Chapter 1

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"Please fasten your seat belts as we are about to land for our destination, Cebu." Pahayag ng Pilot.

I fasten my seat belt and looked at the view outside the window. Ngayon lang ulit ako bumalik dito after 3 years. As I looked at the view below, hindi ko mapigilan ang mapaisip kung ano na naman kayang mangyayari sa'kin dito sa Cebu. I came from America for some reasons which I would be glad to tell you para naman malaman niyo ang istorya ko.

I'm Catherine Mae Perez and I'm 20 years old. Ako ang bunso sa tatlong magkakapatid and I'm proud to say na ako ang nag-iisang unica ija ng pamilyang Perez. What do you expect in my life? Ofcourse I can get whatever whenever I want. I studied in NYU with a course of BSBA Management. Unang una, I'm spoiled but I'm definitely not a brat. I'm a bitch with class. Our family has a company that produces and sells cars and branches of it are everywhere. Yes I'm rich, obviously.

Umalis ako sa Pinas for a very petty reason. Someone broke my heart that's why I left. Nakakatawa di ba? I'll share to you my whole story nang malaman niyo kung paano ako naging isang bitch with class. It was 3 years ago when I started to be in a mutual understanding with a man whom I call Eli when I was inlove with him. Sobrang inlove to the point we almost had sex many times pero hindi naman umaabot sa homebase. Oh, I know you think I'm a slut but what do I care? This is my story not yours at nakikibasa ka lang sa storyang to. Go ahead and judge me but that was what love did to me. Yes, love.

Balik tayo sa istorya. So as I was saying, we almost had sex many times and le'mme tell you that we got destroyed after one year. Sa loob ng one year na yun, we experienced things that are supposed to be experienced by lovers. Sobrang drama nga ng love story namin nun kasi our parents had a tragic argue in the past kaya they definitely didn't approve our relationship towards each other kahit na kung friends or ka-MU man lang. Nagkaroon ng mapait na sakitan sa bawat isa and questions were left unanswered which I think is better left unanswered. Marami akong natuklasan kung bakit hindi kami pwede. Not just because our parents' issue kundi mismo si Eli ay linoko ako.

I trusted him so much that I even pushed away the people who I should be trusting.

Ganun ako katanga kaya napag-isipan kong lumayo to forget painful and bitter memories na dinanas ko dito. My parents were even happy of my decision and I even made them proud of my changes. Yes, I changed. Ganyan naman talaga hindi ba? Pag ang babae nasasaktan sa kanyang nakaraan, hahanap at hahanap ito ng katalinuhan upang magbago ang kanyang kapalaran. The way I speak right now ay sooooooooobrang layo sa Catherine Mae Perez na pinagtatawanan ko ngayon. The way I dress now is sooooooo much farther than the old one. The way I think is much more genius than the past and most importantly, the way I feel is definitely out of league than before.

"Welcome to Cebu! Mabuhay!" Bati ng dalawang stewardess as they opened the door. Hindi muna ako tumayo sa kinauupuan ko dahil ayaw na ayaw kong makipagsiksikan sa mga taong papalabas ng plane. Nakakaturn off kasi sa'kin pag ganyan ka eh. Para mo na ring pinapakita sa mga tao na hindi ka nakakatapak sa lupa.

Nang napansin kong wala nang masyadong mga tao ay tumayo ako and flipped my hair as I waled confidently towards the exit. Inayos ko muna ang shades ko and stepped out into the light. I let my long hair swing as it was blew by the wind. Dahan dahan akong bumaba sa hagdanan with head held high at napatingin ang lahat ng tao sa akin. Syempre dyosa ako kaya ganyan sila makaasta.

Nang makapasok na ako sa loob ng airport ay naghintay ako malapit sa karoroonan ng mga checked-in bags. Nang makuha ko na ang maleta ko ay agad na akong naglakad habang dala dala ang trolley ko. As I walked towards the exit ay nakita ko ang isang pamilyar na mukha. I smiled as I walked towards him and gave him a warm embrace with a kiss on the cheeks.

"How are you baby girl?" Tanong niya sakin with a smile habang kumakalas sa pagkakayakap naming dalawa.

"Seriously you're still calling me baby girl kuya? I'm a fine lady now obviously. Well anyways, I'm fine." Sagot ko.

"Let's go?" He asked as he get my luggage and offered his left arm to me. I smiled at umangkla sa braso niya.

"Let's go."

While my brother was driving his car, we talked about a lot of stuffs about my life in US and as much as possible, nararamdaman ko ang pagiging gentle sa pananalita niya dahil sa alam kong iniiwasan niyang mabanggit ang pangyayari noon. Ugh. Ang bitter masyado ni kuya. Parang hindi pa ata siya nakamove on.

Bago kami umuwi ay nagpunta muna kami sa SM at kumain sa isang fine Korean restaurant. Paborito kasi namin ang Korean foods since we lived in Korea for three years nung mga bata pa kami and some korean traits were never lost in our life na hanggang ngayon ay dala dala pa rin namin. Pagkatapos namin kumain ay naisipan ko munang bumili ng chocolates para kainin ko pag-uwi.

"Kyaaaaah! Ang gwapo niya besh oh!"

"Oo nga noh! At ang ganda rin ng kasama niya! Nasa heaven na ba tayo beshyyyyy?!"

Agad kaming napatingin ni kuya sa dalawang babae na tumitili and I find it funny kasi para silang kamatis nang lingunin namin sila. Seriously? Ngayon pa ba sila nakakakita ng isang dyos at dyosa dito sa Pinas?

"Pffffft! Haha tara na nga kuya. Let's pay these na before I laugh so hard sa itsura nila." Pabulong kong sabi na ikinatawa naman ng kuya ko at tuluyan na niyang pinush ang cart.

Habang papalabas kami ng mall ay hindi namin mapigilan ni kuya ang mapatawa sa mga tao tuwing dumdaan kami. Eh kasi naman, they kept on staring at us and some of them even asked if they could take a picture of us. Haha! How amusing!

Kasalukuyan kaming nasa escalator at nakaangkla naman ang braso ko sa braso ni kuya. We were about to step down the escalator nang may nakita ako na agad ko namang ikinangiti. Naramdaman ko ring nanigas si kuya ng konti na agad naman niyang ibinalewala and acted cool.

Sino pa ba?

"Hi Rexiel. It's nice to see you again."  Nakangiting bati ko.

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