to struggle for anything since her mother was doing everything by herself, she carried herself and took responsibility and didn't want her to suffer in any way she did.

When she found out that she had cancer, she tried to push the reality at the back of her mind and didn't worry about it, she didn't even bother telling her kid what was the truth, she worked even harder, making sure Ithiel would not worry about her life once she's gone.

Before she took her last breath, there's one thing she remembers her kuya said, "You know the amount of money, or how many zeroes are there in your bank account, but you don't know how much time is left on your clock."

For the first time and last time, she let out an apology for not being there for Ithiel often, for not creating more memories that she could bring with her until she got old, for not telling her the moment she found out she had cancer.

For working too much.

When her mother died, it felt like something on her died along with her. Something changed inside of Ithiel, she didn't care about the money her mother left for her, and she didn't even bother looking at the account named under her, she agreed to live with Kweslin but only one thing was sure in her mind.

She is free, and she can do whatever she wants.

High school started and she turned sixteen, she discovered a lot of things, and she was surrounded and exposed to different types of people her age, and somewhat older a couple of years than her, all the knowledge and things, she made sure she knew them all.

How to smoke, how to drink, all types of songs, and places to party, for the first time ever, she learns how to fall in love, and starts living her life the way culture does. She did all the sins that the culture normalizes so much, and it feels just right to, normalize them because she saw everyone around her doing it too.

If they're doing it, I should be doing it too, right? It's just right to do it too since it's okay to do it since everyone is capable of doing it, right?

So, she did it.

She wrecked her life by doing something so wrong but was normalized by the world.

The only thing she never does is to not let her Tito be troubled by her doings, when she's back at home, she never speaks the way she talks outside, she lets her natural self be with the family she has now, and she helps them in any way she could, she respected them and treated them the way the real Ithiel would do.

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