My hand tightly clutched around my travelling bag when the big yellow two-story house with a red roof came into view.
As I stood on the other side of metal gate, I pulled my sleeveless down to my knee level skirt. Tension filled my heart as my fingers hovered over the doorbell, but before I could press it, a teenage boy with tousled dark hair opened the gate.
I froze in place when our eyes met and saw recognition in his gray eyes. Before I could speak, however, a woman's voice called out.
"Val, get back here!"
"Sorry, mom! I'll be back later!" the boy replied. I glanced up to his face. Given that I stood about four inches below him, I estimated his height to be five foot eight inches. He furrowed his brows at me and without saying anything more, he dashed down the road before the woman got to us.
"Val! Valentine!" the woman continued as she stood outside the gate with her hand on her chest as she tried to catch her breath. "What is wrong that boy?" she muttered. "I already told him not to leave the house today..." She then turned to face me. Just as the boy whom she called Valentine, I immediately saw the recognition in the woman's eyes. Her lips curved into a sweet smile that reminded me so much of my late mother—the only good memory which I'm holding onto.
"Jennelle?"
"Yes, Ma'am," I replied formally and lowered my head.
The woman—who was a bit shorter than me—laughed and waved at the maid cleaning the yard not far from us. "Don't be so formal hija. I'm your Tita Emilee, your mother's third cousin. Welcome to Tagaytay." She took the luggage from my hands and gave it to the maid. Tita Emilee put her arms around my shoulder and guided me inside the gate of their house which would be my home for the next... I don't know for how long.
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AN: Chapter One will be posted next week. Hope you look forward to it!
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Someone to Care
Teen Fiction~They share similar pasts, but that's as far as they have something in common. ~ After her parents die in an accident, Jennelle is passed around by her relatives. At fifteen, she felt like already lived in all of the islands in the Philippines. Not...
